West Nile cotton price up to sh800/kg
Feb 12, 2008
FOR the the first time in 10 years, cotton farmers in West Nile are receiving over sh800 per kilogramme due to the entry of a third purchasing firm, Rest Limited Nebbi.
By Frank Mugabi
FOR the the first time in 10 years, cotton farmers in West Nile are receiving over sh800 per kilogramme due to the entry of a third purchasing firm, Rest Limited Nebbi.
Rest was registered last year after the Government abolished zoning to allow open competition. The company joined traditional purchasing “giants†Copcot East Africa and Olam.
The Government, through the Cotton Development Organisation, issued an indicative price for the current marketing season. The cost of a kilogramme of conventional cotton was fixed at sh600, twice higher the price in 2006, while organic cotton attracts a 20% increment. The season started in December and is expected to end in March.
The vice-chairman of Parombo business community, Fabiano Okello, said zoning could partly be blamed for hampering economic development in Nebbi because many buyers had no access to the market.
Nebbi is the largest cotton producing area in Uganda and has two of the largest cotton ginneries in the country.
During that time, there were also embargoes on transportation of cotton from one region to another. For example, if you bought cotton from West Nile, you wouldn’t take it for ginning in Lango, Okello said.
Copcot and Olam purchase organic cotton, while Rest buys conventional cotton, which is grown with fertilisers.
George Othuba, the chairman of Rest, said they buy conventional cotton because they want to offer an opportunity to farmers who grow the crop in areas where it can’t do well without pesticides.
FOR the the first time in 10 years, cotton farmers in West Nile are receiving over sh800 per kilogramme due to the entry of a third purchasing firm, Rest Limited Nebbi.
Rest was registered last year after the Government abolished zoning to allow open competition. The company joined traditional purchasing “giants†Copcot East Africa and Olam.
The Government, through the Cotton Development Organisation, issued an indicative price for the current marketing season. The cost of a kilogramme of conventional cotton was fixed at sh600, twice higher the price in 2006, while organic cotton attracts a 20% increment. The season started in December and is expected to end in March.
The vice-chairman of Parombo business community, Fabiano Okello, said zoning could partly be blamed for hampering economic development in Nebbi because many buyers had no access to the market.
Nebbi is the largest cotton producing area in Uganda and has two of the largest cotton ginneries in the country.
During that time, there were also embargoes on transportation of cotton from one region to another. For example, if you bought cotton from West Nile, you wouldn’t take it for ginning in Lango, Okello said.
Copcot and Olam purchase organic cotton, while Rest buys conventional cotton, which is grown with fertilisers.
George Othuba, the chairman of Rest, said they buy conventional cotton because they want to offer an opportunity to farmers who grow the crop in areas where it can’t do well without pesticides.