… despite potential to share from the $3 trillion global industry
Nigeria’s cotton industry is fast sliding towards extinction on account of the use of poor seeds and a shrinking local market, despite the incentives of an alluring $3 trillion global industry.
Many of Nigeria’s cotton farmers have consequently shifted to growing other crops.
Key players in the sector who spoke with BusinessDay, attributed the decline in cotton production to low quality inputs like seeds, inadequate finance for farmers and death of the country’s textile industry
“A lot of farmers are abandoning their farms because they do not have quality seeds to plant. Majority of the cotton seeds in the market are of low quality,” Anibe Achimugu, president, National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN) told BusinessDay in a telephone interview.
“There is also inadequate access to finance for cotton farmers and the little funding that comes, often comes after the planting season which is late.
“We need to start treating cotton as a national asset by emulating the Anchor Borrowers’ Scheme for rice. As we speak, there is no cotton standard in the country that is recognised internationally. Our cotton is considered to be substandard in the international market,” Achimugu said.
Nigeria’s cotton production is put at 51,000 metric tonnes on 253,000 hectares, with average yield of 202kg per hectare, while global cotton consumption is put at 24 million metric tonnes, according to International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) 2016 data.
Cotton, which used to be one of Nigeria’s major cash crops in the 70’s was not even among the top 15 agricultural commodities exported in the third quarter of 2016, data from the National Bureau of Statistics show.
“A lot of farmers are no longer growing cotton because of low patronage and lack of inputs. The inputs we get from the government usually come very late. When you delay in planting cotton, it affects the productivity,” said Abubakar Shiyaki, a cotton farmer in Niger state.
“When we buy our seeds ourselves, we only buy low quality seeds. As a result of all these challenges, a lot of farmers growing cotton are now growing other crops because they cannot break-even with cotton,” Shiyaki said.
The Federal Government in the 2017 proposed budget, has set aside N51 billion to promote the development of the country’s garment and textile industry.
Data from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment shows that between 1980 and 2016, about 145 companies operating in the textile sector had shut down, due to policy somersaults, poor research and development (R&D), lack of competition in the supply of cotton (raw material), smuggling and poor power supply, among others.
Salmanu Abdullahi, chairman, Ginners Association of Nigeria, said “the total collapse of cotton production was as a result of government neglect of agriculture. We however believe that things would be different now that there is renewed commitment to the sector.
“Government needs to also address the issue of seeds, so that farmers can improve their yields,” said Abdullahi.
Stakeholders have blamed the failure to increase cotton output on ineffective government structures that do not allow effective and efficient translation of technology between research institutes and cotton farmers.
Ibrahim Umar Abubakar, director, Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) Zaria said, “the failure of extension service delivery in the country has contributed to the failure of cotton farmers. Farmers need to be trained on good handling practice, modern farming techniques and technology.”
Ahmed said a total of N85.17 billion was withdrawn from the ECA for distribution amongst the three tiers of government within the quarter, leaving a balance of $2.89billion balance as at September 20.
The 2016 budget had a total appropriation of N6.06trillion with recurrent (Non Debt ) expenditure at N2.67trillion, debt servicing at N1.5 trillion, statutory transfers of N351.37 billion and capital expenditure of N1.587 trillion.
The government spent N586.24billion on its non-debt recurrent expenditure in the third quarter, with a decrease of N75.36billion below its third quarter estimate of N661.60 billion.
A total of N87.84billion was released as statutory transfers in the third quarter of 2016. A breakdown of the actual transfers in the third quarter shows that N10.26billion was released to the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC); N17.50bn was released to the National Judicial Council (NJC); N19.28 billion was released to the Universal Basic Education (UBEC); N11.25billion was released to the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC); N28.75billion was released to the National Assembly; N0.50 billion was realeased to the Public
Complaints Commission; N0.30billion was released to the Human Rights Commission.
“It is worthy to note that quarterly releases under this subhead are made on demand by the beneficiaries, subject to budgetary provisions and availability of funds” the minister said.
On capital releases, Ahmed said as at October 19 2016, a total of N753.7 billion out of the appropriated N1.59 trillion was released for priority projects and programmes identified as contributing to the Strategic Implementation of the budget.
Also N318.35 billion was released and cash backed in the first quarter, N77.93 billion in the second quarter and 357.38 billion naira in the third quarter.
According to the minister, a review of the utilisation performance as at 19 October 2016 showed that out of the total capital budget appropriation of N1.587trillion, N753.7 billion (47.5%) has been released and cash backed with N403.4billion (54%) have so far been utilised by 30 out of 46 MDAs reported by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation.
