ECDC initiates province's cotton farming project

31 Mar '06

2 min read

The first commercially grown cotton in the province, in about 50 years, will be used in producing 100,000 metres of traditional African fabric shweshwe, announced the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) and textile manufacturer Da Gama.

The project which was started in 2004 with 340 farmers comes to an end after a two-year cotton project in farms of Addo, Keiskammahoek, Tyefu, Middeldrift, Kat River, Qamata, and the Karoo.

Da Gama Textiles Managing Director Bob Funnell is satisfied with commissioning of the gin and quality of the fibre.

The 1,000 ha crop will be harvested from May end and is pre-sold to Da Gama Gin Company.

The crop harvested in July, 2005, has since been ginned in Adelaide.

The 460 cotton lint bales weighing about 200 kg, were ginned in about 4½ weeks and formed part of the final commissioning phase of the R15-million cotton gin.

Following the next ginning, cotton will be converted into shweshwe fabric by Da Gama in East London.

Shweshwe is a brightly coloured fabric with repeating patterns, adopted by Xhosa women in 1900s when German settlers arrived in the country.

Eastern Cape agriculture department plans to secure 3 000ha of land during next planting scheduled to take place in November.

ECDC Project Manager Ken Bern was as many farmers have shown interest in growing cotton.

This trend will help to expand the project to 6 000 ha.

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