Free Access | March 2019

Upgrading the cotton value chain for textile industry development

Authors/Editors: Martin Munu

Abstract:

Cotton is an important crop in Uganda, ranked as the country’s third largest export crop, after coffee and tea, according to the Cotton Development Organisation (CDO). The cotton value chain employs a number of actors, including farmers, traders, and ginners. Cotton is a particularly important crop for agro-industrialisation because its primary products and byproducts are inputs into a broad range of industries including cottonseed millers (husks, cake and soap makers), cotton wool manufacturers and textile manufacturers. The cotton and textile industry in Uganda, however, remains underdeveloped in spite of recent efforts to revamp it. More recently however, opportunities have risen in the international trading system which can be capitalised on to develop the domestic cotton sector.