Kenyan Farmers Returning to Cotton in Droves

The collapse of the Cotton Board of Kenya (CBK) in 1992 drove farmers away from cotton cultivation for nearly 20 years, but current high prices worldwide are bringing most of those growers back. More than 80 percent of the farmers who shifted to other crops are now returning to cotton, according to statements made by Milton Katias, chairman of the Cotton Development Authority (CODA) in Kenya’s Makeuni region, in an article on businessdailyafrica.com.

It’s no surprise that farmers were looking to change crops in 1992. CDK was responsible for regulating cotton prices and providing farmers with seed, pesticides and other necessary inputs, and after its collapse, prices plummeted. Those farmers who tried to grow cotton without the use of fertilizers and pesticides sometimes harvested as little as 5 kg/acre, making it an unsustainable crop.

The establishment of CODA in 2006 started turning the tide, however, and newly optimistic growers began attending cotton cultivation workshops run by the International Cotton Advisory Committee. Cotton farming is still a tough row to hoe, so to speak, given the high costs of seed, pesticides and other inputs, but as Katias says, “the market [for cotton] is there.” The numbers lend credence to the statement, because although Kenyan growers more than doubled their production between 2009 and 2010–from 23,000 bales to more than 49,000–domestic consumption hovers near 180,000 bales, so there is still a strong local demand for the fiber.