kenya: Extension Challenge for Cotton Farmers

DEVELOPMENT

Extension Challenge for Cotton Farmers

By John Kamau
AS the cotton industry limps back to life in Kenya, experts are warning that
only a concerted effort by all stakeholders would see farmers reap benefits
once again and help sustain the industry.
Ever since the industry hit the ground and many ginneries closed shop in the
western Kenyan cotton belt of Nyanza, farmers who had lost hope are slowly
streaming back.
Mary Aliendo, a small-scale farmer at Madiany village in Bondo, is one of
the many farmers who are benefiting from a modified extension approach being
employed by the National Agriculture and Livestock Extension Programme
(NALEP) in the cotton growing zones of Nyanza in a bid to sustain the crop
production.
"The new approach, unlike the past, is helping strengthen participatory
methods for ownership and sustainability by use of farmer groups - a
situation where the farmers now own both the problems and solutions", says
Bondo District NALEP officer, Tom Oguto.
Based on positive experiences of the National Soil and Water Conservation
Programme implemented for 27 years with assistance from Swedish
International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) the modified approach is
recognising the role of groups for cost effectiveness and coverage while at
the same time incorporating gender concerns.
Experts say that the success of the new extension initiative - and with the
support of other stakeholders in the cotton industry - could be the
much-awaited spark for the revival of the cotton sector.
"The absence of strong producer associations in the area is one handicap we
are tackling", adds Oguto, "but we need the entry of all stakeholders to
make increased cotton growing a new reality".
A recent study carried out by the Kenya Institute of Policy Research and
Analysis (KIPPRA) warned that the future of the cotton industry could be
bleak if different industry players operated differently of each other.
According to the current development plan the government proposes to
increase cotton production in Nyanza and western provinces to 56,000 ha by
the year 2005 with an anticipated yield estimate of 17,000 tonnes, a
challenge to extension officers and other stakeholders.
Ever since the industry collapsed due to dumping of second hand clothes and
imposition of quota in the US market, the annual lint production stagnated
at the pre-liberalisation level of 20,000 bales far below the annual
domestic demand of 120,000 to 140,000 bales. The current national
initiatives are to increase production to 370,000 bales per year to meet the
challenges of the markets presented by the African Growth and Opportunity
Act (AGOA), an Act that abolished the quotas imposed on the US market.
The cotton hope is pegged on an AGOA rule where in two years time it will
become mandatory for garment makers exporting to the US market to source
fabric locally or from other AGOA accredited countries. Some 36 sub-Saharan
African Nations are currently eligible for duty and quota –free entry of
their goods, including textiles into the US market
But as witnessed in the Bondo region the path to recovery could also be
thorny if other stakeholders and non-governmental organisations do not
support the sector and help convince farmers to take up a crop they had
abandoned once again.
There are a few areas that farmers would want addressed.
“ Cotton growing is picking up as you can see. But it will certainly do well
if the farmers can be paid cash for their produce” says Mary Aliendo, a
small-scale cotton farmer.
That cotton growing is returning to Bondo and creating a living for local
people once again is not in doubt. The National Agriculture and Livestock
Programme (NALEP) has distributed free seeds to farmers as an incentive to
get them back to growing cotton.
"We need other financial support to buy farm implements, and to organise
ourselves into strong organisations for marketing strategies", says Aliendo,
echoing a feeling in Mandiany village.
At Madiany expertise is being provided by NALEP with support from Sida.
“ Farmers are being trained to look for alternatives for themselves and
given the freedom to exercise their choices,” says Mrs. Odhingo Abigail, the
Bondo home economics officer.
In Bondo alone some forty-nine extension units have been set up and through
the Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) courses farmers have learnt to
switch to cotton as a new alternative.
Seeds from the Kibos Research Station are now readily available and Bondo
area has a total of 1500 hectares under the crop currently compared to 945
hectares in 2001.
"This is a good indicator that cotton farming is on the increase", says
Oguto, a NALEP officer.
Oguto explains that Nalep, a Sida-funded programme within the Ministry of
Agriculture and Rural Development, has mobilised the communities into
opportunities and alternatives that are available in the area adding that as
a result the people have started to realise their local potential.
"After we address the problem of marketing and payment we will have no
problem", says a local cotton farmer.
At the moment cotton is retailing at shillings 28 a kilo where farmers are
enjoined in a cooperative and as little as sh 20 when they go through middle
men.
"The good thing with cotton is that it can be inter-cropped with others
thereby giving farmers a chance to utilise their farms.
The remaining Kenyan cotton industry has relied on cotton from Tanzania ever
since farmers quit planting. It is estimated that if the new cotton growing
campaign succeeds some 50,000 direct jobs will be created countrywide and
some 150,000 more jobs in the auxiliary sector.
Already the United States Trade and Development Agency (TDA) has pledged to
give shs 24 million to assist Kenya revive the cotton industry and at the
moment some 36 new factories have sprung up in the countryside with
indications that the industry could net US$ 200 million in exports by the
end of this year compared to US$70 million last year.
But while that is being done it is at the community level that the
stakeholders could help the likes of Mary Aliendo get access to revolving
credit funds managed by the communities themselves rather than relying on
the ministry of agriculture and rural development which at the moment
provides training and capacity building for emerging groups. (Rights
Features)