‘Cotton merchants are responsible for adulteration’

Do you think the steps taken so far by government and cotton companies would revive cotton farming in the state?Cotton farming and production is very vital to every country. It is vital in the sense that after food, the next thing to look up to from the farm is cotton for the production of clothes. […]

Do you think the steps taken so far by government and cotton companies would revive cotton farming in the state?
Cotton farming and production is very vital to every country. It is vital in the sense that after food, the next thing to look up to from the farm is cotton for the production of clothes. That is the reason why you discover that even before you harvest cotton from your farm, someone has already paid you for the cotton. We do not go about hawking it. The only problem is when a government that does not know the value of cotton production is in power, it will not support cotton farming. When another government that knows the value comes to power, it supports cotton production. Government is trying but we cannot still compare cotton farming in the 70s and today. Cotton production in Nigeria now is just about 2 percent of what we were producing in 1970. The support is not there. We had a cotton board that was all out to assist farmers. There is nothing like that now. Cotton farming is more difficult than the production of any other crop. It requires a lot of fertilizer and so on. There is no more money in cotton farming. That is why most farmers are abandoning cotton production for other crops. Cotton production this year has not been very impressive though the price started from N70, 000 to N75, 000 per ton. The highest we sold a ton last season was N115, 000. But three years ago, the price got up to N250, 000 per ton. You can see that the price of cotton is not stable. The instability in the price contributes to cotton farmers abandoning cotton for other crops.
How favorable is Sokoto weather for cotton production?     
Cotton grows very well in some parts of the state like Tambuwal, Kebbe, Gwadabawa, Illelah, Tureta, Goronyo, Isa and Sabon Birni local government areas. These are the only places in Sokoto State you can successfully grow cotton.
But WACOT is doing a lot to assist cotton farmers in this part of the country. Are they not providing you with all you require for enhanced production?
WACOT is into production, marketing and processing of cotton. Recently, they have even gone into maize and soya beans. We are selling all the cotton we produced to WACOT.  Last year, when the federal government wanted to distribute improved cotton seeds to farmers, they distributed to us through WACOT. The company buys cotton from farmers, process it and export to buyers abroad.
Some of the cotton companies are complaining about adulteration of cotton by farmers. How are you handling that matter?
The issue of adulteration of cotton is a very serious matter. Farmers adulterate their cotton with stones, irons and objects to make the consignment heavy on the excuse that dealers buy the product cheap. That affected the value of Nigerian cotton in the world market. International buyers rejected our product because of adulteration. That was why the Bank of Industries and cotton companies commenced serious campaigns, pleading with farmers to stop adulterating their products. The Bank of Industries financed our association to go round the country and educate farmers against adulteration. But in the real sense of it, farmers are not responsible for the adulteration. Cotton merchants are responsible for all the adulteration of cotton you are hearing. When they buy a ton of cotton, they will spread it on the ground, water it and add stones and every other thing that will make it heavy. They are doing that to maximize gain. I was among those that went to all the cotton producing communities in this country to educate farmers against adulteration of cotton.  
Do you have a ginnery around here?
No, we do not have a functional ginnery around here. But we have in neighbouring Zamfara State, the closest being the one at Ma’inchi. There were over 30 ginneries in Nigeria but only about 20 have so far been revived. Some are in Katsina, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, and a few other states. Cotton farming is very nice if you can get the necessary financial support. The market is always there.
What sort of assistance have you received from the state government as cotton farmers?
Yes, the government is trying its best. I could recall there was a time the state government provided cotton farmers with seeds. The distribution of seeds for cotton farming was flagged off in Tureta. The federal government is also trying its best. What we really want the Sokoto State government to do for us as cotton farmers is to assist us with enough fertilizer because cotton requires a lot of fertilizer. Again, we want the state government to encourage cotton production by fixing a good price for cotton and then be buying from the farmers to sell to the dealers. That way, a lot of farmers would like to go into cotton production. This country is so blessed. When you go to countries like Israel and discover that they are using waste water from their houses for irrigation as against the abundant water we have in this country, we will know that we are blessed.