Exports to US help fuel Kenya plans for cotton revival

Nairobi

KENYA plans to revive its cotton industry, a major foreign-exchange earner until the 1980s, amid strong demand for lint from domestic mills and the potential to supply manufacturers exporting clothing and textiles to the United States under a preferential trade deal.

The government is planning training and credit facilities for farmers as part of a bid to restore production that peaked at 38,000 metric tonnes of seed cotton in 1984-85. Kenya currently produces 15,700 tonnes of seed cotton, creating about 5,240 tonnes of lint. Demand for the latter is about 37,000 tonnes, with the shortfall imported from neighbouring countries, according to Fanuel Lubanga, a development manager at the state-run Agriculture and Food Authority.