Tanzania: `Poor grade cotton denies Tanzania 12bn/- a year`

Tanzania loses between 8bn/- and 12bn/- per annum on the sale of its low-grade, poor quality cotton to buyers in the world market.

This was said by Agriculture, Food Security and Cooperatives minister Prof Jumanne Maghembe at the Eighth Annual Cotton Stakeholders Summit held at Bank of Tanzania Hall in Mwanza on Saturday.

The situation is a result of actions by unscrupulous farmers who pollute locally grown cotton according to the minister, who said this has given Tanzanian cotton bad reputation in global markets.

He argued that farmers in Mwanza, Shinyanga and Tabora regions do not cultivate cotton in line with required global standards, making quality control a big challenge.

Farmers in some areas in the districts of Bariadi, Maswa, Meatu and Kishapu practice mixed farming, planting cotton and maize during the same cycle, he said. He added that this affects both the quantity and quality of their harvests.

“We need to help them stop this,” he said adding, “because maize plants are taller, they fight for nutrients with cotton and block essential sunlight, with the result that the farmer gets very little cotton and very little maize.”

Moreover, the pesticides used on cotton are harmful to human beings, and could affect them if they ate contaminated maize, according to the Agricultural minister. It’s a practice that needs to be stopped, according to Prof Maghembe.

He instructed the Tanzania Cotton Board (TCB) to work with its officials to enforce statutes governing production of quality and pure cotton to mitigate the financial loses Tanzania incurrs in the world market.

He further said that the Board has to work on a campaign to promote local cotton as a high quality alternative to international buyers.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN