The Ministry of trade in conjunction with COMESA, Ministry of Agriculture and the Cotton Development Trust held a two day consultative meeting to agree on a road map for the development of a cotton strategy to cover period between 2010 -2015.
Officially opened by the Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Hon. Steven Kamwendo MP brings together delegates from Government, Private Sector, Farmer organizations, and Non governmental organization. The meeting is expected to be held over a two day period that will culminate to a visit to Mapeto David Whitehead and Sons.
The CDT has been working to create partnership to improve efficiency in the cotton value chain
The Cotton Development Trust was formed following cotton stakeholders' consultations held in June and August, 2008 in Lilongwe and Blantyre, respectively, that comprised representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture & Food Security and key cotton value chain players who agreed to set up a body that would be responsible for resolving and facilitating working solutions to the challenges, issues and opportunities in the cotton sector. This body was initially called Cotton Development Partnership but has recently changed to Cotton Development Trust (CDT). The African Institute of Corporate Citizenship (AICC) was appointed as a secretariat to coordinate the activities of the Trust.
The CDT is in the process of facilitating the stakeholder-driven development of a national cotton strategy and would like to solicit views of the different players within the Cotton Value Chain.The main themes guiding the work of the CDT are the following:
1. Production research and extension - which has over 420 demonstration plots country wide aimed at sharing good practices that can boost production
2. Pricing and Marketing group - which has focussed on developing models for determining prices for seed cotton.
3. Credit and Financing - exploring opportunities for access to finance for smallholder farmers.
4. Policy and Regulation - which is working in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture to review the cotton act and develop policies that can guide the industry.
The CDT is currently headed by Mr Patrick Khembo of Chemicals and Marketing
Watch this space for more on the Cotton Stakeholder Consultative Meeting on the Cotton Strategies!!!!!!