Description
The project will build sustainable services to enable producers and cotton ginners to improve long-term competitiveness and marketability of African cotton in international markets through market linkages. The Programme will also introduce traditional textile production techniques such as low investment cost fibre transformation and handloom technologies to provide alternative intra-regional markets for African cotton lint and stimulate growth of artisanal textile production. In this regard 3 specific sub-outcomes are envisaged, namely, a) Already established feedback loops & capacity building initiatives with Asian spinning mills sustained and new loops developed b) Negative perception of African cotton in target markets reversed and sales, including for non-contaminated cotton, increased. c) Local fibre transformation is supported through the introduction of new low cost technologies: Two pilot handloom clusters operational as a proof of concept.