Egypt to revitalise domestic cotton output

30 Aug '11

2 min read

The Agriculture, Trade and Industry Ministries are looking forward to revitalize the domestic cotton industry through a blend of incentives, assistance to farmers and technological evolutions.

Salah Youssef, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation in a statement said that the intention is to persuade the textile industry to use domestically produced cotton, rather than relying on imports for production.

Youssef said that his Ministry proposes to further incentives to Egyptian spinners who make use of domestically produced cotton. He said that he had convened meetings with private sector representatives and also with Trade and Industry Ministry officials to deliberate on the modes for facilitating growth of the industry like making available spinning machinery specially devised to process domestic cotton.

After the Agriculture and Land Reclamation Ministry extended facilities including high-yield seeds to the cotton growers in this season, a rise has been noted in cotton cultivation, allowing the farmers to reap better returns as compared to last season, the Minister said.

According to experts, over the last few decades owing to government's apathy in extending any support to cotton cultivators in the country to undertake cultivation of one of the country's oldest crops, the industry has suffered a decline.

Head of General Union of Textile Workers' Saeed al-Gohary said that textile industry's rising reliance on imported cotton has lead to a fall in domestic cotton output.

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