Cotton firm supports workers for enhanced productivity

Speaking with newsmen, the company’s Human Resource Manager, Alhaji Ibrahim Mu’azu, said the workers are being supported with free quality cotton seed and interest free loan for cultivation expenses and other farming inputs.He said the initiative is aimed at complementing the federal government’s agricultural transformation agenda, noting that a lot has been achieved on increased […]

Speaking with newsmen, the company’s Human Resource Manager, Alhaji Ibrahim Mu’azu, said the workers are being supported with free quality cotton seed and interest free loan for cultivation expenses and other farming inputs.
He said the initiative is aimed at complementing the federal government’s agricultural transformation agenda, noting that a lot has been achieved on increased yield, quality cotton seed as well as production of quality cotton free of adulteration.
He said workers were educated on modern farming techniques and how to grow cotton on their individual farms, adding that the loan was to be paid in installments within 12 months.
He said, the company has also introduced the use of gray cotton bags during picking and packaging to prevent adulteration being experienced when using polythene bags which lowered the price of Nigerian cotton at international market due to mixtures.
“The act of contamination and adulteration of cotton with polythene bags, water, solid materials with the aim to increasing weight has hitch subjected Nigerian cotton to various forms of degradation and forced it to be sold below premium price as obtained by other countries,” he said.
He explained that from the two years of the company’s farming support initiative, a lot has been achieved especially in promoting the production of high quality cotton with increased yield as pure picking and packaging had been achieved which ensured Nigeria’s cotton’s acceptability on world premium price in the international market.
Giving the level of the success of the programme, the company planned to extend the farming support to neighboring communities to ensure wider support and to encourage production, high yield and quality cotton for increased gain.