RMRDC distributes 6 tons of cotton seeds to farmers

The Director General, Raw Materials Research and Development Council, Dr. Hussaini Doko Ibrahim, has said that the organisation is poised to revive the moribund textile industry that hitherto made an annual turnover of $8.95 billion and was the second largest employer of labour in the 80s, through revamping of cotton production.Dr Ibrahim stated this when […]

The Director General, Raw Materials Research and Development Council, Dr. Hussaini Doko Ibrahim, has said that the organisation is poised to revive the moribund textile industry that hitherto made an annual turnover of $8.95 billion and was the second largest employer of labour in the 80s, through revamping of cotton production.
Dr Ibrahim stated this when the organization, in collaboration with Kaduna State government, distributed over 5.8 metric tonnes of improved cotton seeds to farmers under the National Cotton Growers Association (NACOTAN) for planting recently  in Kaduna.
He lamented that the Nigerian textile industry which used to be the largest in Africa, attracting investment from China and India with over 175 urban textile mills and about 600,000 skilled and unskilled labour, is today a shadow of itself.
Dr Ibrahim who was represented at the occasion by the Director of Agro Allied Department of the agency, Dr Abimbola Ogunwusi, said“in the 1990s, the industry that was producing at over 63% capacity utilisation dropped to below 10% capacity utilisation. The mills in operation dropped to 25% with about 24,000 workers and a dependent level of less than 250,000 people.”
With a total land covering about 650,000 hectares available for cotton farming, only a third is currently exploited to produce 300,000 tonnes by an estimated 250,000 farmers in major cotton producing states comprising Katsina, Zamfara, Gombe, Borno, Adamawa, Kaduna, Niger and Ogun.
In his speech, Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufa’i, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industries, Alhaji Tijjani Ahmed Musa, said the state will collaborate with relevant agencies to revitalize the economy of the state that was made strong by textile industries in the 60s up to 80s.
“All of these were possible because there was an equally vibrant cotton production mechanism that fed the textile industries,” Alhaji Musa said.
He stated the state government has articulated a robust development agenda, to revamp all sectors of the state’s economy.
Reacting to the gesture by RMRDC, Secretary General of the National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN) South-West, Alhaji Kasali appealed to the relevant stakeholders to expedite action in the application and adoption of biotechnology cotton with the passage of the bio-safety law.
“Our farmers are being sensitised and they are made to believe that, Bt Cotton would be the panacea to the serious challenges we are having on low yielding seed as that has been proven in other countries in Africa,” he said.
The improved seeds distributed were Samcot 8,9,10,11 and 12.
Samcot 8,9 and 10 are said to be suitable for North-east and North-west while Samcot 9 and 10 are most adapted to the North-central zone.