Reviving the Cotton Industry in Nyanza

Who said that Nyanza region is only known for fishing? This is the perception that has been there for a long period of time as this is one of the regions in Kenya that is known for its high production of Fish from Lake Victoria.

What most of us are yet to know is that this is also a region that is rich in the production of cotton. This is one region that if well invested in, can get back to the time when cotton contributed largely in the growth of the Kenyan economy.

A lot of investment opportunities are in this industry and need to be well ventured into. The whole idea around the revival of cotton industry in this region might include introducing different pools of technology and cotton varieties to the locals so that they try out new technological farming methods that might increase their yields.

Most farmers here are used to the traditional and outdated methods of cotton farming thus the reason for low production rates. These same farmers need to be enlightened on the crop management. A training center can be set up, where all the training that concern cotton farming will take place.

Read: Cotton farming in Machakos County

A cotton processing plant can also be put up to make it easy for the farmers to have direct access to the market for their produce rather that going through middlemen who tend to take much of their profits in the name of getting them market.

For a long period of time, cotton production had gone down due to the importation of second hand clothes and the variety of cotton grown in the country is of low quality. There is need for the improvement of a variety of cotton seeds for farmers that will add value to the cotton chain and ensure that farmers are able to get good quality fiber, cotton seed oil and cotton seed cake.

There is need for revival of cotton ginneries since most of them collapsed some years back in Western Kenya that affected nearly 10,000 farmers in Kisumu, Homabay, Migori, Siaya and Busia counties who were forced to start transporting lint to processors in Makueni, hundreds of kilometres away. These farmers need investors to ease their work and motivate them to increase their farming on the crop.