President of the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria, Comrade John Adaji, has said the closure of textile industries and insecurity have crippled cotton production, especially in the Northern part of Nigeria.
Speaking with LEADERSHIP in Kaduna, Adaji also identified lack of incentives to cotton farmers as many of the farmers have abandoned cotton farming and moved to other areas of agriculture.
Adaji said, “Let me start with how cotton production started in the North. The first textile industry in the North was Kaduna Textiles Limited (KTL) in 1957. Before, they exported cotton to the British. The northern region then decided and said there was a need to add value to the cotton here.
“The textile industries that were established then started buying cotton. We have textile, garment and cotton. Our farmers in those days were farming cotton and textiles industries were buying and the farmers were getting incentives but now is history. When there was incentive for growing cotton, the farmers were busy farming and planting cotton.”
“The cotton farming in the north is not much if at all the cotton farming is still going on as many farmers moved to other agricultural areas because of the closure of textiles industries in Kaduna and the entire north. The textile industries that were the only vibrant sector for massive employment to our youths are no longer functioning and the youths are becoming more unemployed,” he said.
On how to revive the cotton, Comrade Adaji said the government must muster the political will to implement its policies for textile industries to bounce back.
“The federal government should have political will to implement its policies for the textile industries to bounce back. The government should also address the insecurity confronting farmers in the north, our farmers cannot go to farm and they are the producers of cotton.
The government should also evaluate and monitor its policies on the revival of textile industries, this will bring back cotton production. I can tell you that for now Niger and these other neighbouring countries are importing cotton,” he said.
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