State should breathe life into cotton sector

Shadrack Kiptanok at his farm in Kapsiya village in Salawa Baringo County on August 22, 2015. He is among the only three remaining cotton farmers in Kerio valley after more than a thousand farmers quit the venture due to poor prices. (Photo: Kipsang Joseph/Standard)

Between 1984-85, Kenya’s cotton production peaked at 38,000 metric tons of seed cotton. Thirty-two years later, Kenya is producing only 15,700 tons of seed cotton, creating about 5,240 tons of lint. This tumbling spiral must serve as a wakeup call to the policy makers and cotton farmers. Because Kenya needs double the lint being produced, it ends up importing the deficit.

Cotton provides yet another example of a lucrative local market that doesn’t optimally benefit small scale farmers. This market is even more rewarding because it is inclusive of US through the Africa Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA). There should be a bridge between this market and small scale farmers so that they can voluntarily return to cotton farming in their multitudes.