Farmers calls for revival of cotton ginneries

Cotton ginneries must be operational if the dream of reviving the cotton industry is to be realized, farmers in Western Kenya have said.

Farmers through their representatives, asked the National and County governments to revive the non operational ginneries in order to produce more cotton to be used locally and for export.

The chairman Luanda Young Farmers Cooperative union Vincent Egesa said that cotton farming in Kenya cannot be revived with Rivatex only and the ginneries must be operational.

“Rift Valley Textile Mills (Rivatex) alone will not help fill the deficit covered by imports if the ginneries remain closed,” he said recently.

He urged the County government to mobilize farmers to embark on serious farming of cotton to help improve living standards of people in the region.

According to statistics, only 5 out of 22 ginneries are operational in Kenya as of 2017, producing an average 25,000 bales against an annual demand of 200,000 bales.

The deficit is covered by imports making the demand for quality locally produced cotton insatiable.

Sospeter Ojamong, Governor for Busia County assured farmers that all ginneries will be revived and assured them of ready market for their cotton.

Speaking during the field visit of BT cotton National Performance Trials site in Alupe, Busia County this month, Ojamong’ said that President Kenyatta supports GM cotton farming and so far seven testing stations are in place to ascertain the best variety suitable for every region Busia county being one of the stations.

“The County government is working closely with the National government to ensure that this project becomes a success to help improve farmer’s lives,” Ojamong said.

He said that since food security and nutrition is one of the Big 4 Agenda, leaders support the cotton sector to ensure that people have plenty of food for domestic consumption and sale.

The Governor noted that the community must be sensitized on the benefits of GM cotton by stakeholders.

He said that cotton farmers in Busia will soon visit Mwea, in central Kenya for benchmarking to see GM cotton farms.

Busia County Women Member of Parliament Florence Mutua said she’s optimistic that the project will be a success and Busia County will start benefiting from the cotton.

”During benchmarking in India, we learnt that BT cotton protects itself from pests and insects which is less costly and good for our farmers,” she said.

Mutua added that the revival of ginneries will create employment opportunities for the youth in Busia County and also improve the Counties economic status.

She assured farmers that they will be empowered to produce the deficit covered by the imports applauding the fact that the Ministry of Agriculture has a department for research saying that it’s good for farmers. She also urged farmers to bring their soils for testing at the KARLO labs.

Ruth Mukhongo an Agricultural officer in Busia County urged the County government to give youth the opportunity to farm in cotton , encouraging farmers to do proper budgeting when planning to farm by seeking assistance from experts at the county and sub-county level.

She asked the department of lands in the county to make sure that the issue of grabbed land that belongs to societies to be addressed.

She applauded Ojamong for being in the forefront to support cotton farming in the region.

ENDS……………