Cotton industry strategic plan launch next week
The Cotton Development Trust (CDT) will next Tuesday launch a strategic plan which is expected to guide operations of the cotton sector in the next five years.
According to a brief write-up made available to Business News by the CDT, the group has spearheaded the development of the plan designed to guide the cotton industry, which is one of the key sectors that generate foreign exchange in Malawi.
“All the key stakeholders in the cotton industry have been consulted and have contributed significantly to the finalisation of the document,” reads the statement.
It says the strategic plan will be launched at CDT’s extra ordinarily stakeholders meeting to take place at Sagecoa Golden Peacock in Lilongwe.
According to CDT, the meeting has also been organised to share and review progress made since the group was formed in 2008.
“The meeting will also agree the way forward for the continuity of CDT in view of the impending creation of the long awaited Cotton Council,” it says.
CDT was formed by key stakeholders along the cotton value chain from both public and private sector out of the felt need to have a body that would be responsible for resolving and facilitating working solutions to challenges and identifying opportunities in the cotton sector.
CDT mission is to development a vibrant cotton industry that supplies larger volumes of high quality cotton and related value added products on the domestic and international markets.
In Malawi, cotton is mainly grown by smallholder farmers and it is the main cash crop for about 300 000 farm families.
The crop is mainly grown in the lower Shrive Valley and the Lake shore areas with Lower Shire Valley alone accounting for 50 percent of total production.
