The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) will support Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Uganda to add value to their cotton sectors.

“We expect improved capacity of policymakers to formulate evidence-based polices that improve the value add to cotton and devise investment profiles to attract investors,” said Kris Terauds, UNCTAD National Economic Affairs Officer.

Terauds said the US$600 000 project will strengthen the capacity of beneficiary nations in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) to assess the viability and development of cotton by-products.

In various phases of the project, participating countries will draft national action plans for developing cotton by-products and strategic proposals aimed at acquiring relevant technologies.

Comparative cotton productivity indicated profitability of the sector in Zambia and across COMESA was hampered by chronically low yields on farms of less than 600 kg/ha.

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