Nigeria’s inability to harness its potential might see the country missing out on a global opportunity in the international cotton price valued at $38 billion, despite boasting of one of the world’s largest deposits.
Oil revenues have more than halved from about N4 trillion in 2014 to less than N2 trillion annually and could fall even lower this year as a growing petrol subsidy bill and low production levels eat into the government’s earnings from oil.
To change this narrative, Nigeria desperately needs to build an economy that is resilient to the volatility of oil and gas markets. Such resilience includes diversification to other resources waiting to be exploited and processed. One of such resources is cotton.
Cotton was one of the most exported products in Nigeria before crude oil was discovered, cotton contributed up to 25 percent to the country’s gross domestic products (GDP) in 1980.
Findings showed within the same period Nigeria was one of the top countries in the world producing cotton with over 200 cotton textile and garment (CTG) companies.
Cotton is an annual crop and there is a need for a hot climate for proper growth. Cotton plantation happens to be a good investment and a great source of revenue for several years because of its by-product and huge demand for cotton in other countries apart from Nigeria.
Cotton is a seed hair fiber plant which belongs to genus GOSSYPIUM and the family of MALVACEAE. Kano, Kaduna, Oyo, Ondo, Kwara, Katsina, Jigawa, Ogun, Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara states are the states currently in the production of cotton in Nigeria as of today. Cotton can be grown in the Northern and Southern part of Nigeria which consist of 24 states yet only 11 states are functioning well.
In the 1970s and 1980s Nigeria was one of the top countries in the world producing cotton with over 200 cotton textile and garment(CTG) companies. As of today only eight CTG companies are active.
In 2021, there was reported that over N100 billion was funded to CTG but yet there was no improvement
In the current released report on International Cotton advisory Committee ICAC Nigeria ranked the 25th country out of the 53 countries in the world cotton production and the African countries
According to ICAC, data shows there were 93 thousand metric tonnes produced from 273 hectares of land in 2021/2022 and over 60 thousand metric tonnes were exported. The consumption rate stands at 30 thousand metric tonnes and only 1 thousand metric tonnes was imported to Nigeria.
This shows that there is improvement in the level of export compared to the other years.
Analysis shows that the level of cotton production in Nigeria is higher than the level of consumption.
Although there has been growth recently, the consumption of cotton has been low since the shutdown of the Nigerian textile company. The production of cotton has always been higher than the consumption rate.
The rate of consumption in Nigeria has not passed 30,000 metric tonnes in a little over one decade.
Stakeholders have blamed the failure to increase cotton output on ineffective government structures that do not allow effective and efficient translation of technology between research institutes and cotton farmers.