Africa lags far behind most of the world in cotton yields. Production techniques have evolved little so it is tempting to apply technologies that work elsewhere and insert them into Africa to increase yields. This presentation describes some examples of these technologies and analyses the constraints to its immediate adoption in terms of production equipment, labor requirements, inputs (or means to acquire them), knowledge, and organisation — but also on the mindset of change, which is partly linked to the economic, social and institutional environments of production. No technology working elsewhere could work immediately in Africa without overcoming specific constraints first. However, the varying extent of the difficulties in overcoming those constraints is a criterion for deciding on the program and the sequence of the technologies to be promoted.