Reviving cotton production, the Zamfara State example. By Florence N. Chetden

       

“The new agricultural policy being implemented by the Federal Government is aimed at addressing our failures in the 1970s and to encourage public private partnership so that agriculture becomes a business.”

Stock of unprocessed cotton at the resuscitated Cotton Ginnery, Gusau.

 

The Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, disclosed this recently at the resuscitated Cotton Ginnery, Gusau, when the National Good Governance Team undertook an inspection tour of projects executed by the Federal, State and Local Governments in Zamfara State.

The Minister further revealed that some of the measures put in place to actualize the policy include the setting up of Agricultural Boards and making funds accessible through the Bank of Industries to encourage farmers and entrepreneurs.  He promised to make an appeal to the Federal Executive Council to assist ginners with funds through the Export Expansion Grant.

He commended the producers and noted that the cotton and groundnut pyramids will come back and Nigeria will soon take her pride of place in the production and exportation of these cash crops if the large scale and chain of production is sustained.
Speaking during the visit, the owner of the ginnery, Alhaji Saidu, said the ginnery, which is one of the fifteen (15) ginneries in the State, presently has in store about 1,200 tons of cotton and has the capacity to produce 2000 tons.  According to him, the Ginnery purchases the cotton from the farmers and processes it into finished products for use by the textile industries in Zamfara and Kaduna.

Although Alhaji Saidu says that cotton production dropped in the past three years, the country which was known for its high production of cotton and groundnuts and with the iconic display of the pyramids to show for it, started witnessing a downward slide in production from the late 1970s leading to the total disappearance of the pyramids in the 1990s. Agriculture, particularly, cotton and groundnut production as well as export then were the main stay of the Nigerian economy.

The discovery of oil changed the equation in the Nigerian economy as the country gradually began to drift into a mono economy heavily dependent on oil exploration and export in the 1990s to the neglect of other sectors including agriculture and solid minerals.  The neglect of the other sectors of the economy has had its toll on the Nigerian economy more so as the country runs a federal system of government with the federating 36 States and a Federal Capital Territory, looking up to the federal government for their share of federation accruals to undertake development programmes.

As Nigeria entered the Millennium, a new dimension was added to the practice of the mono – economy.  Resource control took center stage with the oil producing areas of the country that make up the Niger Delta Area, demanding for more allocation of revenue derived from oil.   Oil, national development and resource control have been at the front burners and issues of discuss in the nation’s print and electronic media, as well as political discuss.  In the midst of these, the different regions of the country are beginning to look at ways to bring about regional development based on what the regions can produce to earn revenue and hence add economic value to the country as opposed to undue reliance on Federal Allocations.

Bales of processed cotton at the Resuscitated Cotton Ginnery, Gusau

It is in the light of this development, that we can appreciate the pyramids coming back into the Nigerian economy as a revenue earner for the country.  In the case of resuscitating cotton production and the ginneries, a value chain is already being created. The 15 ginneries in Gusau, apart from being a ready market for the cotton farmers in the State, process the cotton to feed our textile industries, thus creating jobs and reviving the textiles.  This should be the case with all the ginneries in the country.

To make this a reality, both the farmers and the industrialists need government intervention to boost the production chain.  Expressing their views on how to resuscitate cotton production, Alhaji Saidu as well as the Agricultural Zonal Coordinator for the North–West, Dr. Leo Nyam,   said that Government’s intervention should be through the provision of seeds, pesticides, grants and infrastructural developments such as roads and electricity.  These, they believe are crucial to cotton production and will help boost the production capacity of the farmers and ginners to provide the raw materials needed for the nation’s textiles to function.

The role of the Governments of the cotton producing States and the Federal Government in the production chain is very important.  They should provide the enabling environment for the textile industry to become functional. The efforts being made by the Zamfara State Government to procure seeds from Benin Republic and the establishment of a Cotton Production Agency for the cotton producers in the State are quite commendable.  Equally the Federal Government should be able to make the export expansion grant (EEG), accessible to the ginners to encourage large scale production.

It is pertinent at this stage in our quest for development, for governments at all tiers to pull resources together and channel them towards the provision of needed infrastructure  and grants that will keep the cotton production chain running in order to revive the economic activities that will bring about development.  Then, and only then, can the crop take its rightful place in job creation, revenue generation and as a commodity for export.

 

Florence N. Chetden is a Deputy-Director of Information, Field Operations Division, Federal Ministry of Information, Abuja.