Challenges of cotton production in Nigeria
Text by Latifat Opoola @LatifatOpoola
For year’s cotton production (lint and cotton seed) has been a driving force for economic development in Nigeria. The neglect of the agricultural sector during the oil boom years (1970-80s) had a direct impact on the cotton industry.
In the recent years due to poor management and reduced produced production of lint and cotton seed, the cotton sector has slackened. The National Geographic Channel reports that the African Textiles Manufacturers factory in Kano state which employed over 3000 people ten years ago and now employs only one third that amounts.
Due to cheap Chinese imports, the company cannot keep up with the imitations that are being imported into Nigeria. The impacts on the textile industry extend around the globe for other reasons such as climate change. The channel also said Climate change is making the production of key commodities more uncertain and variable.
“When it comes to cotton, it’s having a dramatic impact on water quality and availability. It takes about 20,000 litres of water to make a single T-shirt and a pair of jeans, putting significant pressure on local rivers and freshwater basins”, it stated.
It also added that “Some 70% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with cotton clothing are at the consumer end, and not from growing cotton, transporting it or manufacturing clothing. One way to dramatically reduce GHG emissions is to use cold-water laundry detergent… it can help to reduce energy from washing clothes by as much as 90%.”