Value addition
Cotton farmers from the Lower Eastern Region have urged the government to establish a cotton ginnery in the area to enhance value addition for their produce and boost their earnings.
Led by their chairman, Francis Kilango, the farmers from Machakos, Kitui, Makueni, Tharaka Nithi, Embu, and Meru counties lamented the lack of a government-funded ginnery. They currently rely on private ginneries, which offer low prices for their cotton.
Kilango emphasized that a government-supported ginnery would enable farmers to process their cotton locally, separating the lint or wool from the seeds. This is, he said would allow them to further add value by producing animal feed from the seed cake, creating additional income streams.
“We ask the State Department of Cooperatives to set up the ginnery so that prices can improve. With such a facility, prices could rise from the current Sh52 to over Sh500 per kilo, and more farmers would be encouraged to grow cotton,” Kilango said. He was speaking during a stakeholders’ forum when he met officials from the state department of Cooperatives yesterday.
He noted that officials from the region had already agreed on Yatta Sub County as a central location for the ginnery, given its proximity to the surrounding counties and its role in the ongoing revival of cotton farming. According to Kilango, cotton production across the six counties is sufficient to sustain a ginnery, with over 3,000 farmers actively engaged in cotton cultivation.
Francis Kilango (center), the Chairman Lower Eastern Region cotton farmers Association with other officials from the region during a recent stakeholder’s forum in Machakos town
However, he expressed concern over delays in the supply of seeds, noting that the planting season was approaching, and farmers had yet to receive seeds with just two weeks before the expected rains. “The rainy season is almost here, and farmers are still waiting for seeds. They have prepared their farms but are waiting for intervention,” he said.
The farmers called on the government to champion the revival of the cotton sector in a manner similar to efforts made for sugar, coffee, and tea, to restore hope and drive growth in cotton farming.