The National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN) has appealed to the Federal Government for the establishment of National Cotton, Textile and Garment Development Council to strengthen coordination, boost production and marketing of the produce.
Alhaji Hassan Buhari, National Secretary of the Association made the appeal during the Cotton Master Sampling and Production Meeting in Zaria on Friday.
Buhari made the appeal while presenting his paper ‘ Cotton Production: Marketing, Challenges and Pathways for recovery’.
He said the establishment of the Council was imperative as it would buttress the development of cotton sector.
“The council when established, shall provide the necessary support to cotton industry development through appropriate service in cotton production, research, extension and training, financial assistance and other support service.
“The council shall also prescribe and strictly enforce regulations and quality control standards needed to safeguard cotton growers,” he said.
The scribe said the CTG development council was to serve as the country’s cotton development authority and would be committed to innovate and make cotton production competitive to increase the farmers income, and generate foreign exchange revenue.
The National Secretary expressed the association’s appreciation to President Muhammad Buhari, for including cotton into Anchor Borrowers Programme.
He said the Anchor Borrowers Scheme has provided completed linkages between farmers and genaries; between the genaries and textile industry.
He said the association further appeals to the Federal Government to sustain the scheme to boost the production.
Earlier, Prof. Ado Yusuf, Deputy Director, Institute for Agricultural Research (IAR) said meeting was convened to set the standard for uniform seed cotton grading to meet international market requirements.
He said the meeting would also review production, quality and marketing issues, related challenges and possible solutions.
He noted that the cotton industry had witnessed successive government interventions, but the desired transformation to place Nigeria among the comity of cotton producing nations was yet to be achieved.
In his remarks , Alhaji Mohammed Tilli, Deputy Director, Produce, Kebbi State Ministry of Agriculture urged government to replicate the efforts put on rice and maize in the cotton sector
This he said would to scale up cotton production.
