By Muhammad Auwal (Abuja)
The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari has expressed the ministry’s readiness to partner with the International Cotton Advisory Committee, ICAC, and other stakeholders to revive the country’s cotton subsector to boost production, job creation, and export opportunities among others.
The minister stated this during a meeting with the Executive Director, ICAC, Eric Trachtenberg, and other relevant stakeholders at the ministry’s office in Abuja.
Senator Kyari revealed that the cotton ecosystem would create over 1.4 million jobs annually, which is in line with the industrialization policy of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, adding that the focus would be to develop key components of the cotton value chain comprising farming, weaving, ginning, and linking of cotton, among others.
The minister expressed optimism that with ICAC’s technical expertise, the cotton subsector would be revived for sustainable economic growth and national development.
“The challenges in the sector which discouraged farmers from cotton production to other crops would be looked into and be addressed for optimum productivity in the cotton ecosystem’’, the minister said.
Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Security, Dr. Aliyu Sabi stated that the agricultural sector is the biggest employer of labour in the country and expressed the commitment of the federal government to revive the cotton and textile subsector.
In his welcome address, the Executive Director of ICAC, Mr Eric Trachtenberg stated that the organization would support Nigeria’s cotton value chain, and revamp it by offering expert advice aimed at improving productivity and boosting the value chain and investment facilitation.
He outlined the possible areas of collaboration to include training of farmers, extension service workers, deployment of technologies, and innovative solutions, among others.
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