The Government and stakeholders in the agricultural sector need to take advantage of the huge potential in the cotton sub-sector to revive its dormancy.
That, the Country Director of Eco Index Agro Solutions Limited, Mr Daniel Baisie, said was important because of its contribution to the garment manufacturing industry as well as the creation of job opportunities for the youth.
He was also of the view that, when the cotton sub-sector was revamped it would reduce the importation of used clothes into the country and save the ecosystem.
In an interview with the Ghanaian Times in Accra on Monday while throwing more light on the Agriculture , Mr Baisie said that large amount of imported used clothes were thrown away due to its poor quality with some ending up in water bodies thereby polluting the ecosystem.
“We need to seriously have a look at the cotton production sector of agriculture in this country and develop it and we have the lands to cultivate it,” he said.
He questioned the whereabouts of cotton farmers and doubted if there were any currently in the country, adding that in time past, there were enough cotton growers whose produce fed garment manufacturing companies like Ghana Textile Manufacturing Company (GTMC) and other clothing manufacturing industries.
The Country Director of Eco Index Agro Solutions Limited said these companies used cotton grown in Ghana to produce cloth and other products adding “we were not importing cotton from anywhere.”
Mr Baisie said the intention and approach of Dr Kwame Nkrumah towards agriculture in Ghana was to make the country self-sustainable and not depend on other countries, which he described as good.
He said in order to revive the cotton producing sub-sector, there was the need to identify the right approach cultivating it, and also provide a ready market for it.
He also called for the revamping of textile manufacturing companies across the country, while mapping out a medium-to long term approach for cotton sub-sector in Ghana.
BY JEMIMA ESINAM KUATSINU
