An Assessment of the Growth Opportunities and Constraints in Zambia’s Cotton Industry
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Date
2014-02-15
Authors
Kalinda, Thomas
Bwalya, Richard
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Asian Journal of Business Management
Abstract
The main objective of this study was to assess the major opportunities and constraints in Zambia’s cotton
industry. The study found that the cotton sector has considerable potential to contribute to growth and employment
in Zambia as it currently accounts for direct and indirect employment of approximately 21% of the population and
about 19% of agricultural Gross Domestic Product. The prominence of smallholder farmers in the sector is
indicative of the income equity promotion potential of the cotton sector. However, the highly concentrated structure
of the sector, with two key players currently accounting for about 80% of the total market share in ginning; the
absence of regulatory mechanisms for setting of prices; the openness of the local market to global price fluctuations
and the lack of support programmes as compared to competing crops like maize are major impediments to equity
promotion in the sector. Overall growth of the cotton sector is also constrained by low productivity arising mostly
from poor farming practices. Furthermore, increased production in major world markets due to subsidies and use of
bio-technology in cotton production undermine the competitiveness of Zambia’s cotton in international markets. For
Zambia to realize the potential of the cotton sector, interventions need to be targeted at raising farm level
productivity. The government should also facilitate informed policy debate and development on critical issues such
as biotechnology adoption as well as facilitating consensus between cotton buyers and farmers on price setting
mechanisms.
Description
This is an article in a journal.
Keywords
Cotton industry , Diversification , Employment creation , Sustainable economic growth , Value Chain analysis , Zambia
Citation
Kalinda,T., and Bwalya, R. (2014) "An Assessment of the Growth Opportunities and Constraints in Zambia’s Cotton Industry,"Asian Journal of Business Management, ISSN: 2041-8744 issn:2041-8752