The National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN) has appealed to the Federal Government to establish a National Cotton, Textile and Garment Development Council.
It said that the Council would strengthen coordination, boost production and the marketing of cotton as well as enhance the development of the sector generally.
National Secretary of the association, Alhaji Hassan Buhari, who spoke today, November 27, at the Cotton Master Sampling and Production meeting in Zaria, Kaduna State said: “the Council, when established, shall provide the necessary support to cotton industry development through appropriate services in production, research, extension and training, financial assistance and other support services.
“It shall also prescribe and strictly enforce regulations and quality control needed to safeguard cotton growers.”
Hassan Buhari said that the Council would also serve as the country’s cotton development authority and would be committed to innovate and make cotton production competitive to increase farmers’ income, and generate foreign exchange revenue.
The national secretary expressed the association’s appreciation to President Muhammad Buhari for including cotton in government’s Anchor Borrowers Programme.
He said that the Anchor Borrowers Scheme had provided completed linkages between farmers and ginneries and between ginneries and the textile factories.
He also appealed to the Federal Government to sustain the scheme to boost production.
Earlier, the Deputy Director, Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR), Professor Ado Yusuf, said that the meeting was convened to set the standard for uniform seed cotton grading to meet international market requirements.
The meeting also reviewed production, quality and marketing issues, related challenges and possible solutions.
Professor Yusuf noted that the cotton industry had witnessed successive government interventions, and that the desired transformation to place Nigeria among the comity of cotton producing nations is yet to be achieved.
This was even as the Deputy Director, Produce, Kebbi State Ministry of Agriculture, Alhaji Mohammed Tilli, called on the government to replicate efforts put on rice and maize in cotton.
This, he said, would help to scale up cotton production.
Source: NAN.
