Chinyere Anyanwu, [email protected]
Genetically modified cotton, a newly developed cotton variety, also known as bt cotton, has been identified as holding the key to the revival of Nigeria’s textile industry in addition to growing the economy, creating jobs and empowering smallholder farmers.
This was the submission of participants at a recent stakeholders interaction in Lagos organised by the National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) in conjunction with the Open Forum for Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB).
The development of the bt cotton became imperative following the demise of the conventional cotton growing sector which used to feed the country’s textile industry with its major raw material. Owing to the neglect of the agriculture sector by government, cotton production suffered a major setback. This, in effect, resulted in the textile sector, which used to be Nigeria’s second largest employer of labour, going moribund with the 180 textile companies existing in the country in the 60s winding down to below 20.
The country, which in the 1970s and early 1980’s was home to Africa’s largest textile industry employing over 450,000 people, subsequently became a heavy importer of textile materials. According to official statistics, textile imported into Nigeria in 2015 was put at $9 million. In 2016, the figure was $6.9 million; in 2017, the country spent $7 million on textile importation while in 2018, the figure stood at $9.7 million. Currently, the country’s textile import bill is above $4 billion annually expended on both textile materials and ready-made clothing.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, in a bid to revamp the textile sector, had early last year, included all types of textile materials in the list of items restricted from accessing foreign exchange for importation through the official window. He, however, promised textile materials importers that CBN would support the importation of cotton lint but insisted that from year 2020, they should commence sourcing all their cotton locally.
Part of moves by the Federal Government to resuscitate the sector was the establishment of NABDA under which the agricultural biotechnology was developed. Research efforts in agricultural biotechnology have given rise to the development of the bt cotton that is pitched to revamp the textile industry. The commercial release of the variety to farmers was implemented this year.
At the NABDA/OFAB stakeholders’ interactive session, the Country Coordinator, OFAB Nigeria, Dr. Rose Gidado, stated that, “the release of bt cotton has the potential to raise thousands of farmers out of extreme poverty particularly in Nigeria. Most of our ginneries have been closed down but with this, they will be revived because they will have quality raw materials to work with, jobs will be created, the GDP will be impacted and foreign exchange can be earned.” The bt cotton has numerous advantages over the conventional cotton. According to experts, it has faster germination and maturation time, higher yield, is pests/insects and disease resistant, heat and drought tolerant and a cost-effective production process.
Its environmental benefits include the reduction of greenhouse gases, reduction of agriculture’s negative impact on the land, and the reduction of use of toxic herbicides and other agro chemicals.
Bt cotton’s economic benefits include over 50 per cent increase in profit for the smallholder farmer, resuscitation of ginneries and textile industry through provision of quality raw materials, increase in the nation’s GDP, opportunity to export and join the global cotton trade, as well as empowerment of farmers. The bt cotton variety also benefits the food sector as the crushed seeds yield healthy oil for human consumption.
Bearing witness to the potential of bt cotton in a chat with Daily Sun, President of National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN), Anibe Achimugu, is upbeat about the opportunities inherent in going full scale with the commercialisation of the variety.
Achimugu said, “so far, it’s been very interesting when compared with the conventional cotton because what we did was to farm them side by side. We have seen faster germination of the bt cotton and it looks healthier and more robust than the conventional cotton. Unfortunately, when we planted, the rains stopped for almost eight months or so but we see that this has not affected the bt cotton.”
Enumerating the economic benefits of bt cotton to national and individual economies, he said, “if we are able to get the expected yield from bt cotton, it means there will be enough cotton and Nigeria’ll be counted among the highest cotton producing countries, at least in West Africa, to start with. It also means that there will be enough raw materials for the value chain to continue to operate. Of course, that translates to jobs and wealth creation.
“For instance, we are expecting that if the yield is good, the farmer will be going home with more money in his pocket and when people have more money, they spend and it triggers producers and manufacturers of other products they buy to keep up production. You can imagine where the textile companies were before; all their contributions to the national economy, so if we now have the raw materials they need and they start producing again, people will go back to work. That will be a plus to the economy and we will even get to the point where we will begin to export the cotton we produce.”
He equally revealed the bt cotton’s potential to curtail or end the farmers’/herdsmen crisis across the country. According to him, when cotton seeds are crushed, they produce oil for human consumption while the residue, which is called cotton cake, is good for animal feed, especially for cattle. He added that, “these clashes we are having here and there because Fulani herdsmen are looking for where to feed their cattle, with cotton cake that will be taken care of and even help reduce their going from place to place looking for pasture.”
Chairman, Lix-Konti Ranch and Industries Ltd, Felix Okonti, a stakeholder in bt cotton sector, stated that, “the beauty of the bt variety is the quality of the yarn produced from it. It is better and the yield is higher so why would we stick to the old variety that doesn’t give the quality and quantity the bt variety gives?” He revealed that bt cotton has been cultivated in commercial quantities in two states of the country and recorded great harvests. He said in Diko area of Niger State, the variety yielded about 6.5 tonnes per hectare, noting that if the fertiliser regime and horticultural protocol are followed, that is, spraying the appropriate amount of pesticides and using the required dosage of fertiliser, the yield could be as much as 7 tonnes per hectare and above.
Okonti sees bt cotton revolutionising the economy, the textile and garment sector and the farmers’ livelihood. He explained: “You can imagine if you are a farmer getting 800kg and you now get 7 tonnes; you know the quantum of money it will bring to your pocket and how it will change your livelihood.”
He added that if the planned empowerment of 250,000 cotton farmers through the CBN Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) that will enable them to cultivate a hectare each is successfully carried out, the impact on the economy would be remarkable.
He, however, lamented the cotton farmers’ challenge of accessing funds from relevant financial institutions, saying, “the drawback farmers are still having is that the funding promised by CBN and other bodies doesn’t come. We are finding it very difficult to get funding and when that doesn’t happen there’s nothing much anybody can do.”