About 22,000 cotton farmers in Gombe State have abandoned cotton cultivation for higher-paying crops, raising concerns over the future of the state’s cotton industry. The Public Relations Officer of the National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN), Gombe chapter, Bala Garba, disclosed this in an interview with NAN in Gombe on Wednesday September 9.
Garba said the association’s membership had fallen from more than 25,000 farmers in 2020 to about 3,000, as many switched to maize, rice, beans and other food crops. He attributed the decline to the collapse of ginneries and textile industries, inadequate support programmes and poor-quality seeds that resulted in low yields and financial losses.
According to him, four private and state-owned ginneries in the state are currently inactive due to insufficient cotton supplies, while a private ginnery has remained dormant for about two years amid a shortage of raw materials and high fuel costs. He warned that the decline could affect employment and the supply of raw materials to the textile industry.
Garba called for renewed government intervention to support cotton farmers, improve access to quality seeds and restore productivity. He noted that Federal Government support provided to cotton farmers between 2019 and 2020 had since stopped, stressing the need for sustainable programmes to revive cotton production in Gombe.
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