The journey of cotton processing in Kenya
Author: Dr. Francisca Odundo; Editor: Teresa Lubano
Date: March 1, 2023
The visit
I had anticipated that the area around the entrance to the textile factory would be filled with an unwelcome cacophony of ear-splitting noises coming from steam-belching machine engines. There wasn’t any. Simply put – none. A terrifyingly unnerving, deafening silence engulfed me. I was unsure. Was it okay to enter the building? Was something wrong with it? Or were they being cautious and delaying the activity I had been eagerly anticipating until I was inside the beast’s belly? Loud sounds have never been my forte, and yet here I was, almost wishing them upon myself, if only to feel psychologically comfortable with happenings that have gone against my expectations.
It had cost the investors in this sizable textile factory millions of dollars to make this investment. I had anticipated seeing hundreds of bales of unprocessed cotton arrive in this blowroom from farmers in the requisite cotton-growing regions of the Kenyan Republic to validate the expenditure of funds. They were to be ready to be devoured by the machines. Prepared to be primed, opened, cleaned, stretched, entangled, blended. Virgin cotton fibre, undergoing whatever action it required in a bid to turn it into fine Kenyan cotton textiles.
Putting on a brave smile, I expressed my concern to the guide and proceeded to enquire what could be happening. I was expecting to hear that the factory was experiencing some sort of downtime. The explanation I received was not what I anticipated. Cotton lint, a necessary raw material for the production of yarn and eventually textiles, was not readily available. Not right now, not yesterday, and definitely not in the coming days. Kenya did not produce enough cotton to fuel the hungry factory machines.
A multiplicity of unfortunate situations had led to these circumstances. Here we look at a few of the intangible causes.
Government regulation of Cotton Lint and Seed
By virtue of the Cotton Lint and Seed Marketing Act of 1955, the Cotton Lint and Seed Marketing Board was established. Its main purpose was to procure lint and seed from ginneries and advise government on prices to be paid by cotton ginners to growers. Over time, more regulations that were implemented to control the industry were rolled out by the government. This included, but was not restricted to, the Cotton Amendment Bill of 2006, which created a framework to support and reorganize the cotton industry. Closely after came the Crops Act (No. 16 of 2013). The previous regulations were replaced by the Crops (Fibre Crops) Regulations, 2016. They were to facilitate the formulation of policies and regulations governing and the marketing and distribution of cotton among other industry related issues.
Commodity market
Cotton is a commodity that is subject to the vagaries of the local and international Commodities market. First things first, despite the existence of government regulations, there are licensed and unlicensed traders and ginneries who trade in cotton on an extemporaneous basis. There is no set script for their business models, preferring to deal with the farmers individually. There are times when cotton farmers are situated far from ginneries. They do not have an efficient, cost-effective way to transport their crops to ginneries due to poor transportation arrangements and occasionally poor road and transport networks. They are coerced by the prevailing circumstances to sell their produce crops to middlemen who do not pay them economically sustainable prices.
Financing small holder cotton growing
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, coerced by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank who loaned the Kenya Government money, the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) better known by Kenyans as the Stomach Adjustment Programmes, for the economic hardships they brought about were introduced. Prior to the SAPs cotton commodity production-to-market chains were under the control of state organizations. They provided subsidies for farm inputs, extension workers for farmers, credit facilities, and organised the buying of drops from the farmers. Under SAPs, the government withdraw from providing any tangible support to the farmers and anticipated that this role would be taken over by the free market. This did not turn out as government had planned and expected. The private sector did not take up these reigns, and where it did, its efforts were thwarted by farmers. This led to low yields and poor crop husbandry practices among farmers.
In order that they get adequate cotton supplies for their ginneries to run effectively, some ginneries resort to supplying the farmers with seeds on credit, with the understanding that the cost of the seed shall be recovered from the farmers’ total payments when the cotton crop is delivered to the ginnery. Some ginneries choose not to engage in this practice. This sets the stage for farmers selling their crop to the non-credit providing ginneries in a bid to fraudulently reap without paying for seed. There is no zoning system in place to stop farmers from going outside their geographical contract area or contract. Often, there is also no concession system in place to compensate the ginneries who distributed seed on credit to the farmers. These only serves to dis-incentivize ginneries form assisting farmers. A deadly loop of deception that spells eventual doom for financing of the small holder cotton growing industry.
Cotton Imports
The guide at the factory informed me that the few bales of cotton I saw spotted around the blow room entrance had been imported from Tanzania. He went on to explain that we could not rely on them for a steady, assured crop supply. He went on to share an intriguing model with me. He asked, What if a foreign nation that was a major supplier of finished textiles and apparel to Kenya decided to lock us into buying their textiles? What if they decided to kill our attempts at developing our textile industry by offering the Tanzanians more than we could afford to pay them for their cotton?
Our industries would close down and die due to lack of raw material. Note that they would only have to do this for a few years. On the other hand, as a developing country, we would probably not have the funds or wherewithal to try to re-start our industries after they stopped paying the Tanzanians top dollar for their cotton lint. With this cycle, we would remain dependent on them for a very long time for textiles and textiles based products.
We would earn more if the entire supply chain – from the farmers to ginneries, spinners and textile mills to the final textile and apparel manufacturers – were all supplied from local cotton.
– Hon. Joseph Nyaga, former Kenyan Cabinet Minister and MP
He said that because of this, we needed to develop our own local sources of cotton lint. We needed to control our entire supply chain. As eloquently stated by Joseph Nyaga, a former Cabinet Minister and Member of Parliament in an article for the NATION Newspapers on Wednesday, October 07, 2020 titled, “To grow Kenya’s textile industry, we must revive cotton farming”, “We would earn more if the entire supply chain – from the farmers to ginneries, spinners and textile mills to the final textile and apparel manufacturers – were all supplied from local cotton”. The informative article can be found here.
Why Poly textiles for UndaMeta, a sustainable brand? The sobering truth
Where does this place UndaMeta in the arena of sustainability? Sustainable production dictates that we should use organic raw materials in its various forms. However, as a nation in the throes of lack of raw materials, we have our hands tied. We have found ourselves working with a supplier who currently can only supply synthetic POD textiles. We have made the decision to at the very least begin the journey towards sustainable production with what is available and produce only that which is to be consumed. Along with this, we are also working with a supplier who is prototyping the production of cotton-based textiles. We hope you come with us on this journey towards sustainability, albeit step by step. As has often been pointed out by wise sages who have gone before us, a journey of a thousand miles begins with but one step.
References
Gitonga W., Macharia J. M. K., Mungai A., Njue H., Karanja D. K. & Olweny H. (2016). Cotton production constraints, and research interventions in Kenya. Agricultural Research Centre, Mwea Tebere, Cotton Development Authority, Nairobi, CABI Africa; ICRAF Complex; United Nations Avenue, Gigiri.
http://kaaa.co.ke/wp-content/u
Nyaga, J. (2020, October). We must revive cotton farming to grow Kenya’s textile industry (Newspaper article). Nation.
https://nation.africa/kenya/bl
Odera, Solomon. (2021). Fibre Crops Directorate & KALRO (Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organisation). The Cotton Handbook.
Republic of Kenya, Nairobi. (2007, January 2). Kenya Gazette Supplement Acts 2006. Special Issue Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 101 (Acts No. 17).
The Crops Act. (2016). The crops (fibre crops) regulations, (No. 16 of 2013). https://infotradekenya.go.ke/m