Origin Africa Magazine

West Africa
embarks on a programme to
adopt HVI testing as the method of
choice when it comes to classing
cotton.
It is within this environment that
the Quality Control Division of
Cotton SA can offer an essential
service and provide a complete
quality profile of the cotton tested,
allowing spinners to use their cotton
on a more cost efficient basis.
HVI fibre testing also provides
useful information to seed breeders,
enabling them to produce
cotton cultivars with characteristics
desired by the spinning industry. Instrument
testing also enables cotton
producers and ginners to sell
their cotton based on reliable and
internationally accepted results. It
enhances the price fetched on the
market and subsequently leads to
improved market access. It goes
without saying that it is essential for
producers, processors and traders
to know exactly what the processing
performance and the quality of
the fibres they are dealing with, are.
Training and transfer of
technology
Against the background of its
accepted credibility in the cotton
industry, the Quality Control Division
is also ideally positioned to
present training courses pertaining
to fibre testing and technology
including the grading and classification
of cotton. These training
courses have successfully been
presented for many years not only
to South African role-players but
also to participants from various
other countries in Africa. Cotton
SA is currently in the process to
expand its training curriculum to
also include the interpretation of
the HVI results and how to use this
as a tool in the marketing or further
processing of cotton.
Evolution and Outlook for the
Cotton Sector in the CFA Zone
BY GÉRALD ESTUR
Gérald Estur
Overview of the Cotton Sector
in the CFA Zone
Cotton is produced in 11 out of the
14 countries of the African Franc
Zone which including Benin, Burkina
Faso, Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea
Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and
Togo. The zone accounts for more
than half of the total cotton output in
Africa.
The “white gold” is a vital cash crop
for smallholder farmers, providing
employment and incomes to millions
of people. It contributes to poverty
alleviation and food security and is an
important source of foreign exchange
earnings.
Production is labor intensive, using
manual or ox-drawn implements and
relatively few chemical inputs. All
seedcotton is handpicked. Production
is homogeneous due to the low
number of seed varieties, primarily
medium-long cotton, suitable for processing
fine ring spun combed yarns).
The crop is grown on some two
million small-scale family farms, is exclusively
rainfed and most producing
areas are landlocked (as far as 1,500
kilometers from the West African
coast).
Cotton has benefited from long
term investment in structured national
commodity chains, vertically integrated
from farm to gin. Altogether there
are 12 cotton ginning companies and
about 100 US made saw-gins in the
eight major producing countries of
the CFA zone.
In contrast with their counterparts
from Eastern and Southern Africa,
CFA cotton benefit from a panseasonal
and pan-territorial minimum
guaranteed price for seed cotton
announced before planting.
JANUARY - MARCH 2016 21