The Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) has said that the Government is working to improve the quality of cotton, which forms a key input for the textile sector.
With the same aim in mind, a four-day training programme for investors engaged in cotton development was launched in Benshangul Gumuz Regional state, which was attended by over 20 participants.
Currently, around 124,000 hectares of land in the Benshangul Gumuz region is under cotton cultivation through investors and organized farmers.
The Ministry intends to address issues like skill shortage, dearth of capital, chemicals, certain seeds and some other materials, Haile-Mariam Kibret, an expert on Agro-investment Support with the MoA, said.
The Ministry proposes to dole out 1.25 billion birr in loans to the investors to fund purchase of pesticides and other inputs, he revealed.
The training forms part of the Government's efforts towards raising productivity and upgrading the quality of the cotton through joint efforts with farmers, investors and associations, Mr. Haile-Mariam said.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India