Low Production of Cotton Main Cause of Rivatex Woes

Shortage of cotton production in the country has led to low production rates in the recent past at Rivatex East Africa, Moi University’s textile mills.

From an annual production of 70,000 bales, the company is currently producing only 10,000 bales and this may in turn risk the continuity of operations. Underfunding from the government and absence of foreign donors to sustain its operations have also been mentions as reasons for the company to operates below its required capacity.

“Acute cotton shortage has impacted negatively on our operation capacity yet we have invested more than 300 million shillings in upgrading machines to produce materials that meet international standards,” said Thomas Kipkurgat, Managing Director of Rivatex.

Cotton production went down since most farmers have abandoned the crop due to low incomes. This forced the government to increase producer prices for every kilogram of cotton from 42 shillings to 50 shillings as a move of wooing farmers into embarking on cotton farming.

Kenya, whose production of the crop has dropped to historic low, has been paying the lowest amount for a kilo of cotton compared to other regional countries like Uganda and Tanzania. The cotton sector hit the headwinds from the early 1990s after the entry into the market of second hand clothes, which spelt the death knell for the local textile industry.

The shortage of cotton has seen spinners resort to imports in order to meet the growing demand for textile in the country.

In the 1980’s, the country’s cotton industry sustained a well-functioning manufacturing sector which later collapsed due to the heavy weight that was caused by importation of second hand clothes. This left many people unemployed as the industry was not in a position to support the numbers while experiencing losses.

Out of about 52 cotton mills that used to operate producing 70,000bales, currently only 15 have remain operational.  Most local textiles are exported to the international markets under the duty-free imports from low income countries under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) pact.

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