Ghana: new company for cotton
by Poku Adaa
The establishment of the company is ensure that in effect all the Textile companies will in future obtain their supply of cotton fibre from the new company as a check against foreign exchange dissipation in importing on products.
The cotton industry has, for many years, been the sole responsibility of Cotton Development Board (CDB) which was formed in 1968 to "introduce , promote and develop cotton to meet the requirements of le production in the Country". However, the CDB has had to face many operational problems and the new company, GCC will by and by take over its assets, ie ginneries, corroboration and plantations.
Cooperation that existed between the CDB and cotton farmers was so poor that the Cotton Growers Association have repeatedly made appeals to government to end the CDB monopoly as the sole purchasing agent for cotton and supplying agent for agricultural imports to farmers. Farmers have always complained about lack of incentives and the low producer price of €10.00 per kilo, which has caused most farmers to turn to cultivation of food crops. The results have been a continuous decline of cotton production over the past ten years. According to the Secretary for Industries, Science and Technology, Dr Francis Acquah when inaugurating the GCC, "The operational perform- ance of the Cotton Development Board has been so dismal, disappointing and unsatisfactory that it can no longer meet the challenges of the cotton industry".
One critical factor that has bedevilled the industry and affected production is the lack of facilities to conduct research into production-of high-yielding varieties. This was confirmed by the visiting Egyptian Technical Team which visited the country in July 1984. Although certain infrastructure such as the Ginneries especially the one at Tumu are reasonably adequate for any reorganization programme, it has always been recommended that larger yields per acre rather than huge acreages should be the practice. On the question of manpower and efficient management the Egyptian offer to help train personnel in the Egypt Cotton Institute should be considered for implementation.
Thus the new company should establish linkages and cooperation with the cotton industry in Egypt as a major step to revitalise and boost the production of cotton.
