Uganda has completed the development of a strategy for its cotton, textiles and apparels sector that could generate 50,000 new jobs and $650 million in additional export revenues over the next eight years.
The strategy, which is also supposed to feed into the third edition of the National Development Plan NDPIII, should result in increased fibre cotton production, scale up domestic value addition and create employment.
Besides the need to address structural and policy bottlenecks that currently hamper development of the cotton value chain, there will be a need to establish five new vertically integrated textile mills.
In addition to increasing value to Uganda’s cotton output, the factories would employ 50,000 workers earning a combined $50 million annually.
The strategy proposes to revive the cotton production value chain and investment in export-oriented apparel as well as garment production factories that would initially rely on imported fabric.
Source: www.monitor.co.ug