Kenya's government is formulating strategies to revive the ailing cotton industry.
The Cotton Development Authority (Coda) says barring any negative factors, the industry will be back to its lost glory in the next three years as the country accelerates production to meet demand.
Coda, has drawn a medium term strategy to put the sector back on track, targeting both small and large scale producers.
As part of the recovery strategy, the Kenya Seed Company has got the green light to produce clean seeds, to solve the problem that has dogged the sector for years.
There is also a major shift from the traditional rain fed production to irrigation, with two irrigation schemes - Bura and Ahero revived.
"We have planted some 2,000 hectares under irrigation in Bura, and in June we shall go to Ahero," Coda managing director, Micah Powon said, adding that talks are ongoing with regional development parastatals like the Kerio Valley Development Authority to get involved in production.
From next year, commercialisation of BT Cotton (biotec Cotton), whose trials at the Kenya Agricultural Research Centre are complete, will kick off setting the stage for planting high yielding, fast maturing disease resistant varieties, Mr Powon said.
Two weeks ago, the Ministry of Agriculture doubled producer prices from Ksh32($0.4) to Ksh65($0.8) per kilogramme, signalling that one of the country's most neglected industries was beginning to attract attention.
On the international scene, prices have nearly doubled over the past 12 months.
US market research firm IBISWorld predicts that cotton farming revenue could grow by more than 80 per cent in 2011.
However, the Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis (Kippra) says that the sustainability of the sector requires home-grown solutions since the external factors may be short-lived.
"The long-term drive should be spurring domestic consumption of our products," said Kippra director Moses Ikiara.
A Kippra study conducted in 2006 on the need to revive the sector under the Poverty Reduction Strategy identified the sector as key in creating employment in both the mainstream and periphery sectors such as weaving, creating jobs especially for women and the youth along the chain.
The crop thrives in arid and semi arid regions where it does not compete with food crops while in high production areas like the Coast and Nyanza, poverty levels are high, creating the necessity for its development as an intervention activity, said Dr Ikiara.
Radical measures
Considering that only a third of the country is suitable for agriculture, it has lots of land that can be put under cotton, for both domestic and export markets.
In the 1980s, cotton sustained a well functioning manufacturing sector which collapsed under the weight of second hand clothes imports, leaving a trail of unemployment that dogs the country to date. Estimates are that about 200,000 farmers grew cotton.
Dr Ikiara calls for radical measures such as banning of second hand clothes, creation of incentives for purchase of locally made fabrics, and sacrifice from locals to go slow on imports.
"We need deliberate policies and the political will to develop our textile industry, promote local consumption and grow a design culture to compete with designer products," he said.
National demand for lint is about 111,000 metric tonnes seed cotton against a low supply of about 24,975 metric tonnes in 2008, according to a report presented to the Prime Minister's office by a task force on the textile. This has forced firms to import lint and yarn mostly from the far East countries.
Production has fallen from a high of 80 bales in the 1980s to under 20 bales in 2007, as farmers abandoned the crop.
However, since steps to revive the industry were mooted four years ago, production increased to 40 bales in 2009.
Powon said the prevailing world prices are good while demand is at an all time high, developments that favour growing of the commodity that sank due to low price and demand.
The situation is borne of factors prevailing in the world's largest producers, which also happen to be huge consumers -- China, India and Pakistan.
The former are scaling down production as they shift to biofuels that are more lucrative.
Kenya has been struggling on the supply side.
Current levels are a paltry 40,000 bales against a potential for 200,000 -- 300,000 bales annually, and it is this gap that the measures being undertaken seek to close.
