On the 15 and 16 November, ITC, with the participation of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), organised a two-day workshop in Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania for a group of 15 cotton stakeholders from Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The workshop was for selected East and Southern African cotton stakeholders in order to enable them to share lessons learned during the implementation of the cotton component of the EU-financed All ACP Agricultural Commodities Programme (AAACP) as well as to discuss ideas for regional initiatives along the cotton value chain.
Participants shared their experiences and the results achieved under the programme. Results ranged from increased cotton exports (directly and indirectly), greater south-south cooperation partnerships within Africa and between Africa and Asia, the skill development of farmer and ginner associations and even policy changes, including the introduction of contract farming, or new legislation on bale packaging, to mention just a few of the achievements.
Matthias Knappe, ITC Programme Manager for Cotton, Textiles and Clothing, represented the organization at the workshop. He said, “The results of our facilitating work have been tangible, including higher prices for farmers as well as ginners in partnership with preferred customers. We laid the foundation for change from a production-oriented towards a market-oriented cotton sector and are convinced that with the existing entrepreneurial spirit in the region substantial change for good is possible in the cotton sector in Africa."
You can find out more about ITC’s work in the
Cotton sector on this website.