TZ targets $150m cotton earnings

Dar es Salaam. The government plans to boost cotton export to $150 million by 2020, up from the current $30 million, the deputy minister of agriculture, Ms Mary Mwanjelwa, has said.

According to information relayed by Xinhua, the government has set since 2007, a battery of measures as to bring the cotton output to 600,000 tonnes.

Ms Mwanjelwa said that during the 2018 campaign, growers will use seeds from the UKM08 improved variety developed by Ukiriguru Research Institute.

In this country, cotton is agriculture’s second largest source of foreign exchange after coffee.

The crop is grown in more than 20 regions and sustains about 40 per cent of the population, both directly and indirectly.

Tanzania exports almost 70 per cent of cotton output mainly to Indonesia and Thailand.

According to Tanzania Cotton Board production is likely to increase this year following stern measures taken by the government to improve the sector.