By Okong’o Oduya
Busia County, Kenya: Stakeholders in the cotton sector are putting mechanisms in place to increase cotton production in the western region.
In Busia county, Lwanda Cotton Ginnery is struggling to survive due to a lack of enough cotton from farmers.
The factory has the capacity of ginning 800,000 metric tons but due to lack of material, it only gins 36 tons annually.
According to the principal secretary of industrialization, Dr. Juma Mukhwana the government has pumped more than KSh30 billion shillings to revive the cotton sector in the country.
While addressing cotton farmers during the distribution of BT cotton seeds at Mulwanda cotton ginnery in Busia county, Dr. Mukhwana noted that the Busia county government has assured them that it will set aside 10 acres of land to pave the way for cotton farming at Agricultural Training Center.
“The county government has also assured me that it will set aside 10 acres to plant cotton which will also boost our production but our target is to plant 7,000 acres of cotton to try and address cotton scarcity in the country,” he said.
His cooperative counterpart Mr. Patrick Kilemi noted that Kenya has the potential to grow, process, and even export cotton.
“This is a cotton growing belt that should be utilized properly,” said Mr. Kilemi
On pricing, Mr. Mukhwana said the government will engage other stakeholders to find a way of increasing the price of cotton from the current price of sh55 per kilogram.
Directory General Agriculture and Food Authority Ms. Beatrice Nyamwamu urged Kenyan cotton farmers to plant seeds they received during this rainy season on time for a bumper harvest.
“We have given you 3900 kilograms of quality cotton seeds. Don’t keep them in your homes. Plant them so that when we come back in June we should find cotton in your farms. The seeds are enough to plant on 3000 acres of land,” she said.
She urged farmers to avoid selling their cotton to Uganda and instead sell it to Lwanda cotton Ginnery adding that they are partnering with other stakeholders to find a way of increasing cotton production.
“In order to optimize utilization of these ginneries, it is necessary to establish clusters around cooperative unions and counties. Agriculture and Food Authority is collaborating with other stakeholders to create these clusters in order to realize economies of scale. This will improve bargaining power for farmers, improve farm gate prices as well as facilitate the aggregation of produce. This exercise has begun with the creation of the Western Cluster which is linked to Luanda Ginnnery. It will comprise value chain actors from Siaya, Busia, and Bungoma counties respectively,” she said.C
Due to the high prices of cotton in Uganda, Kenyan cotton farmers prefer selling their cotton to Uganda.
According to them, the buying price of cotton in Uganda is sh70 per kilogram while in Kenya they sell at 55 shillings or less.
Mr. Christopher Nduguli a cotton farmer from Bukiri in Funyula noted that one of the reasons why cotton farming is not doing well in Busia is because of poor market prices compared to the prices in neighboring Uganda.
“One reason why cotton is not doing well in Busia is because of poor market prices. A kilogram of cotton goes at sh55 and when you compare with the input and the return it can demoralize someone.”
He noted, “What we are appealing to the government is to increase the prices to sh65 per kilogram and that will motivate other farmers.”
Funyula member of Parliament Dr. Oundo Mudenyo called upon the county government to invest in extension officers to advise farmers on cotton farming
“Now that there is a high demand for cotton, there is a need for the county government to invest in field extension officers to advise farmers on cotton to feed the modern machine we have that requires more cotton,” said Dr. Mudenyo.
He challenged the national government on failure to release money on time to the county governments disrupting county plans.
Busia County executive committee member department of agriculture Mr. Symplicious Mukok noted that the county government has purchased 1.5 tones of BT cotton and distributed it to farmers.
According to him, the county government is commuted to increasing cotton production.
