Title:
Issues Slow Recovery of Kenya's Cotton Industry
Description: This is
a VOA Special English Agriculture Report.
See text below
Text:
Ten years ago David Masika bought a cotton mill in
Eastern province, Kenya. Makueni Ginneries was
operating with technology from the nineteen sixties.
It produced only two hundred kilos of cotton in its
first year under new ownership. Last year it sold
six hundred thousand kilos, or about one thousand
bales, earning its first profit since Mr. Masika
bought it. World prices for cotton are up. But he
worried that he might not have enough cotton to
process if he invested in new technology. "We got
into this vicious circle where we then were
wondering, do I completely modernize this thing when
I do not know whether the cotton is coming?" About a
year ago, as the cotton supply in Kenya started
increasing, he started modernizing half the
machinery. Makueni is one of only four modern
ginneries in the country. Kenya's cotton industry
used to be strong. But almost twenty years ago a
government agency collapsed. That agency had
provided growers with a guaranteed price for cotton.
Without that support, prices fell and so did
production. Today, Kenya is part of the African
Growth and Opportunity Act. AGOA is an American law
first signed in two thousand. It provides duty-free
and quota-free treatment for certain clothing and
other products from Africa. Kenya says its clothing
exports tripled from two thousand one to two
thousand six. But Kenya's cotton and textile
industry is concerned about meeting future
requirements of the law. AGOA countries have been
operating under what is called a third-country
fabric provision. This lets them use yarns and
fabrics made in any country, not just AGOA
countries. But starting next September those
countries must be able to find the raw materials for
their products regionally. Kenya's cotton industry
wants the United States Congress to extend the
third-country fabric provision. Micah Powon is chief
executive of the Cotton Development Board. He says
"If [we get] an extension period of two or three
years by AGOA, I confidently say that we will be
able to produce enough cotton to meet local demand
to qualify for the AGOA market." African countries
face not only a limited cotton supply and poor
machinery. They also face problems with making
cotton into fabric to produce clothing. Under AGOA,
fabric is considered a raw resource that has to come
from African countries instead of places like China.
For VOA Special English, I'm Carolyn Presutti.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
