The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently said it had invested over N120 billion across the cotton, textile and garment (CTG) value chain since its intervention programme in the industry began. Over 320,000 farmers had been financed between 2018 to date and the expected output for seed cotton is projected to be over 300,000 metric tonnes in 2020.

CBN’s deputy governor in charge of corporate services Edward Adamu said at a recently meeting with stakeholders in the sector in Abuja that this is expected to enhance the production capacity of the ginneries in producing over 102,000 metric tonnes of cotton lint, which should meet and surpass the cotton lint requirement of the textile industry in the country.

The domestic demand for cotton is now met through local production, thereby halting the import of cotton as well as increasing capacity utilisation of ginneries, which now operate throughout the year compared to months in the recent past, he was quoted a s saying by Nigerian media reports.

He said a total of 19 ginneries had been resuscitated nationwide and more are expected to become operational this year. He said the apex bank’s enhanced drive toward anti-smuggling is yielding positive results, with the bank accounts of over 15 textile smugglers frozen.

President of National Cotton Association of Nigeria Anibe Achimugu stressed the need for farmers to access funding from the Export Development Fund (EDF) to help them remain competitive.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

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