Cotton brings in sh32b

Jul 21, 2008

UGANDA earned $19.24m (about 32b) in foreign exchange, the Cotton Development Organisation (CDO) has disclosed.

By Ibrahim Kasita

UGANDA earned $19.24m (about 32b) in foreign exchange, the Cotton Development Organisation (CDO) has disclosed.

Hilary Magunda, the CDO board secretary, told the parliamentary agricultural committee last week that this was in spite of the decline in productivity.

Muganda, however, disclosed
that last year’s output of 65,000 bales of cotton fetched an estimated sh25.16b to households.

“En-mass introduction of organic cotton in the major cotton belt of northern Uganda, West Nile and
parts of Pallisa, without adequate training of farmers and lack of organic pesticides, fertilisers and extension services affected the crop,” he told the legislators.

This, he explained, led to decline in productivity per unit area from 400 to 500 kilogrammes per acre to an average of 50 to 150 kilogrammes.

Muganda also attributed the reduction in cotton production
to “the shift from cotton production to other competing crops like sorghum, rice, maize and groundnuts, especially in eastern Uganda.”

“The sum total of the above was a drop in national production from 134,000 bales in 2006/07 to 65,000 bales in 2007/08.” Ongoing activities include provision of quality cotton seeds.

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