文档介绍：Developing a Revival Strategy for the Kenyan
Cotton-Textile Industry: A Value Chain Approach
By
Moses M. Ikiara and Lydia K. Ndirangu∗
Introduction
Since independence, Kenya’s cotton-textile-apparel industry has gone through major phases. At independence private ginners dominated the industry. Over the following ten years the Government helped cooperative societies to buy the private ginneries from the colonialists and instituted a regime of controlled margins and fixed farm-gate cotton prices. In addition, it invested in a number of textile mills, which supplied the largely private apparel (or garment) manufacturers. By the time the Government begun to re-liberalize the industry in 1991 it was in tatters; cotton production had almost ground to a halt, many ginneries had either collapsed or had excess capacity, and many textile firms had collapsed.
The government and the private sector have shown substantial interest in the revival of the industry in the last 2-3 years. Part of the motivation has been the realization that the cotton-textile industry offers unique opportunities for increased employment, poverty reduction, rural development and generation of increased es in arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL). The crop is, additionally, grown by small-scale farmers. Another source of motivation are the enormous market prospects presented by the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) passed by the USA Congress in 1999, the African Carribean Pacific- European Union (ACP-EU) Cotonou Agreement ratified in 2000, and the expected freer textiles trade with removal of quota restrictions in year 2005 under the World anization (WTO) framework.
In tune with the aforesaid interest, this paper looks at the structure and current status of Kenya’s cotton-textile industry, its operating environment (including the constraints facing it), the role of various stakeholders, and trade opportunities. In addition, it ponders on how the industry could be revived and its development