After the Kenyan government lifted ban on Bt cotton The Lake Region Economic block plans to re-introduce large scale cotton growing in the Lake Victoria basin. Kisumu Governor, Prof Anyang' Nyong'o stated negotiations had been opened with multinationals to recover the once top-cash spinner under the block bringing together 14 counties in western Kenya.
He further added the renewed interest in cotton farming has been due to the high demand for Kenyan cotton in the US apparel market. Nyong’o says besides the expected rise in demand for the raw material in textile industry there was a big export demand in the US after refurbishing of the Eldoret-based Rivatex.
The Act covers more than 6,000 products that can be exported to the US on preferential trade terms. In line with the Jubilee government’s big four agenda manufacturing, health, food security and housing the government had embraced the high yielding cotton and asked farmers in known cotton growing areas to shift focus to the crop for “good and steady return.
Most of the region’s ginneries closed down as farmers abandoned the once top-cash spinner as the cotton growing and ginneries have been poor over the last few decades. The alliance has entered a partnership with the Lake Basin Development Authority which has been conducting feasibility studies into the viability of cotton farming with plans to help reintroduce it.
