ADDIS ABABA: The Ethiopian Textile Development Industry Institute said that it is working to overcome the cotton quality setbacks identified in the national cotton strategy launched two years ago to boost nation’s cotton production.
Mentioning that the institute is taking various measures to tackle the challenges, Mesele Mekuria, Institute’s Cotton Sector Deputy General Director told the Ethiopian Herald that the institute has hired a professional consultant from India to adopt the best experience gained in cotton quality.
Developing grading centers in each production fields is amongst the priority areas as it plays crucial role to minimize the cost of producers as well as helps set prices easily. To this effect, the construction of grading centers is underway.
However, the major challenges of the sector are shortage of foreign currency, inadequate supply of chemical, lack of infrastructure, labor migration, among others. As the sector is capital incentive, financial issues (loan) has also been the top constraints faced in the sector. Likewise, given the fact that exploitation of loan was the other bottleneck, identification of investors keen to engage in the cotton production was performed, he noted.
Though the impact of COVID-19 in the sector is undeniable, Mesele noted that the institute is working tirelessly with stakeholders to protect employees and the business, he said.
The major objective of the strategy is said to be tackling the major constraints that have been hampering the sector in a comprehensive and sustainable manner, according to him.
Being amongest the few value added cotton exporter African countries, the 15 year strategy aims to position Ethiopia as top cotton producer in Africa, it was learnt.
The Ethiopian herald June 10,2020
BY BETELHEM BEDLU
