Xinhua, China
LUSAKA, June 11 (Xinhua)–Value addition to Africa’s cotton is vital if the continent is to benefit from its exports of cotton, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) said here Wednesday.
The Africa’s largest regional body says in a report on trade-related programs that though Africa produces about 3 million tons of cotton out of the 26 million tons produced in the world, most of it is exported in raw form especially to Asian countries where value addition is done.
The report noted that there was need for increased investment both in the production and value addition in the cotton industry.
“Adding value to cotton through spinning, weaving and textile manufacturing provides employment and improves livelihoods to a large segment of the COMESA region, ” the report said, adding that the cotton and textile industry offers one of the greatest opportunities for creating viable and sustainable regional value chains on the African continent.
The regional body has since established a platform where cotton growers and textile industries can discuss on how to form partnerships.
The African Cotton and Textile Industries Federation (ACTIF) would aim at forming effective public and private sector partnerships in the cotton industry.
The platform would also be one at which information sharing, which is one of the constraints facing the sector, would be done.
