That price has for many years remained the major driving force of cotton production worldwide is relevant to producers who have managed to maximize yield and quality. For many African producers whose cotton lint production barely exceeds 300 kg/ha, income derived from cotton has yet to liberate them from poverty.

African cotton is famous for its low neps and intact intrinsic values. But because of an elevated level of contamination, specifically from polypropylene strings, most cotton of African origin trades at a discount.

In 2010, the International Trade Centre (ITC) organized a technical tour to Senegal for eastern and southern Africa’s cotton-producing countries. All is not lost if the players could manage contamination as Senegal has done.

But contamination of raw cotton can take place during every step – on the farm, during picking, transportation and storage to the ginning stage. As a result, minimizing it requires unwavering commitment at all levels.

Effective in 2013, Tanzania is following SenegalΆs lead by implementing a project on quality improvement funded by the European Union. The projectΆs overall objective is to increase competitiveness of Tanzania cotton in the marketplace, thus contributing to the governmentΆs poverty alleviation efforts. Producers will be organized into groups and, through contract farming, the delivery of extension services and inputs on credit will be simplified.

Redesigning how cotton business is transacted at the buying post by engaging the producers to act as agents of the ginner is anticipated to build the transparency needed to eliminate the deliberate adulteration of cotton, which is done to add weight. The project will:

• Demonstrate usage of proper picking bags and seed cotton packaging bags;
• Revive grading of cotton and reward performance;
• Build and rehabilitate some storage facilities;
• Train cotton classers and gin inspectors on effective new techniques;  and
• Construct a new laboratory equipped with state-of-the-art classification machines and rehabilitate. Meanwhile, the available classing capacity in the country will be utilized to increase the share of cotton classed by High Volume Instruments.

The Tanzania Cotton Board is working with the ITC and has selected ginners through a project to link African ginners with spinners. This started in 2011 where spinners from Thailand and Bangladesh have participated as trainers for gin operators and farmers; so far, 1,786 people have been trained on strategies to reduce contamination at buying posts and ginneries.

Through this arrangement, a number of initiatives are in the pipeline including: preparation of a contamination reduction training manual; cotton quality checklists for buying post and ginnery which will enhance company self assessment and improve the regulatory role in monitoring contamination, and a film on contamination has been prepared as well as a radio program. Adoption of a systematic approach to quality management at all levels is being promoted.

In conclusion, it is worth mentioning that producer income is a function of the quantity produced, price, and quality of the product. For any small cotton-producing country that is a price taker (like Tanzania), much energy should be directed to elements of the equation which can easily be influenced while at the same time creating an enabling environment for producers to negotiate on the price. By doing so, cotton production will be much more sustainable in the long term.