The Brazilian government is set revive cotton production in the East African region by setting up a laboratory in Kisumu that will generate variety of certified cottonseeds and other components.
According to Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation coordinator Carlos Henrique, the plan will be a regional project and Kisumu is the chosen centre.
“After a scope mission in Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi trying to put together project for the cotton development, we decided Kisumu County will be the center of the project,” said Henrique.
He further stated that the project aims at supporting the research; use the latest technology to generate certified cotton seeds as well as different crop management techniques.
“The idea is to bring different pools of technology and cotton varieties to the local farmers and at the same time sensitise them on crop management,” added Henrique.
Kisumu County Executive for Agriculture and fisheries, Stephen Orot said for a long time cotton production had gone down because of importation of second hand clothes and the variety of cotton grown is of low quality.
He further said that his ministry in partnership with KARI will work closely with other seed companies such as Kenya Seed Company and Amiran to improve the variety of seeds.
Orot said the project also seeks to add value chain of cotton to ensure they get quality fiber, cottonseed oil and cottonseed cake.