1 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background to the Study The

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study The vision of this research is towards the invigoration of the large-scale Textile Factories in Ghana with effective collaboration with the textile institutions to maximize productivity for maximum returns. This is to ensure sustainability and efficiency of the textile factories and reposition them for the betterment of the country’s economy to the benefit of all Ghanaians. Clothing, which is made from textiles, is one of the three basic necessities of man, alongside food and shelter (Adu-Akwaboa, 2010). Although, clothing is usually prioritized second to food, Agyemang (2001) posits that, one can go unnoticed without food or shelter for a moment, but without clothing, he or she may be perceived in a civilized world as insane or a mad person. Textile production has been the main pillar around which industrialization in Europe and other countries have evolved. The rationale for this, perhaps, may be due to the fact that the textile industry addresses one of the basic necessities of man, clothing, which is indispensable in life with high demand and therefore industrialization of the “industry” was in the right direction to develop other industries (Majory, 1986). Until 1960, Ghana depended largely on United Kingdom and other European countries for textiles and other manufactured goods. This was due to the fact that the then government of Ghana did not have enough capital and technical expertise to establish and operate large-scale industries. Moreover, even if that was possible, it was obvious that only the state sponsored bodies could embark on industrialization in the country. Although the government had the desire and the will to establish profitable and productive industries in Ghana to boost the country’s economy, it was extremely difficult to achieve this since establishing large-scale industries is capital intensive (Osei-Bonsu, 2001). However, when the government realized the need to raise the standard of living of Ghanaians, it became necessary to initiate strategic economic independence policies by developing an appropriate mixture of import substitution and export oriented industrial production. This led to the establishment of the various state enterprises which included large-scale textile factories in the early 1960s. The establishment of the textile factories 1 was paramount in the government’s plans for industrialization in Ghana in the sense that, textile was considered as the most important consumer good around which industrialization in Ghana could evolve, considering its socio-cultural and economic significance (Osei-Bonsu, 2001). Among the early established large-scale textile factories in Ghana include; Ghana Textile Printing Company (GTP), Tema Textile Limited (TTL), Ghana Textile Manufacturing Company (GTMC), Freedom Textiles (FT), Juapong Textile Limited (JTL), and Akosombo Textile Limited (ATL). These factories, among others, were established to operate alongside with the indigenous textile enterprises which were mainly cottage in nature, to produce high quality and large quantities of textiles, primarily to meet the clothing needs of Ghanaians and also for export to earn foreign exchange for economic development of the country. Many textile factories, predominantly weaving, knitting and dyeing factories of small, medium and large-scale sprang up between 1960 and 1970 (MOTI, 1973). These factories flourished within this period and made significant contributions to the country’s economy through exportation of locally made textiles to earn foreign exchange for the country. Statistics on the textile industry indicate that Ghana had 10 large-scale, 40 medium-scale and over 200 cottage or small-scale textile firms which were in full operation between 1965 and 1970 and were made up of cotton and jute processing factories, weaving mills, knitting, printing and dyeing factories (MOTI, 2004). In recent times, the industry has gone through some difficulties times resulting in shutting down of production lines of most of the factories. A lot of workers have been made redundant as a result of these shut downs. Ghana Textile Printing Co. Ltd. (GTP), now Texstyles Ghana Limited which once produced a very good textile brand is reported to have shut down its spinning and weaving departments and laid off many of its workers. This was a company, which was known to have competed with multinational textile companies in the past. The story is not different for Ghana Textile Manufacturing Company limited (GTMC) which shut down its production line way back in December 2005. Juapong Textiles also joined the league and shut down its production lines to be partly reopened under a new name Volta Star Textiles Limited but could not cope with the competition (The Financial Times Limited, 2007 as cited in Egu, 2009). Egu (2009) observes that, some of the companies which are still in operation import gray baft and semi-finished/bleached cloth for printing in Ghana. One such company is Printex which is believed to be producing below capacity. The only surviving local textile company in 2 the industry is the Akosombo Textile Limited (ATL) but the story does not look good for it either. The situation is having adverse repercussions not only on the country’s economy but also the institutions such as the universities and polytechnics that offer textiles related courses; as the fate of graduates from such institutions ‘hangs in a balance’.

1.2 Statement of the Problem The prime objective for the establishment of large-scale textile factories in Ghana was not only to embark on mass textile production to meet the clothing needs of the country, but as well to raise the standard of living of Ghanaians and also improve the country’s economy for the better (MOTI, 1973; Osei-Bonsu, 2001). Ghana, one of the West African countries with a vibrant textile industry (Abdallah, 2010) is gradually joining the league of other nations in the sub-region with collapsed textile and garment manufacturing sub-sector. This confirms the assertion that, the sub-sector which was once the leader in Ghana’s industrial sector serving as an important source of foreign exchange and revenue to the country has undergone a considerable decline over the years due largely to the trade liberalization programme which made it almost impossible for Ghana’s textile products to compete with cheap imports, particularly from Asia (Quartey, 2006). From over 40 textile firms that employed more than 25,000 people in the 1970s, the country now has only four textile factories employing less than 4,000 workers. Abdallah (2010) establishes that the 25,000 workers accounted for 27 percent of Ghana’s total manufacturing employment in 1977. By 1995, however, employment within the sub-sector had dwindled to a mere 7,000; declining further to 5,000 workers by 2000. Statistics from the Ghana’s Revenue Agencies Governing Board (RAGB) shows that the country is losing about 300 billion Ghana old Cedis in potential revenue annually through smuggling of textile materials and Ghana’s once thriving textile market is now flooded with the Chinese sub-standard textile products, thereby surging up the country’s unemployment index (Quartey, 2006; Abdallah, 2010). Quartey (2006) records that the country’s total industry textile output peaked at 129 million yards in 1977 with capacity utilization rate of about 60 percent. Unfortunately, total industry output declined to 46 million yards in 1995 including that of Ghana Textile Manufacturing Company (GTMC), Akosombo Textile Limited (ATL), Printex and Ghana Textile Printing (GTP) which were the four major companies that survived the turbulence in the sub-sector. With regard to foreign exchange and revenue 3 generation, textile exports generated 179.7 million US dollars in 1994 but revenue from exports declined consistently and by 1998, the figure had decreased to 3.173 million US dollars (MOTI, 2005; Quartey, 2006). These statistics evidently show the extent of decline of the Ghana textile industry. A preliminary survey of the Ghana textile industry by the researcher confirms that, the sub-sector had experienced gradual decline over the years and some industrial watchtowers (Egu, 2009) have attributed this not only to internal bottlenecks but also to certain external factors that cut across the various operations of the factories from acquisition of raw materials to sales. The major threats are the influx of cheap Asian textiles (mainly from China) and the proliferation of used and second hand clothing on the Ghanaian market (Quartey, 2006). It is observed that many Ghanaians, as a matter of affordability, have shifted to the use of those foreign textiles thereby reducing the patronage of the locally made textiles. This as consequently is crippling the operations of the factories leading to the closure of most of them leaving few ones in the struggle to survive. The rippling effects of the closure of most textile factories, among others, are the high rate of unemployment and economic crunch the country is facing. Most textile employees have been laid off (Egu, 2009) whereas most new textiles graduates from the country’s universities and polytechnics remain unemployed. A lot of chemical and mechanical engineers, labourers, cleaners and messengers as well as business administrators who might have been employed by the textile factories remain jobless. A pragmatic approach is therefore necessary to revamp the situation. This multiple case study, therefore, seeks to investigate the challenges and prospects of selected large-scale textile factories in Ghana and their implications for textile education and also recommends feasible measures to help mitigate the numerous challenges.

1.3 Objectives of the Study The objectives of the research are to: 1. study the production and sales operations of the selected textile factories. 2. identify and discuss the internal and external challenges and prospects of the selected large-scale textile factories with reference to production and sales. 3. identify and assess the measures put in place by the government, textile industries and stakeholders to mitigate the challenges.

4. discuss the implications of the challenges and prospects on textiles education in Ghana.

1.4 Research Questions 1. How do the selected textile factories carry out their production and sales operations? 2. What are the internal and external challenges and prospects of the selected large-scale textile factories with regards to production and sales? 3. What mitigation measures have been put in place by the government, textile factories, and stakeholders in curbing the challenges? 4. What implications do the challenges and prospects of the textile factories have on textiles education in Ghana?

1.5 Assumptions The assumptions are that: 1. The textile factories in Ghana are in crisis. 2. The cotton production industries are not able to meet the demand of the textile factories in Ghana. 3. Importation of used foreign clothing and textiles are a threat to the local textile factories. 4. There are prospects to revive the textile factories in Ghana. 5. Ghanaians will patronise locally produced textiles if they are affordable and are of good quality. 6. The textile factories will welcome the vision of this research and contribute their quota for the success of the study. 7. Good policies by the government on textile production will help in the sustainability of the textile factories in Ghana. 8. There are technical expertise and raw material resources in Ghana that can be utilized to maximize productivity for optimum returns.

1.6 Delimitation Geographically, the study focuses on four large-scale textile factories within Volta, Eastern, Greater-Accra and Northern regions of Ghana. These are:

1. Texstyles Ghana Limited (TGL) formerly Ghana Textiles Printing (GTP): Tema in the Greater-Accra region). 2. Akosombo Textiles Limited (ATL): Akosombo in the Eastern region. 3. Volta Star Textiles Limited (VSTL) formerly Juapong Textiles Limited (JTL): Juapong in the Volta region. 4. Ghana Cotton Company Limited (GCCL): Tamale in the Northern region. In content, it is centred on internal and external challenges and prospects of the production and sales activities of the four selected textile factories.

1.7 Limitations Since the research is a multiple case study, there was an obvious indication of the unwillingness of the factory authorities to release certain vital data with the fear of getting their production and sales secrets into the public domain due to competition that exists between the local textile factories. Photographs and video documentation were generally a prohibition in all the factories and that also affected the graphical presentation of data.

1.8 Definition of Terms It must be noted that, the terminologies in this section have been defined in context of this research. Cotton seed: seedlings for cotton farming. Ginnery: A textile factory that deals in the processing of fibres for yarn and fabric production. Ginning: Processing of seed cotton which primarily involves separation of the seed from the fibres. Green production: An environmentally friendly production that leads to cleaner land, air, and water. Inorganic cotton: Cotton that is produced and processed through the use of chemicals. Knock-off: An inexpensive imitation of a costly fabric. Lint cotton: Processed seed cotton for textile production. Mummy Cloth: A general name for all African prints in Ghana. Textiles- Products made from fibres, yarns and fabrics

Out-growers: Registered farmers who are given assistance to produce seed cotton for the ginnery companies.

Organic cotton: A type of cotton that is produced purely by natural farm practises and chemical free industrial process. Productivity: the rate at which a company produces goods or services, in relation to the amount of materials and number of employees needed Seed cotton: raw cotton that has been harvested for ginning. Spinning: the process of twisting together two or more fibres to form a long continuous yarn. Deminimize rule: A rule that permits textile article with 7% of fibres or yarns of its total weight not wholly formed in US or the beneficiary Sub-Saharan African country, to be eligible for AGOA.

1.9 Abbreviations AGI-Association of Ghanaian Industries. AGOA-Africa Growth and Opportunities Act. APA-American Psychological Association ATL-Akosombo Textiles Limited. ATC-Agreement on Textiles and Clothing. ATMI-American Textile Manufacturing Institute. CEPS-Customs, Excise and Preventive Service. EPROM: Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory. NABPTEX: National Board for Professional and Technical Examinations RFO-Residual Fuel Oil GTP-Ghana Textiles Printing. GTMC-Ghana Textiles Manufacturing Company. GIHOC-Ghana Industrial Holding Company. GSP-Generalized System of Preference. GATT-General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. GDP-Gross Domestic Product. GM: Genetically modified. HERAG: Home Economics Association of Ghana. IMF-International Monetary Fund. 7

ISI-Import Substitution Industrialization. JTL-Juapong Textiles Limited. JIT-Just- In-Time MFN-Most Favoured Nation. MFA- Multi-fibre Agreement. MOTI-Ministry of Trade and Industry. OM-Operations Management PSI-President’s Special Initiative. RAGB: Ghana’s Revenue Agencies Governing Board SARI-Savannah Agriculture Research Institute. TGL-Texstyles Ghana Limited. TQM-Total Quality Management TRIPs-Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights. TRIMs-Trade Related Investment Measures. TTL-Tema Textile Limited. VRA-Volta River Authority. VSTL-Volta Star Textiles Limited. WTO-World Trade Organisation.

1.10 Importance of the Study The primary beneficiaries of this research are the large-scale textile industrialists in Ghana. The results of the study can serve as reliable reference material for the textile factories to take strategic and pragmatic decisions to ensure effectiveness and sustainability of the textile industry and educational institutions in Ghana. The research aims at invigorating the textile factories through implementation of its recommendations. The invigoration of the factories is expected to bring expansion of the production activities of the factories which will increase productivity for maximum returns. The expansion in the scope of production may indirectly provide job opportunities to textile graduates, chemical and mechanical engineering graduates as well as business administrators from the country’s Universities and Polytechnics to ease the unemployment situation in the country. The research results can also serve as a body of knowledge, reference or educational material for textiles students, lecturers and other researchers on the

8 challenges and prospects of the textile factories in order to direct their research activities to solve pertinent problems confronting the textile industry. The study can contribute to the socio-economic development of Ghana since it addresses problems of the textile factories to revitalize them to perform effectively to produce quality textiles to meet the textile needs of Ghanaians and also for export to earn foreign exchange for the country. The study aims at creating sustainable jobs for textile merchandisers or traders whose work has subsided as a result of the decline of the textile factories and low patronage of locally produced textiles. The research aims at sustainable development of the textile factories. This will invariably provide jobs to textile distributors, wholesalers and retailers of locally made textiles in Ghana.

1.11 Organisation of the rest of the text Chapter two reviews literature related to the topic. It deals with; Development and Technology in Textile Production, Production Theories, Operations Management, Factors affecting Production and Sales of Textiles, The Significance of the Textile Industry, Trade Policies on Textiles, The Development of the Local Textiles Factories in Ghana, Government’s Policies on Ghanaian Textile Industry, Operations management, Significance of the Ghana Textile Industry, the State of the Ghana Textile Industry and Textiles Education in Ghana. Chapter three which follows is the Methodology. It discusses the Research Design consisting of the Research Methods, Data Collecting Instruments, Population for the Study, Sampling Techniques, Data Collection Procedure, and Data Analysis Plan Chapter four is the Presentation and Discussion of Findings. It addresses the production and sales operations and internal and external challenges and prospects of the selected factories. It also identifies and discusses measures already put in place to address the challenges and the implications of the challenges for textiles education in Ghana. Chapter five which concludes the text consists of the Summary, Conclusions and Recommendations.

CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Overview The chapter reviews and discusses theoretical underpinnings and empirical data relevant to the topic to establish a conceptual framework for the research. The core areas of literature considered very relevant to the study and provides enough evidence for analytical discussion to support the study are as follows:

a) Technology in Textile Production. b) Production Theories. c) Operations Management. d) Factors affecting Production and Sales of Textiles. e) The significance of Textiles in developed economies. f) World Trade Policies on Textiles. g) The development of Textiles in Ghana. h) Government’s Policies on the local Textile Industry. i) The significance of the Ghana Textile Industry. j) Textile Education in Ghana

2.1 Technology in Textile Production

Technology is fast advancing and the textile industry is not an exception. The textile industry is perhaps the oldest and the first to have gone through mechanization throughout the world. Majory (1986) asserts that it has been the main pillar around which industrialization in Europe and other countries evolved. The rationale for this may be due to the fact that the textile industry addresses one of the basic necessities of man, clothing, which is indispensable in life and of high demand and therefore industrialization of the industry was in the right direction to develop other industries. Majory (1986) further observes that since the 19th century industrial revolution, many developments have occurred with the development of shuttleless looms of dynamic high production rates which go beyond the power of the conventional shuttle looms. Further achievements in the 21st century include the development of fibre variants and modifications, and new

10 methods of processing fibres into ultimate end-use products which have affected finishing and colouring fabrics at the manufacturing level, behaviour in use and care at the consumer level. In addition to mechanical improvements in yarn and fabric manufacture, Majory (1986) states further that, there have been rapid advances in the development of new fibres, processes to improve textile characteristics, and testing methods allowing greater quality control and for this reason both industrialized and developing countries now have modern installations capable for highly efficient fabric production. Taylor (1999) adds that the rapidly evolving techniques of textile production, together with developments in world of politics, economics and population, combine to give an overall pattern of world consumption and usage of fibres that has changed considerably since the introduction of manufactured fibres and continues to change. The most important factors are the increase in world population and influence which are raising both the total of world production of fibres, and also the per capita world consumption.

It can be inferred from the assertions made by Majory and Taylor that, the changes that have occurred in the production of textiles cut across fibre processing to finishing providing the consumer with the opportunity to choose from a wider variety of products for specific applications or needs. In order to remain in business, therefore, requires installation of modern machinery to be efficient and competitive in production to meet both the standards set and also the high demands for both clothing and industrial textiles as the world’s population keeps rising. This, however, poses a challenge to domestic textile manufacturing companies which still operate with obsolete technology and machinery that result in low productivity.

2.1.1 The Changing Phase in Fibre Production

In the fibre industry, high performance fibres have been developed to serve the need of wider consumers. With reference to Spandex World (2009), such fibres with their competitive advantage, have brought dynamism in fibre utilization. This source further explains that most natural fibres with their less competitive advantage in terms of technical application are now being blended with high performance fibres to meet specific end use, leading to the development of sophisticated fibre processing machinery. Non-breathable fabrics are now made breathable, non - stretchable fabrics are made stretchable, aesthetic and functional qualities of fibres are now improved through fibre 11 blend technology. This suggests that fibre production is now essentially oriented towards utilitarian purposes to address specific needs other than only aesthetic needs. For this reason, blending of fibres to assume new inherent and physical properties for both technical and fashionable applications has become the norm in the fibre production sector.

Taylor (1999) establishes that the quest for newness, suitability, comfortability and quality in textile and clothing applications by modern man has emanated in the development of innovative or high performance fibres and fabrics have become the fastest growing segments with exceptionally high demand in the global market. In the light of this, for Ghanaian textile factories to remain in business, it will be imperative for them to be in trend with modern textile technologies for the production of new products. The unfortunate situation is that, as the modern society quests for the use of novelty fibres, yarns and fabric to meet different purposes, production of textiles in Ghana only focuses on the use of cotton as a chief raw material in producing plain weave fabrics which have limited application. Tortora and Merkel (2005) records that, since 1960 the textile industry had entered an era of a “Melting Point of Fibres" and that the days of competition between natural fibres and man-made fibres had come to an end. Although some fibre production sectors still cling to the concept that some fibres should only be promoted in their pure form. The New Encyclopaedia of Textiles declares that this perception is rapidly decreasing adding that, it is now common to blend fibres to acquire fabrics with enhanced or unique properties, which cannot be achieved easily with fabrics made from a single fibre type. It also emphasises that, due to the wide range of fibre properties and characteristics there are almost limitless opportunities for the creation of blends of different type, composition and fabric structure. Moreover, with the advent of modern synthetic fibre technology a form of blend has evolved which could be regarded as a quasi-chemical blending whereby fibres are generated by extruding the liquor of two or more polymers through a spinneret to form a novelty fibre of varied characteristics. The assertions made by Spandex World (2009) and New Encyclopaedia of Textiles (1980) justify the fact that blending has become a very significant practice in modern fabric production addressing technological factors such as durability and comfort, and providing an important economic function for the consumer. There is therefore no doubt that, blending provides functional and aesthetic qualities to fabrics to

12 serve dual purposes. For instance, Collier (1980) explains that a polyester cotton blend can be versatile in terms of serviceability, as it most likely retains the coolness and lightness of the cotton fibre coupled with the strength, durability and wrinkle-resistance of polyester, whereas polyester cotton blend may only shrink slightly in comparison to a garment or fabric that is 100% cotton. This blend is often preferred by home sewers and quilters as it is extremely easy to work with. To buttress this fact, Frings (2001) observes that, natural and man-made fibre producers work together to research and develop fibre blends adding that, textile engineers find the best properties of both man-made and natural fibres and combine them in satisfactory proportions to maximize their best characteristics. For example, cotton may be blended with polyester for easy care, with rayon for softness, or with spandex for stretch. The aftermath of blending is the creation of new and interesting fabrics. In this modern age of environmental, health and safety concerns, Frings stresses further that many textile industries are making advances in the development of environmentally friendly production with the most exciting development being the production of biodegradable fibres made from renewable resources; however, the domestic textile industries have shrunk drastically due to competition from low priced imports. He attributed the decline of the domestic textile industry to the high cost involved in eco- friendly textile production which had made some textile producers, especially those from the less developed countries to kick against the advocacy for environmental friendly production. It must be noted that, Frings, was writing with the American Apparel and Textile Industry in focus and noted that, eco-friendly textile production is capital intensive. Even America, one of the world’s economic giants suffers the challenge of practicing eco- friendly textile production; how much more the less developed countries with agrarian state of economy? Arguably, the less developed economies can hardly engage fully in the production of eco-friendly textile production as this will require complete installation of modern systems, training and hiring of high technical experts, development of strong raw material base and infrastructural development, among others. Frings attests that, the move for American and European textile companies to maintain health, safety and clean air and water is astronomical. He therefore argues that it is very difficult for environmentally responsible producers to compete with the low prices from mills in Asia where producers do not pay to clean up their environment. In view of this, American and European textile manufacturers want to require imported textile products to be under the 13 same environmental, health and safety standards to ensure fair competition as well as clean environment throughout the world. The question therefore is whether the domestic textile firms in the developing countries will be able to meet such standards to be able to compete fairly as it may be extremely difficult financially for a country such as Ghana to go into such production despite its environmental and health benefits. Aside environmentally friendly production, advances in technology in man-made fibre production have paved way for researchers to look for newer methods for growing and processing of some important natural fibres like cotton. New standards are being set for the growing of cotton, processing, printing and dyeing of natural cotton fabrics. New strains of cotton are being developed that are insect and water resistant, and require little or no chemical application such as insecticides or fertilizers. Reference of such developments could be made to Genetically Modified (GM) and Organic cotton production technologies. GM cotton was developed primarily to reduce heavy reliance on pesticides thereby reducing cost of production. In the GM technology, the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) naturally produces a chemical substance which is harmful to some insects such as butterflies, beetles, flies, moths, etc., which attack cotton and therefore reduces pesticide control. A 2009 study by Chinese Academy of Sciences conclude that GM cotton effectively control bollworm; and reduced insecticide is required to control secondary pests mostly miridae (plant bugs) due to the use of Bt. Statistics of worldwide production of GM projected by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri- biotech Applications (ISAAA) indicate the production of 16 million hectares land of GM in 2009. This represents 49% of the total cotton planted in that year worldwide. A notable reference can be made to China and US whose total GM production reached 68% in 2009 and 93% in 2010 respectively (Dip, 2011). From the report by Dip, it is certain that the limited use of pesticides in GM technology in cotton production has led to an increasing rate of its production with total plantation of 16 million hectares of land accounting for 49% of total global cotton plantation in 2009 making it popular in recent times. Cotton production countries have moved into GM technology to such an extent that even giant economies like US and China have toed this line with the aim of reducing cost of production as the report indicated. The GM cotton technology therefore set a good platform for under developed countries that are into production of cotton textiles to reduce production costs and to 14 maximize profit. The Ghana textile industry, for instance, which depends solely on cotton, can expediently employ the GM technology to reduce cost of production considerably. That notwithstanding, organic cotton farmers are striving for chemical-free cotton fibres due to the numerous adverse effects associated with inorganic cotton. A number of factors account for the advocacy for the organic cotton production. These include reduction of premature death and suffering associated with pesticide control. This is in line with World Health Organization (WHO) report that indicates that pesticide poisoning kills 20,000 to 40,000 people annually and three million suffer from pesticide related diseases. Organic cotton production, however, reduces health risks in cancer and skin irritation, preserves water bodies, reduces air pollution, preserves nature’s insect predators, protect fisheries, and builds healthy soil for safe food (Organic Cotton, 2011). This chemical-free concept of cotton production, from the researcher’s point of view, is the best option for the Ghana Textile Industry as it lacks sophisticated and high speed systems to compete fairly with the offshore counterparts in the mass market. Going into high quality and highly priced organic cotton production to serve a specific niche market globally will be one of the surest ways of revitalizing the industry. Frings (2001) affirms and note that some manufacturers are committed to using only organic cotton in their clothing. He adds that a technology to reclaim cotton waste has been developed to convert it into yarn for reweaving in the denim industry. Efforts are being made by some industrialist to reclaim other scraps for reproduction. Various textile companies in the world are working toward the development of non-toxic pesticides, environmentally friendly alternatives to PVA and finishing detergents; citric-acid cleaners to replace phosphate and chlorine, natural oils to supplant petroleum lubricants, fibre reactive dyes to decrease water use and chemical waste; resins to replace formaldehyde and enzymes to replace acid washes. From the researcher’s point of view, all these are toward best practices for health and ecological safety purposes in the global textile industry. It is therefore very prudent for domestic textile industries to develop strategies to change gradually into eco-friendly production as there is strong global advocacy for industries to go into “green production”.

2.1.2 Technology in Fabric Manufacture Weaving has been the major traditional method of fabric production. Writing on recent developments in the weaving industry, Collier (1980) reports that, in the past a lot 15 of time and effort was devoted to improve the conventional loom rather than developing radically new forms of machinery, and production was labour intensive. She, however, asserts that the situation had changed in recent years due to the increasing amount of competition in the market, plus influence of labour shortages, high wages and increased cost. She adds that vast sums of money are now invested in machinery with incentives for research and experimentation to develop new machinery, aimed at automation and increased production speeds, vis-a-vis reduction of the number of operatives required. Taylor (1999 establish that the weaving industry had gone through tremendous developments with unprecedented innovations. The conventional power looms operate on crank shaft and cam shedding mechanisms with limited design capabilities. Latter development of shedding mechanisms focused on dobby and jacquard systems that allowed the possibility of creating complex weave structures. With regard to picking mechanisms, the traditional method of weft insertion that employs the shuttle has almost been replaced by other methods that are based on the principle of shuttleless loom mechanism. This is due to the slow production rate of the shuttle loom. Projectile, rapier, air-jet and water jet looms have become extensively operational with their exceptionally high rate of production. The modus operandi of the shuttleless looms could be distinguished. With the projectile loom, the yarn is unwound and is presented to the weft insertion device. This device is a projectile and is propelled through the shed carrying the weft yarn along to lay it across the shed. The projectile receives energy via a torsion bar in which strain energy has been stored prior to the picking operation. The rapier loom on the other hand works on the Dewas principle where a “giver” receives the yarn from the “carrier” to the centre of the loom to be presented to a “taker” which completes the picking process. With the air-jet looms the yarn travels through the shed via a nozzle and auxiliary jets (relay nozzles). The water-jet looms employ a jet of water for weft insertion. The water jet is obtained by pressing water through a nozzle which converts the pressure energy into speed energy to carry the weft across the shed. Taylor (1999 explain further that these looms work on single phase mechanism adding that there are multi-phase looms in which the weft yarn is first wound on carriers with appropriate length and made to move intermittently through the shed. The shafts, together with the reed, open and close at each passage of a carrier resulting in wavy movements. The multi-phase looms did not receive much development due to their associated problems such as limited weave possibilities, deviating weft yarns, difficult reparation of weft breakages, and selvedge formation problems. 16

Modern looms are equipped with microprocessors for efficient operation. Collier (1980) writes that the development of the microprocessor aims at bi-directional communication, that is, retrieval of production figures as well as setting of looms from the central computer. The microprocessor has several functions which include fault indication (i.e. weft stops, warp stops, stops for preventive maintenance), recording of production rates (i.e. output, number and types of stops, produced cloth length), control of weft insertion systems in the case of looms with multi-coloured weft, controlling the electronic shaft machine, control of the engine for unwinding the warp beam, and setting of the looms by means of an EPROM (Erasable and Programmable Read Only Memory).

From the above discussions, it is evident that, technological advancement has given way to automation of reparation of weft and warp breakages, replacement of warp beam and cloth roller, and feeding of supply package. These, among others, have increased production rates, enhanced fabric quality, reduced labour and production costs, and created variety, in the weaving industry. Moreover, a lot of investments and research developments have taken place in the global weaving industry towards automation of machinery. The challenge, therefore, for the domestic weaving industry is whether they have the requisite capacity in terms of capital and technical expertise to move in this direction to sustain the industry.

2.2 Theories of Production With reference to Production Theory Basics (2009), production is defined as an economic process of converting inputs into outputs by utilizing resources to create goods or services that are suitable for exchange. Some economists, according to this source, have defined production broadly as all economic activities other than consumption and see every commercial activity other than the final purchase as some form of production. Production is a process, and as such it occurs through time and space and because it is a flow concept, it is measured as a rate of output per period of time. A production process therefore refers to any activity that increases the similarity between the pattern of demand for goods and services, and the quantity, form, shape, size, length and distribution of these goods and services available to the market place. There are three aspects of production processes; the quantity of the good or service produced, the form of the good or service created, the temporal and spatial distribution of the good or service produced.

Ali (2009) adds that inputs or resources used in the production process are called factors of production by economists. The myriad of possible inputs are usually grouped into six categories which are; raw materials, machinery, labour services, capital goods, land, and entrepreneur. Early Theories of Production (2010) explains that, knowledge of what is permanent and normal in industrial production is what is termed as theory of production adding that, traditionally, this knowledge has been accumulated in tacit form in the professional skill of industrial managers and artisans, but today more and more of it is being documented in writing by researchers.

Fig 2.1: Theory of production Source: Early Theories of Production (2010)

Most studies of production, according to the Early Theories of Production, use either one of the two alternative approaches, that is, they have either descriptive or normative purpose, as can be seen in Fig. 2.1. It further explains that, the two resulting theory paradigms differ quite much from each other even when the object of study is the same. Descriptive theory contains knowledge about past or present production but does not help in modifying it to correspond better to latest requirements. Normative theory of production on the other hand contains generally applicable knowledge and tools that can be used in the management of production, especially for optimizing existing production and planning new production. From the two distinctive theories of production, it can be deduced that while the descriptive theory focuses on historical and academic studies, the normative theory is 18 pragmatically centred and therefore suitable for industries concerned with the production of tangible products as in textile production to optimize productivity and develop competitive products to meet current needs. Besides the conventional theories, there are currently a number of theories of production that have emerged with the goal of the manufacturer in focus which have been discussed in the following sections.

2.2.1 Technology of Production Parkin et al. (1999) assert that almost all products today are made with special machinery, and each of these machines operates on the basis of a specific technology, i.e. specific productive operation. An overview of the various technologies related to a given type of products usually follows the typical process of manufacture. For example, clothing and Textiles technology consist of; the technology of fibres (i.e. the methods of collecting and cleaning natural fibres, extruding synthetic fibres, finishing fibres with the methods of mercerizing, easy-care or anti-shrink, and of blending fibres), the technology of yarns which involves spinning, assembling filament yarns, folding, cabling, and the fabrication of fancy or textured yarns), the technology of textile construction, such as weaving, knitting, braiding, stitch bonding, laminating, or nonwoven techniques, the technology of textile finishing i.e. dyeing, printing, and mechanical finishing such as raising, pleating or shrinking, the technology of cutting inclusive of pattern construction, grading and lay planning, the technology of sewing with special machines for lockstitch, chain stitch, blind stitch, flat seam, buttonholes etc., and the technology of pressing and fusing. Elaborating on the technological theory that exists for each productive operation, Perkin et al opine further that, it involves data that define the role of the operation in the total production process. These data deal with all the capacities of the machines, their reliability, ease of use and other aspects of usability, and the emission of chemicals. Besides, it provides detailed instructions on the use of the machinery, written mostly by the constructors of these machines and complemented by studies of occupational safety or methods of engineering carried out by the makers of the machinery or by the company that is using them. From the list of processes involved in the Clothing and Textiles technology as enumerated by Perkin et al, it is evident that the textile industry cannot operate without machinery as each level of production line requires specific set of machinery for better

19 output. This necessitates in-depth knowledge of how the systems work at each stage of production.

2.2.2 Economy of Production The economic study of production aims at finding an optimum between benefits and expenditures of manufacture (Friedman, 2007). Friedman further establishes that, for finding an optimum, several statistics are used, such as productivity and profitability and most elements of production are measured as monetary variables which make it possible to construct an economical image or projection of the manufacturing process. Instruments of economic management include budgeting the incomes and expenditures of production, setting objectives for the productivity of the most important operations; follow-up, measurement and reporting of all of these; and comparing the reported statistics to the agreed objectives. Friedman further stipulates that productivity standards are a handy instrument when setting targets and defines the productivity of normal good pace of work, measured as work hours per manufactured unit, under various circumstances. These standards can then be used in work planning and possibly for defining work incentives or wages for work contracts. These projections made by Friedman clearly show that to obtain optimum economy of scale in production, productivity must be equated with profitability where wages are established by work done per hour which means that the more work done per hour, the better the remuneration. This form of establishing wages, from the researcher’s point of view, can foster high productivity to maximize profit in the industries operating in less developed countries such as Ghana where workers will want do extra hours to earn more compared to the fixed monthly salary structure which put workers of the same level at the same salary point irrespective of the quantum of work done by each worker within the month. The labour intensive nature of the technology of the domestic textile industry therefore requires hourly rate concept for fair wages.

2.2.3 Quality Systems Many large industries today (Theories of Production, 2010) have a quality system; a special arrangement for the task of defining and steering the quality of production which usually consists of a document on the policy of quality as approved by the management, a quality handbook (or the equivalent on a network), a certificate of the quality system, issued by an official body, quality objectives for each product, quality 20 control involving routines to guarantee the right quality of the products, and quality inspection and corrective actions. Most countries have a system of official certification of companies where a standardized quality system is operative and regardless of what the company says in advertisements, the target of quality in practice is seldom set at highest possible, because attaining it in every finished product would perhaps cost too much. Instead, the company often wishes to define an optimal level of quality and marks out how it shall be obtained in production. These are defined by researchers, and the management of the company then approves the targets for production. A much less complicated method for improving the quality of production is the quality circle, a Japanese method in which each ordinary work team at a plant discusses, perhaps weekly, the possibilities of improving the quality of the products and of minimizing the errors and losses in production (Theories of Production, 2010). This suggests that for a company’s product to reach optimal quality level necessitates developing and implementation of a well defined standardized quality system through a collaborative effort of both the company’s research team and management. Most domestic textile firms have quality control measures. But as the text reveals, proper quality system goes beyond quality control to include attainment of quality system certificate from an official body, and full policy document on quality system, among others. Hence, if a local textile industry obtains certification from an internationally accredited official body its products will be projected and made competitive in the international market.

2.2.4 Timing of Production The goal in time scheduling of manufacture (Theories of Production, 2010) is to integrate all the tasks in the chain of production so that no unnecessary waiting occurs and each task is given enough time, adding that methods of scheduling include the standards of productivity and task programming techniques and the critical path method. Explicit scheduling is indispensable especially in the case that the product consists of several parts that have to be made in different places. Besides, in many fields of production the company gets an advantage over competitors if it can deliver the product quickly. This can be related to the domestic textile factories as they operate on horizontally integrated system where production is discontinuous with the processing of fibre, yarn 21 production, fabric manufacture, printing and finishing, taking place in different places and therefore explicit scheduling becomes indispensable. This is to minimize time wasting which occurs as a result of movement of material from one section, factory or region to another for the next process to be carried out. Amidst competitive market, it can asserted that, quick delivery or meeting deadlines should be one of the common goals or priorities of the local textile factories to attain a competitive edge over other companies producing the same products. This goal, with reference to Theories of Production, can be achieved by concurrent engineering, i.e. overlapping some phases of the production as shown in Fig. 2.2.

Fig 2.2: Gantt Chart showing Timing of Production Source: Theories of Production (2010)

2.2.5 Logistics of Production The sales point of the product usually differs from the place of obtaining the raw material meaning that production entails much transportation of raw material and products in various stages of completion. Besides, storage is another type of secondary activity that brings about costs (Theories of Production, 2010). This source elaborates that, most products are made in several stages which are carried out in different places with various machines, and thus cannot be avoided to have some buffer storage between the different phases of production. Moreover, it can be invaluable when a machine must temporarily be halted and conclude that the science of logistics can help in planning the production process to avoid unnecessary cost of transportation and storage. The issues regarding storage and transportation of raw materials and products vis- a-vis long down-times of machinery in the various stages of production cannot be overlooked in textile production with special reference to the local textile industry as these abysmally increase cost of production. With the obsolete nature of technology

22 prevailing in the local textile industry, it can be agreed that proper logistics in planning of the production process can help avoid unnecessary costs of transportation and storage.

2.2.6 Ecology of Production Ecology of production (Theories of Production, 2010) deals with the flow of materials that result from making, usage and also discarding various products and develops methods for minimizing the negative effects to the environment, such as the use of materials, pollution and production of waste. In manufacture, there are many possibilities to diminish the use of raw materials and toxic processes; but in doing so, the environmental effects during the product’s use and final discarding are very crucial, as can be seen in Fig. 2.3.

Fig. 2.3: Ecology of Production Source: Theories of Production (2010).

2.2.7 Occupational Safety and Health In the study of ergonomics or human factors of engineering the following straining and risk factors of work (Theories of Production, 2010) are outlined; mechanical dangers such as sharp and mobile parts of machines and products, physical factors like heat, electricity, noise and shaking, chemical factors including the risk of fires, biological hazards, for example bacteria, physiological hazards like lifting heavy objects and psychological factors, for example, loneliness and monotony of work, or, on the other hand, excessive noise. The theory of occupational health and safety includes allowable limits for all the above-mentioned factors, as well as the methods for measuring them and their harmful effects. All industrial plants in developed countries are subject to periodical control of

23 those factors (Theories of Production, 2010). Production of locally made textiles associate itself with all of the safety and health hazards outlined and for that matter management’s effort to ensure safety and health conditions of workers is of paramount importance. The researcher considers these factors very essential in textile production as assurance of workers’ safety and good health reduce frequent accidents in the plant for maximum productivity.

2.2.8 Motivation and Psychology of Work Many of the targets of production that have been enumerated in the previous sections, are normally set by the management without discussing them with either the employees or their delegates such as shop stewards. The result often is that many employees fail to understand why a target which can be arduous to achieve is important for the company; their motivation to work diminish, and they perhaps consider leaving their jobs (Theories of Production, 2010). Lately several researchers have tried to find out what topics really are important for the employees adding that human motivation factors fall into two groups: "dissatisfies", and "satisfiers". These are not simply opposites, but rather like sensations in the same way as pain and pleasure. The strongest satisfying factors, or motivators, all had to do directly with the person's particular job: results, achievements; recognition, work itself, work as an interesting activity, responsibility and advancement. Potentially negative factors in motivation are: company policy and administration, supervision, pay, interpersonal relations, and working conditions. The manager should see to it that these do not annoy the worker, but even when they are arranged ideally they alone cannot motivate the worker. That is why they are not referred to as "motivators" but maintenance factors or hygiene factors. Research of motivation or human factors of work has continued till today, and on the basis of its findings many improvements have been made in the conditions of work. Nevertheless, the satisfaction of employees has not generally increased. The reason perhaps is that the expectations of employees have ascended simultaneously. Deducing from the above theory of motivation and psychology of work, it can be established that job satisfaction of workers is key to successful production activity of any industry. Management, in consultation with workers, must provide better working conditions with respect to policy making, administration, supervision, remuneration and interpersonal relationship to motivate the workers to perform as expected. With respect to the Ghana textile industry, the laborious nature of the technology in place from fibre 24 processing stage to finishing seriously allow workers to deserve better conditions of work.

2.2.9 Theory of Autonomous Groups Many people today, with reference to Theories of Production (2010), have great confidence in science, and when encountering a problem they often think that the best method is starting a project and hiring a competent researcher. However, there is still an alternative method, albeit ancient, where the existing team itself takes care of its working methods and updates them so that problems never spring up or, when they do, they are taken care of and removed. This source further establishes that, such an autonomous team itself detects the sprouting problem, works out a remedy for it and modifies accordingly the working routines of the team. Often cited advantages of autonomous activity (Theories of Production, 2010) are; 1) Procedures of work that have been developed by the team itself are often better than those developed by outsiders, because it is the members of the group that know the problem and its alternative solutions the best. The risk of omitting important viewpoints diminishes. 2) People today expect to have a right to deal with their own problems. When methods of work have to be modified, those changes found by the group itself will be accepted easily; the group will be willing to work for something on their own, and commit themselves to it. 3) All the participants will profit in the form of mental growth. In the future, the group will also be able to recognize problems and deal with them on their own. From the above view points, it is palpable that the theory and practice of autonomous groups focus on team work of existing staff. It therefore requires regular joint discussions to give every member of the team the opportunity to understand the collective purpose of the work or the target set by the company. This will in turn build the confidence of workers with the desire and willingness to work to identify and rectify problems as well as modifying or updating the production activity when needed to achieve better results. Although, textile production is highly technical and may sometimes compel management to rely on the expertise or resource persons outside the company or the country, such may be too expensive for the domestic textile industry to practise. As the production line of the Ghanaian textile factories is segmented into series of sections and department with staff of peculiar skills, the theory of autonomous groups will be the best option to ensure cost effective and less problematic production.

2.3. Operations Management Operations according to Schonberger and Knod (1997), is where the organisation’s goods and services are produced and provided. In a more specific view, it is where most people work and the company spends most of its budget. It is one of the essential functions of any organisation which needs careful management. Schonberger and Knod explain that, there is little consistency in how operations are managed due to the complexity nature of it which involve people with all levels of skills and knowledge, assorted equipment, material and tools, all kinds of buildings and work areas as well as product and process knowledge in people’s heads. Operations managers must watch over all of these with customer satisfaction and cost in mind. Operations management (OM) can be seen as function that transforms inputs such as people, capital, energy, materials and technology into outputs, i.e. goods and services (Fig. 2.4). In this regard, inputs, transformation, and output define operations management. Operations management is indispensable in all organisations with its basic three responsibilities involving taking care of money, design and demand. Schonberger and Knod establish that whether the organisation is private or public, manufacturing or service, these functions are portrayed and represented as departments of finance, research and development, marketing, and operations, or may alternatively be designated as accounting, design, sales and production. To take care of customers effectively, all the departments must function together like players on a well-trained sport team. The departments cannot stand alone. Even though in theory the departments are treated separately, in application they overlap to link in complicated ways but when they do not, the organisation falters and services its customers poorly.

Inputs

Goods

People

Capital

Transformation Processes Energy Services

Materials

Technology

Market and Environmental Forces Fig. 2.4: Operations management function Source: Schonberger and Knod (1997)

2.3.1. Customer satisfaction Customers energize the operations function like electricity does to light bulb. A customer arrives at a bank, hardware store, hears a greeting “May I help you”, conveys a want or need and has it fulfilled. That, according to Schonberger and Knod should be the case. Too often, however, the current customer needs and wants never get to the light bulb or do so too slowly. Both external and internal customers have many of the same general demands which include quality, speed, and flexible response. The quest for speed and flexibility is central to “Just-in-Time” (JIT) processing which is a system of managing operations with little or no delay time or idle inventories between one process and the next, or Time-Based Competition which became a movement of its own, roughly in parallel with Total Quality Management (TQM). 27

A major empirical research (Flynn, Sakakibara and Schroeder, 1995) supports the hypothesis that JIT and TQM are mutually reinforcing emphasizing that in its broad concept, JIT aims mostly at reducing cycle times, improving quality, flexibility and various costs. In these pursuits, JIT concept employs cross-trained employees, organisation of resources into self-contained “work cells”, reduced inventories precisely positioned and labelled, quick change over equipment, high level of maintenance and housekeeping, close partnerships with suppliers and customers, schedules closely synchronized to demand, simplified product designs and high level of quality. This is in line with the three unifying forces; quality, the customer and team work which are centrepiece of TQM as exemplified by Schonberger and Knod (1997). Schonberger and Knod continue that it is imperative that the supplier’s view of requirement called specification be matched as closely as possible to the customer’s actual needs. Close partnerships with customers help to create good specifications and increase the suppliers’ ability to satisfy users. Regardless of the type of business, internal and external customers generally have six basic requirements: high levels of quality, high degree of flexibility, higher levels of service, low cost, quick response and little or no variability; which exhibit consistency. These requirements are part of the production of a well-conceived operations management system. These need not be priority ordered but must be tackled in accordance with the situation at hand. If competitors are beating the company on speed, then quick response becomes high priority objective (Schonberger & Knod, 1997).

2.3.2. Competitiveness A competitor is a firm vying with another for sales and customers as well as for employees, permits, funding, and supplier loyalty. In this sense pleasing customers becomes the most basic level of operations management that gains its allegiance and brings revenue. This, according to Schonberger & Knod, could even drive competitors out of the market or production line. These scenarios presume, of course, that sales and marketing and other functions are also doing their part. Customer satisfaction builds competitiveness which is judged by rate of productivity improvement. Productivity is measured by the value of goods produced divided by number of hours worked. This suggests that the demand or the rate of patronage of a company’s product within specific working hours determines the company’s production rate. The more satisfying customers are, the higher the demand and production rate of the company to remain in competition

28 or override its competitors; hence, the customer becomes the driving force of productivity. Another factor that helps companies to remain competitive (Pall, 1987; Schonberger and Knod, 1997) is the value chain which is a complex mixture of product quality and usefulness at low cost. This is seen as an eye of a customer which accounts for value addition where an item goes through multiple transformation and waste elimination. Pall (1987) adds that market-route benefit begins when improved quality increases the product’s value in eyes of customers. The provider may raise prices or by holding prices steadily realize a gain in market share; revenue increases in either case. Cost-route benefits accrue because increased defect-free output cuts operating costs per unit and lower cost enhances profits as exhibited in Fig. 2.5.

Market- route benefits Higher prices Increased Improved Competitive revenue Continual position Increased quality Increased market improvement share profit Increased defect-free Reduced output cost of Cost-route benefits operation

Fig. 2.5: Market-route and cost-route benefits

Schonberger and Knod (1997) assert that, critical to the success of operations management are; dedication to customers both internal and external, response to six general targets for servicing customers (i.e. high quality, felicity, service, low cost, quick response and minimal variability), competitiveness measures that are relevant globally as well as at the level of operations (i.e. indexes of customer satisfaction, trend in inventory turnover, and value-chain analysis) and considering all employees as contributor to operations management. It is obvious that all the critical areas of operations management are geared towards customer satisfaction and must be strictly adhered to by the every company for effective management operation.

2.3.3. Operation Strategies Customers and competitors (Schonberger & Knod, 1997) affect operations management in many ways as in the location of the plant in order to go after competitors and customers, using better quality as a strategy for gaining market share at competitors’ expense, cutting costly waste in operations which allows lowered prices to customers thereby putting pressure on competitors, and gaining customer allegiance by including customers on product development team. Schonberger & Knod establishes further that, Japan’s emergence as an industrial power- house was propelled by its dominant competitive advantage strategy with the focus on quality which became a critical new business strategy for larger number of firms in the 1980’s. This evidently shows that, for a company to be competitive, quality must be the priority. Quality according to Garvin (1988) has eight distinctive dimensions. These are; performance (priming operating characteristics), feature (little extras), reliability (probability of successful operation within a given time span), conformance (meeting pre-established standards), durability (length of usefulness, economically and technically), serviceability (speed, courtesy, competence, and ease of repair), aesthetic (pleasing to the senses), and perceived quality (indirect evaluations of quality). To recognize quality, benchmarking is one of the surest techniques to build a competitive edge. This involves systematic search for best practices from whatever source to be used in improving a company’s own process. The process first involves planning and organisation, followed by identifying key processes, form team and understands their own process, collects information on who’s is best, what to ask, establishes relationship and plans to collect and shares information, conducts surveys, visits site and determine any third party, and finally compares data, plans to surpass, implements and monitors to improve (Schonberger & Knod, 1997). Stalk (1988) rates time as the next source of competitive advantage strategy. He stresses that, as a strategic weapon, time is equivalent to money, productivity, quality, and even innovation with justification that management’s delay-free response draws customers, exposes causes of bad quality, and avoids complex costly controls. Stalk further cites globalization or multinational expansion as the third operations strategy as political and trade barriers fall and massive new market opens. Next is teaming up or partnering internationally and externally which facilitate fast-paced improvement in quality and customer response. Stalk cites flexibility and agility as quality and time-based competitive strategy involving quick and flexible response from agile organisation. 30

Effective management of the three elements of operation strategy (i.e., inputs, transformation and output) leads to the development of distinctive competency by the company which help fend off competition. Two major strategies emerge; thus, takeover verses investment-otherwise known as “we win you lose” and “win win” strategies. The former deals with taking over a weak business with other people’s money and making it strong by mass shutdowns and layoffs of its weakest elements. This has raised ethical questions in recent times. The latter, however, invests not just money but also training and helping in implementation of customer-centred quality, efficiency, and continuous improvement (Schonberger & Knod, 1997). Vigorous international competition has generated a lot of newer concepts and methods which are best captured as continuous improvement. To be strategically effective, continuous improvement must account for the needs of customers and competencies of competitors and must build on the organisation’s internal capacities and capabilities. However, if continuous improvement is confined to ranks of management and technical experts, it is a weak strategy. It must therefore be woven into the fabric of everyday work of all employees (Schonberger & Knod, 1997).

2.3.4 Strategies for maintaining customer loyalty According to Fornell (1992), both market share and customer satisfaction lead to profitability but it is not certain that market share and customer satisfaction have a positive connection. Fornell further states that loyal customers are not necessarily satisfied customers, but satisfied customers tend to be loyal customers. Companies’ relationship to their customers can be divided into two separate business strategies; offensive and defensive. The offensive strategy deals with attracting new customers and the defensive focuses on keeping already existing customers, as shown in Fig. 2.6.

Business Strategies

Offensive Defensive (New Customers) (Present Customers)

Increase Capture Build increase Market Share Market Share Switching Customer Barries Satisfaction

Figure 2.6: Offensive and Defensive Strategies (Source: Adapted from Fornell, 1992)

Traditionally, companies have devoted more resources to acquiring new customers but today most companies apply a combination of both offensive and defensive strategies. The objective of the defensive strategy is to minimize customer switching and maximize customer retention by protecting the brand and its market from competitors and by having highly satisfied customers. Customer satisfaction on the other hand makes it costly for the competitors to entice the companies’ customers. A measurement for successful customer satisfaction is high customer retention leading to loyal customers. Benefits of high customer satisfaction are increased profits and that customer satisfaction can generate a favourable word of mouth (Fornell, 1992). Inferring from Fornell’s assertions on offensive and defensive strategies, it can be concluded that customers need to be well treated, satisfied for their needs so as to help boost customer retention and to prevent brand and company switching. Again, companies must provide what is needed by the customers and are commercially viable, but on time also.

2.3 Factors Affecting Production and Sales of Textiles Generally, the production of textiles worldwide is driven by certain key factors. With reference to Majory (1986), major factors that determine the success or decline of textile production are; impact of fashion, conservation of energy and raw materials, environmental factors, economic factors, and aesthetic concerns.

2.4.1 Impact of Fashion

Fashion determines, for many consumers, what is bought, when is bought, and how frequently it is replaced. Further, the dictates of fashion often determine whether durability is important, what type of care will meet consumer needs and how frequently items will be discarded and replaced (Majory, 1986). These factors, from the point of view of the researcher, directly or indirectly influence the production and sales of textiles to a greater extent as the dynamisms in fashion determine the demand for specific type of textiles for specific purposes. From this perspective, it will not be out of place to state that the textile industry is obliged to consider the fashion trends in order to produce to satisfy the demand of the fashion that is in vogue at a particular period of time. This is very paramount in the sense that failure to do so will lead to low patronage which will eventually affect the smooth running of the industry.

2.4.2 Conservation of Energy and Raw Materials

Majory (1986) posits that, conservation of energy and raw materials is the great concern for future production and care of textile products adding that, in this era where the need to conserve energy is of great importance, manufacturers must search for production methods that use a minimum amount of energy. He further elaborates that petroleum has been and is still the main source for the production of non-cellulosic fibres. However, with a limited supply of petroleum and with the need to reduce it importation, there may be the need to return to greater production of natural fibres. This could result in concomitant reduction in production of petroleum-based fibres. The same holds true for wet processing of textiles and the development of technology that reduces the use of energy.

This implies that there is the need to decrease energy for higher income, a trend that is gaining great importance in the textile industry. In pursuit towards conservation of energy and natural resources, one problem becomes obvious regarding production of natural fibres where acquisition of land becomes a challenging factor. Majory observes that, with the increase in population, more land is taken over for commercial and residential use and as population expands to the rural areas, there is limited available land for agriculture use. This situation is however not a problem to the Ghana textile industry as there is vast land available for cotton production.

2.4.3 Environmental Factors

Dangers in environmental pollution such as noise, air and water do affect textile production. Majory (1986) has it that, the damage from noise pollution has long been a problem in the textile industry, particularly in fabric manufacture with specific reference to the weaving rooms which have been notorious for high sound vibrations with adverse effect on the hearing of workers. This has been reduced to the barest minimum by the use of alternative methods of picking requiring the use of water or air on modern looms. Employees are also provided with ear protective devices to protect their ears in noise prone areas within the factories, considering its hazardous effects. Air and water pollution has also received much concern by the textile industry. Majory attests that attempts have been made by manufacturers to install costly water–purification equipment to reduce water pollution and this affects the cost of production. The manufacturers have turned to alternative use of solvents and foam technology for reduction of water pollution in recent times which requires less energy consumption for effective textile production. Air pollution through the exhaust of fumes and smoke has in the past, been responsible for a variety of illness among employees. Cleaning and filtering air to reduce or eliminate this interior pollution has become a necessity for all plants today, owing to demands of government agencies and employees.

Frings (2001) confirms that the demand for more environmentally friendly products has generated new awareness and ingenuity at each level of the textile industry. He states further that, the American Textile Manufacturers Institute has established an Encouraging Environmental Excellence (E3) programme to urge producers to protect the environment. This includes environmental targets and audits to encourage recycling and environmentally efficient manufacturing and finishing processes. As a result, many textile firms now budget and plan for environmental improvements. These pose a great challenge to today’s textile industry worldwide with the vulnerable domestic textile factories greatly affected.

2.4.4 Economic Factors

Statistical data on consumption of world’s fibres indicate a considerable increase of man-made fibres with a drastic reduction in the use of natural fibres. Majory (1986) notes that production of textile fibres has generally increased over the past decades and

34 particular increases have occurred in the production of man-made fibres. The reason for the increase in man-made fibres in world consumption of textiles is because man-made fibres provide longer yardage at less weight, have a wider application including home furnishing and domestics, transportation and for business and industry as well as apparel, making them economically viable for textile production compared to natural fibres. An increase in the production and consumption of textile fibres is due to a combination of factors; i.e. the increase in population and increase in consumption of textiles. It is apparent that man-made fibres have over years, gained competitive advantage over natural fibres considering their wider scope of application and versatility in the clothing or apparel market and their industrial or technical applications. This has led to significant increase of man-made fibres in the world of textiles. In light of this most textile nations have redirected their focus to the production of man-made fibres but Ghana still sticks to the production of cotton based textiles that find application mostly in the tropical regions; hence, making them less competitive and economically viable globally.

2.4.5 Aesthetic Concerns

The aesthetic value of textiles is one of the major factors that attract most textile consumers in making their choices. It is, in fact, the first determining factor coupled with utilitarian purpose that stimulates consumers to consider whether or not to select a particular fabric for specific occasion or purpose. Majory (1986) is of the view that the strong desire for attractive clothing and surroundings results in constant search for new and different fashion fabrics and yarn structure as well as finishes and methods of colour application. He explains further that consumers want fabrics that are not only attractive but are also comfortable and durable with minimum care. Evidently, the success of any textile factory rest on carefully and proactive consideration of these factors. Failure for management to put in place strategic plan concerning conservation of energy and raw materials, economic and environmental factors regarding textile production, as well as aesthetic and utilitarian values of the end products, makes the factories vulnerable to a number of challenges leading to low productivity, less quality products, high cost of production, and low patronage.

2.5 Significance of the Textile Industry in developed economies Bennett and Dilorenzo (2009) attest that textile factories play enormous contribution to the national development providing employment opportunities to many people in the society, reducing unemployment and ensuring better living conditions of the people. Bennett and Dilorenzo share common view with Majory (1986) that the textile industry is considered as one of the largest industry worldwide adding that if all facets of the vast economic giants are taken into account, the textile industry would probably be found to involve more people with high economic value than any other industry in the world. Even if we take only the growth, production, manufacturing and processing of fibre to fabric, the textile industry is still very near to the top industries of the world in terms of labour force and economic value, not to talk about marketing and usage aspects. One indicator of the size and significance of the textile complex is the level of employment or the number of jobs which depend upon its output. Because the products of the textile industry are of such critical importance, the industry plays a major role in the economy. The significantly large size of the textile industry, its indispensable products to life and the high rate of employment it offers, makes it a viable industrial base for economic development. It is probably due to this that some countries tend to rely largely on textiles to survive. Pakistan’s economy, for instance, is identified to be largely dependent on textile production. It is estimated that more than 65% exports earnings of Pakistan economy come through textile exports, while the share of textile in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and employment is 8% and 11% respectively (APTMA, 2000). The Indian Textile Policy (1998) attests that the textile industry plays a unique and vital role in the country’s economy highlighting that its contribution to industrial production, employment and export earnings is very significant. Besides, the industry provides one of the basic necessities of life and the employment it provides serves as a source of livelihood for millions of people, most of them living in the rural and remote areas. In addition, its exports contribute a substantial part of the country’s total foreign exchange earnings. This implies that the India’s economy also relies significantly on textiles. The statistics on the world largest exporters of textiles between 1990 and 2000 show the significance of textiles in the economies of some bench marked producers like EU, China, Korea, US, India, etc. (Table 2.1).

Table 2.1: The World’s Largest Textile Exporting Countries Value (million $) % Change Share

1990 2000 1990-2000 (%)

World 104330 154740 48.30% 100.00%

1 EU 50795 52923 4.20% 34.20% 2 China 7219 16135 123.50% 10.40% 3 Hong Kong 8213 13442 63.70% 8.70% 4 Korea 6076 12710 109.20% 8.20% 5 Taiwan 6128 11896 94.10% 7.70% 6 US 5039 10961 117.50% 7.10% 7 Japan 5859 7023 19.90% 4.50% 8 India 2180 5899 170.60% 3.80% 9 Pakistan 2663 4532 70.20% 2.90% 10 Turkey 1440 3672 154.90% 2.40% 11 Indonesia 1241 3505 182.40% 2.30% 12 Mexico 713 2571 260.60% 1.70% Source: American Textile Manufacturers Institute (ATMI, 2008)

Although the EU tops the ranking as at 2000, it shows not much significant change of exports as compared to China. However the two countries were ranked as the leading economic giant in the world textile industry in terms of export. Other countries like India, Turkey, Indonesia, Mexico, have also moved in that direction to increase their production and exports to improve their economy. This is indicated in a research conducted by the American Textile Manufacturers Institute (ATMI, 2008). Inferring from Table 2.1, it is evident that the textile industry plays a significant role in the world’s economy considering its substantial export prospects and foreign exchange. The World Trade Organization Report (2004) reveals and confirms that most of the economic giant countries in the world largely depend on textile production for sustainability and development of other sectors. Such countries include China, US, EU, India and Pakistan. The report further indicates that the production and trade activities of the textile and clothing industry have long been a catalyst of economic growth throughout the world. In 2001, the sector accounted for over US$450 billion of trade worldwide. In the EU alone, the sector employees are over 2.1 million with annual sales of 200 billion Euros, and its exports represent 45 billion Euros, making it the world’s second largest

37 exporters after China. This clearly indicates that textile production and export have been one of the major sources of income for these countries to survive the pending world economic crunch.

2.6 World Trade Policies on Textiles A number of policies governs and directs textile trade worldwide. These policies are developed and administered under the authority of the World Trade Organization (WTO), an international organization dealing with the global rules of trade between nations (Redmond, 2008). With more than 150 member nations, the major aims of WTO as spelt out in WTO Policies on Textiles and Clothing (2009) include; expanding free-trade concessions equally to all members, establishing free global trade with fewer barriers, making trade more predictable through established rule and making trade more competitive by removing subsidies. The WTO Policies on Textiles and Clothing further records that, the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations under the auspices of GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, based on the 1947 agreement) established the World Trade Organization. Upon ratification of the Round's Final Act by members, the WTO replaced GATT as the global multilateral trade organization, and a series of agreements associated with, but legally distinct from GATT, were also placed under the WTO umbrella. At the 1994 Uruguay Round, agreement was reached to reduce tariffs on manufactured goods by one third. Under the WTO, subsidies and quotas were to be reduced on imported farm products, automobiles, and textiles, which were not covered by GATT. The main function of WTO (Walden and Anuradha, 2001) is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably, and freely as possible. Besides, it oversees the implementation, administration and operation of the covered agreements and provides a forum for negotiations and for settling disputes. Additionally, it reviews national trade policies and ensures coherence and transparency of trade policies through surveillance in global economic policy-making and also provides assistance to developing, least- developed and low-income countries in transition to adjust to the WTO rules and disciplines through technical co-operation and training. The WTO co-operates closely with the two other components; the IMF and the World Bank to operate effectively.

2.6.1 Challenges of the WTO (Implications on the Member Countries) Some multinational corporations believe that the WTO is great for business; others believe the WTO will undermine the principles of democracy and simply make the rich much richer on the detriment of the poor. Critics of the WTO contend that the organization hurts developing countries and weakens health and environmental safety standards in order to promote the interests of large corporations. Developing countries argue strongly that the WTO does not adequately take into account the difficulties and asymmetries of economic development under conditions of liberalization. Developed countries and the international organizations the WTO controls, such as the IMF (International Monetary Fund) have put strong pressure on developing countries to liberalize their trade laws despite uncertain consequences for long-run development prospects (Challenges of WTO, 2009). From the researcher’s point of view, this has been one of the major factors of the collapse of most local industries in the developing countries who are members of the WTO such as Ghana. This is because liberal trade imposes pressure on the vulnerable developing countries in terms of excessive flow of competitive goods which the local industries find it extremely tough to compete with and finally give up. Underhill (2009) argues that, perhaps the biggest challenge of the WTO comes not from member states but from civil society groups such as non-governmental organizations. He further explains that many social activists in the anti-globalization movement draw attention to the difficulties of liberalization in both developed and developing countries, especially for the weaker members of society and less market-competitive forms of economic organization which may be crucial to local identities and cultures. Organized labour, according to Underhill, maintains uneasy relationship with the liberalization process, for fear of job losses concluding that, conflict in the WTO continues to mirror socio-political tensions across its member economies and this is intimately related to the tensions of global economic integration which is largely driven by liberalization policies. Apart from agriculture, textiles and clothing are the only industries that have independent agreement, multilaterally negotiated under the auspices of the WTO (Verma, 2000). This, to the researcher, is not surprising considering the significant share of textiles and clothing in the international trade of many countries, especially the developing countries. Verma further posits that the international trade in textiles and clothing is being transformed significantly owing to the phasing out of the Multifibre Agreement (MFA) era, and ushering in of the era of quota-free trade. This has jolted the 39 entire pattern of global trade in textiles and clothing from years of stupor, and each country has suddenly become busy preparing its own national strategy for competitiveness in the scheme of global trade. The Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) remains the principal driver of such a mammoth economic earthquake in this sector. The question then is what Ghana is doing as a member of the WTO under the new ATC agreement to position its textile industry to be competitive globally.

2.6.2 Multifibre Agreement (MFA) Kim (2009) has it that up to the end of the Uruguay Round 1994, textile and clothing quotas were negotiated bilaterally and governed by the rules of the Multifibre Agreement (MFA). This, according to Kim, provided for the application of selective quantitative restrictions when surges in imports of particular products caused, or threatened to cause, serious damage to the industry of the importing country. The MFA was a major departure from the basic GATT. The MFA was an agreement among developed country importers and developing country exporters of textiles and apparel to regulate and restrict the quantities traded. It was negotiated in 1973 under the auspices GATT as a temporary exception to the rules that would otherwise apply, and was superseded in 1995 by the ATC.

2.6.3 Agreement on Textile and Clothing (ATC) Verma (2000) emphasizes that, Agreement on Textiles is one of the hardest-fought issues in the WTO, as it was in the former GATT system as a “special case”. Elaborating on this, Verma explains that before this Agreement took effect, a large portion of textiles and clothing exports from developing countries to the industrial countries was subjected to quotas under a special regime outside normal GATT rules. International trade in textile and apparel is a classic exception to the objective of GATT, favouring liberalization of world trade throughout history. With a number of short and long term agreements regarding textiles and clothing which included Multi-fibre Agreement (MFA), it become necessary that if meaningful liberalization of trade was to be achieved, then the MFA which is acknowledged as a derogation from GATT, has to be disappeared, and rules applying to industrial goods had to be extended to textiles and clothing. It is against this background that the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing assumes significance to put an end to the long life of MFA and to bring textile and clothing at par with all other industrial products to erode the notion of the sector as a “special case”. 40

Mandelson (2004) and Kim (2009) agree that, ATC called for the phase-out of quotas on textiles and apparel which was established over four phases in a 10-year period adding that two mechanisms were employed to eliminate the quotas; the phased out of existing quotas, and accelerated growth rates of remaining quotas. Outlining the impact and effects of quota elimination, Mandelson asserts that the immediate beneficiaries of quota elimination are consumers, who will experience declining costs of textile and apparel products as production shifts to the lowest-cost countries and quota rents are eliminated. The immediate losers will be textile and apparel workers in the high labour cost industrial countries, as well as less competitive developing countries. The major effects of the quota system is that as exporting countries reach their quotas on specific products, production shifts to less restricted countries and product categories. Moreover, since quota allocations are usually based on historic export performance, there is a further incentive to increase exports to unrestricted markets, even when it is not profitable, in order to increase subsequent years’ quota allotments. Kim (2009) observes that, the quota system has provided many developing countries with access to markets they otherwise would likely not have achieved on the basis of competition and therefore these countries will be adversely affected by phase-out schedule in ATC. The WTO Agreement on Textile and Clothing (ATC) was scheduled to expire on 31st December, 2004. Frings (2001) projected that the end of the quota system on Textiles and Apparel may bring major economic changes to many parts of the world adding that it provides a great opportunity for China, but many other developing countries that rely on textile and apparel export for economic growth may lose their business to China. China’s high unemployment and migration from rural areas to the cities will provide even more people willing to work for low wages. This, to the researcher, will lead to low production cost and thereby decreases the cost of China’s textile and apparel products tremendously. This poses a serious threat to most textile factories in both developed and the developing countries which depend on high labour cost for production. Besides, the ATC elimination of quotas on importation of textile and apparel goods, provides developing and developed countries equal opportunities to export textiles and apparel goods to the WTO member countries. However, since the WTO agreement dwells on liberalization, the advanced or developed countries would benefit more due to their ability to export high quantum of quality goods as compared to the vulnerable developing countries with relatively low export capacity. 41

2.6.4 Trade Liberalization Policy Trade liberalization, according to Underhill (2009), involves systematic elimination or reduction of cross border taxes (tariffs) and quantitative restrictions on imports, restrictions on the nature and scope of support measures for domestic production and the elimination of certain kinds of restrictions on the flow of trade-related direct investment. These trade reform measures may also be accompanied by other measures to expand exports such as subsidies and incentives for export activities, including special incentives for Export Processing Zones. Underhill adds that over the last ten years, many Commonwealth developing countries have been involved in varying rounds of liberalization, initiated in the first instance by the structural adjustment reform programmes of the World Bank and IMF and, in some cases, autonomous economic reform programmes, as well as regional trade agreements. Generally, the purpose of trade liberalization is to induce an increase in growth and incomes within each country that should result in a wide range of benefits such as increase in employment, decrease in wage differentials and to enhance access to technology. Measures such as reductions in tariffs have a direct impact on government revenue and hence influence the nature and direction of government spending. They also have impacts on the balance of payments, labour and commodity markets, and the availability of particular types of public services to households. This has raised questions about poverty, social and gender-equity impacts of the trade liberalization policy (Globalization and Gender Brief Series No 1, 2009). Frings (2001) observes that there has been enormous increase in importation of fabrics and apparel on the ticket of trade liberalization. This has not only affected small developing countries but has also affected the so called giant developed nations like America. Labour unions, according to Frings, have complained that overseas production has stolen thousands of domestic jobs in textile and apparel production. The American Textile Industry, for example, has lost more than 900,000 jobs, and thousands of plants have been closed down since 1980. In view of this, United States has lost its manufacturing base. Proponents of free trade (trade without restrictions), such as importers and retailers believed that, in long runs, it would be best if the world trade is based on specialization; i.e. each nation would contribute to the world market what it produces best at the most reasonable cost. In this way, consumers would obtain the most value for their money.

Although trade liberalization policy was enacted with the prime objective to support domestic production through elimination or reduction of trade border tariffs and quantitative restrictions, the researcher sees a different story especially in the small developing countries where free trade had brought about competitive advantage in favour of well developed countries with high production capacity on the detriment of vulnerable domestic factories which find it extremely difficult to withstand the competition leading to the closure of a number of them with high redundancy rate in such countries.

2.6.5 Import Substitution Industrialization Policy (ISI) Blouet and Blouet (2002) define Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI) as a trade and economic policy based on the premise that a country should attempt to substitute products which it imports (mostly finished goods) with locally produced types. As a set of development policies, ISI policies are theoretically and practically grounded. It derives a body of practices, which are commonly active industrial policies to subsidize and orchestrate production of strategic substitutes, protective barriers to trade (for example, tariffs), an overvalued currency to help manufacturers import capital goods (heavy machinery) and discouragement of foreign direct investment. Conceptually, the ISI could be outward-looking in that it promotes exports. The major advantages claimed for ISI, as indicated by Blouet and Blouet include; increases in domestic employment which reduces dependence on labour non-intensive industries such as raw resource extraction and export, flexibility in the face of global economic shocks such as recessions and depressions, reduces long-distance transportation of goods and concomitant fuel consumption and greenhouse gas and other emissions. The disadvantages attributed to ISI, according to Blouet and Blouet, are that the industries that it creates are inefficient and obsolete, and that the focus on industrial development impoverishes or deprive local commodity producers who are primarily rural. It is a fact that, the more units of anything manufactured a factory can sell, the better the chances of that factory to achieve economy of scale, i.e. efficient production. In a free market global economy, industries that produce inefficiently, without obtaining economy of scale of production under the protections of ISI, have been subject to criticism from more efficient foreign industries. What determines whether a country obtains efficiency – economy of scale in production is the market size (i.e. number of consumers, population) and purchasing power. Hence, larger, richer economies are more

43 likely to make ISI succeed efficiently, whereas smaller countries with lower per capital incomes are less likely to succeed with ISI. From these postulates, it is glare that smaller countries with less population and low per capital income cannot benefit fully from the ISI even though it can provide employment to a section of the population. More so, the ISI does not encourage the development of small or cottage industry which provides skill and employment to the rural folks due to the emphasis it places on the attainment of economy of scale. This makes the ISI a threat in disguise to the local industries of the countries that implement this form of policy. Though Ghana’s involvement in the ISI benefited her at the initial stages, the benefits did not last as projected on the basis of these premises and eventually had to give up for liberalized trade.

2.6.6 African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) The African Growth and Opportunity Act (Appiah, 2002) was enacted into law on May 18, 2000 by the Ex-President Clinton of United States of America (USA) as Title 1 of The Trade and Development Act of 2000. The Act offers tangible incentives for African countries to continue their efforts to open their economies and build free markets. As a trade and investment Act, it is aimed at providing opportunities to eligible African countries to export about 64,000 products to United States without tariffs or quotas. With reference to AGOA Implementation Guide (2000), the Act significantly enhances U.S. market access for, currently, 39 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries adding that it was originally made to cover 8-year period from October 2000 to September 2008, but amendments signed into law by former U.S. President George Bush in July 2004, the period was extend to 2015. The key elements of the AGOA include; institutionalization of a process for strengthening US relationship with African countries and providing them incentives to achieve political and economic reform and growth, offering beneficiary Sub-Sahara African countries access to US market for essentially all products through the Generalized System of Preference (GSP) programme, provision of additional security for investors and traders in African countries by ensuring GSP benefits for eight years, elimination of GSP competitive need limitation for African countries, establishment of US Sub-Saharan Africa Trade and Economic co-operation forum to facilitate regular trade and investment policy discussions, and promotion of the use of technical assistance to strengthen economic reforms and development, including assistance to strengthen relationship between US firms and firms in Sub-Saharan Africa. 44

Although AGOA targets about 48 countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa, not all countries are eligible for AGOA. The eligibility status (AGOA Implementation Guide, 2000) mandates a president of a member nation to established, or is making a continual progress towards establishing. This requires that the member nation build a market-based economy that protect private property rights, incorporates an open rule based on trading system, and minimized government interference in the economy through measures such as price control, subsidies, and government ownership of economic assets. The member nation must also comply to the rule of law, political pluralism, and the right to due process, a fair trial and equal protection under the law. elimination of barriers to US trade and investment, including; the provision of national treatment and measures to create an environment conducive to domestic and foreign investments, the protection of intellectual property and the resolution of bilateral trade and investment disputes. It must as well develop economic policies to reduce poverty, increase availability of health care and educational opportunities, expand physical infrastructure, promote the development of private enterprise, and encourage the formation of capital markets through micro-credit or other programmes. It must put in place a system to combat corruption and bribery such as signing and implementing the convention on combating Bribery of Foreign Public Official in International Business Transaction, and Protection of internationally accepted workers’ rights, including the right of association, and the right to bargain collectively, a prohibition on the use of any form of forced or compulsory labour, a minimum age for employment of children, and accepted conditions of work with respect to minimum wage, hours of work, and occupational safety and health. In addition, the member nation must not engage in activities that undermine US national security of foreign policy interest and not engage in internationally accepted violation of human right or provides support for acts of international terrorism activities.

For a country to be eligible to receive a duty free treatment on apparel/textile products, US requires that the beneficiary country obtain an effective visa system to prevent unlawful transhipment of apparel/textile products and the use of counterfeit document relating to importation of products to US (Appiah, 2002). African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) insists that, only the following five types of textiles and apparel products are permissible to entre US on duty free and quota free treatments:

a) Apparel assembled in Sub-Saharan Africa from fabrics wholly formed and cut in the United States, from yarns wholly formed in the United States. b) Apparel cut and assembled in United States or Sub-Saharan Africa, using thread or fabrics wholly formed in the United States. c) Sweaters knit to shape from cashmere or certain wool. The sweater must be in chief weight of cashmere, or 50% or more by weight of Merino wool measuring 18.5 microns in diameter. d) Apparel cut or knit to shape and assembled in Sub-Saharan from third- country yarn or fabric in short supply. Yarns and fabrics currently deemed to be in short supply include; silk, linen, fine count cotton circular knit fabric for certain apparel, cotton vehement, fine count cotton corduroy, Harris tweed, batiste fabrics, and high thread count broadloom fabrics for men’s and boy’s shirts. e) Handloom, handmade and folklore articles (AGOA Implementation Guide).

Dorsoo (2002) adds that Apparel/Textiles agreement under AGOA is governed by two main rules; the Rule of Origin and the De Minimize Rule. Dorsoo explains that Under the Rule of Origin, the exporter wishing to obtain preferential treatment available under AGOA (i.e. duty free treatment) for specific apparel/textile products must complete a certificate of Origin in English and furnish it to the importer in the United States. The certificate must be available to US Customs upon request but should not necessarily accompany the actually shipment. The De Minimize Rule states that apparel products assembled in Sub-Saharan Africa which would otherwise be considered eligible for AGOA benefits but for the presence of some fibres or yarns not wholly formed in the United States or the beneficiary Sub-Saharan African Country will still be eligible for benefits as long as the total weight of all such fibres and yarns is not more than 7% of the total weight of the article. It is clear from the above conditions that, although AGOA provides duty-free and quota-free access to the US it imposes lots of restrictions and commercial challenges that few industries or countries can meet in that the offer of duty-free and quota-free access to the US does not apply to all African textiles and clothing exports as it does not apply to exports of African fabrics or household textiles with locally based materials. The 46 question many critics of AGOA ask, therefore, is whether African countries can actually benefit from its opportunities? Salinger (2001) contends that, when AGOA was passed into law, opposition came from a number of forces, mainly from the domestic textile and clothing industry as to whether African countries can benefit fully from its opportunities. Critics of AGOA charge that requirements in the law dictate international economic and political conditions to sovereign African nations. In order to qualify for preferential US market access for textiles and clothing exports according to Salinger, AGOA stipulates that each African country should conform to a checklist of US lawmakers' concerns. For example, it must be making progress in establishing a market-based economy governed by the rule of law, it must be eliminating barriers to US trade and investment, combating corruption and bribery, and protecting internationally recognized worker rights. Furthermore, it must not be engaging in activities that undermine the US, in gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, or in supporting terrorism. Critics even include the US textile and clothing industry. Their biggest fear is that in a global market still governed by quotas, although quotas are under phase-out according to the Uruguay Round's Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC), non-African clothing exporters seeking to run around quota ceilings into the US market will find myriad ways to illegally tranship product via "leaky" African customs regimes. Consequently, access to the US market by even the eligible African countries has been constrained by several conditions of the law. The researcher admits that the requirements of AGOA dictate international economic and political conditions to sovereign African nations to the extent that to be eligible to take advantage of the Act sometimes necessitates amendments of the standing laws of the exporting country. Moreover, provisos to protect the US Clothing/Textiles industry were included in AGOA for monitoring local production capacity and country of origin which make it an obligation for African countries to collaborate with the US Customs Service whenever Country of Origin verification is requested (Salinger, 2001). This makes entry into the US market by even eligible African countries difficult, hence unable them to benefit fully from the Act. Salinger stresses that the extent of benefits that African countries can tap from AGOA depends on how Africa's industries are learning to compete internationally. To him, AGOA may offer duty and quota free advantages to African exporters, but potential suppliers will have to be commercially competitive if they are to realize any tangible gains for their industries and for their people from the bill. But the unfortunate thing is 47 that most of the African countries are not able to compete with the international market. The competitiveness of the African clothing industry and its ability to seize the opportunities presented by AGOA's preferential market access clearly varies a great deal, depending on industry conditions. Yet even in the most advanced economies on the continent, AGOA's duty-free, quota-free access to the US presents commercial challenges which few industries are yet ready to meet. Both highly and barely developed industries will need to figure out how to adapt what they make, and how they make it, to meet the rigours of the US market to compete with suppliers from Mexico, the Caribbean, and Asia. Advocates of the bill, however, argue that labour-intensive manufacturing for export is an important step in the economic development of low-income countries. They point to Asia's manufacturing export successes, which typically began with production of lower value goods for foreign markets, such as clothing and footwear, and then evolved into the manufacture of more sophisticated items, such as electronics and automobiles. These industries are labour-intensive and help to create new employment opportunities in the growing, non-agricultural areas of an economy. Such openness to trade leads to increased economic growth which, in turn, helps to reduce poverty. Many of the world's remaining poor countries are in Africa; thus the reasoning goes, give African countries preferential access to the US market for some category of products, and they too will be able to grow their way out of poverty (Salinger, 2001). Inferring from the above text, it can be established that AGOA does not provide full opportunities for its beneficiaries. There are “bottlenecks” with regards to the rules governing the offer it provides such as eligibility requirement, quota and duty free agreement on apparel and textiles. However, there is no doubt that AGOA can provide a form of employment and foreign exchange to citizens in the Sub-Saharan African countries that may be deemed eligible to go into it as it focuses on export to US on quota and duty free bases. But the Act does not support the development of local resources in the sense that the raw material base for textiles and apparel, for example, mainly come from the US. The researcher therefore sees the act as an indirectly means through which the US wants to add value and develop their resources to enhance their economy by utilizing the cheap labour of the less developed countries in Africa.

2.7 The Development of Textiles in Ghana The advent of “mammy cloth” (printed cotton fabric) in Ghana could be traced from the Gold Coast era. Kroese (1976) records that, the cloths were first brought by some Ashanti soldiers who were given to the Dutch commissioner by the then Asantehene to serve in the Dutch army in some colonies in Indonesia. The soldiers were attracted by the aesthetic qualities of the Javanese prints and brought samples of the cloths to the Gold Coast after their service. The Gold Coast women upon seeing the cloths became very fascinated and expressed special interest in the prints which led to the establishment of trade links between Holland and the Gold Coast upon which large quantities were brought to the Gold Coast. Sylvanus (2007) attests that wax print originated from Java from the Javanese batiks which were produced by hand with local technology. The European industrialists industrialized the production of the batik effects but the industrial reproduction process was poor in quality as it left fine lines on the fabric that resulted from the cracking of the wax technique. These imperfections though unappreciated by the Javanese, were highly appreciated in West Africa where the prints became popular and gained wider market. This suggests that, wax print is not indigenous to Ghana. The only foreign textiles in the Gold Coast before the Javanese prints were dyed fabrics from Manchester. The Manchester dyed fabrics could not compete with the wax Javanese prints and lost their popularity. When the British realized this drastic change, they sought for diverse ways to improve upon their dyed fabrics and this led to the production of imitation wax prints. Unfortunately for them they did not succeed the competition since the Gold Coast women were able to distinguish between the imitation wax prints from the real wax print (Osei-Bonsu, 2001). Osei-Bonsu indicates that, the term “Dumas” which popularly became known for real wax prints from Holland was coined from the name of a Lebanese merchandiser who first traded in wax print with the Gold Coast women. The British eventually took over the trade through one of her leading firms in Africa known as the United Africa Company (UAC). The introduction of these prints in Ghana, according to Osei-Bonsu, compelled Ghana to develop its own textiles adding that Ghanaian textile designers, from the onset, were able to make designs, give them names and send them to Holland to be printed and brought back for sale in Ghana. Before independence in 1957, Ghana (Gold Coast) was given no place by book makers as a country having a future for the production of textiles. A host of other African countries and Ghana were put by analysts as those with no future prospects for the 49 production of textiles. Production and export figures for cotton in the late 1940 and early 1950 were the evidence upon which this verdict was passed (Economic Bulletin for Africa, 1980). A decade after when a number of African countries have stepped up in the production and exportation of cotton, Ghana was still out of the list. Between 1960 and 1970, the cotton exporting countries in Africa were Tanzania, Sudan, Morocco, Burundi, Algeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Mali, Zaire, Niger, Ivory Coast, Chad, Madagascar, and Uganda. However, it was known that Ghana exported 487, 343 lbs of cotton in 1925 to 1926 from its southern British Togoland and Trans-Volta District areas. Local varieties of cotton known as “Sonko”, “Deti Je” and “Kadeanyigha” were grown in Aduklu areas. A prevailing variety that was grown in the Hohoe and Kpando areas was kidney shaped cotton which was replaced later by an improved Nigerian variety known as “Ishan”. This variety was advocated for the Northern territories of the colony where it was less subjected to the attacks of pests as compared to the Ghanaian varieties. On the whole, all the varieties were subjected to pest attacks, and as this situation was difficult to be brought under control, production came to a halt. Attempts to grow cotton in Northern region for export also failed as seed input was even greater than seed output (Department of Agriculture, 1969), This predicament was one of the major setbacks for sustainable development of textiles in Ghana since the main raw material base for the country’s textile production is cotton. The country’s textile industrialists had to rely on foreign cotton to ensure continuous running and sustainability of their factories since the local cotton industry could not meet their demands. With reference to MOTI (1973), in pursuit to come into power and the desire to place the country’s economy on a warm footing, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah requested Professor W. Arthur Lewis to make proposals for the form industrialization in the Gold Coast should take. In 1953, he submitted his report on industrialization in Gold Coast to the government. Lewis considered the genesis of industrialization on three main basis as; Production for home market, Production for export and Encouraging local production of raw materials to feed the industry. According to MOTI’s report, Lewis recommended textiles as the most important consumer good around which any industrialization programme in Gold Coast should be centred with an explanation that industrialization for the home market usually begins with the manufacture of textiles since consumers at low income level spend more on textiles than all other manufactures combined. He added 50 that, industrialization cannot offer substantial employment unless it makes a consideration into the market for textiles. Immediate action was not taken to implement this recommendation, as is usually the case. There was a period of evaluation of the economic viability of a proposal of this nature. Two inevitable problems that confronted the government at the time were acquisition of raw materials and financial limitations (MOTI, 1973). The obvious reason that can be drawn from this is that establishing a textile factory is capital intensive, and if the government was to consider the monetary aspect of it, then it would be ideal to shift the responsibility of its implementation to private individuals. Nevertheless, Manu (1994) asserts that the government decided to give the textile industry a trial in the mid-1960s. In 1965, Manu records that, the first textile industry was built at Tema by Messrs Socoltra and Sacom, a French firm, under the name State Textile Manufacturing Company and handed over to Ghana Industrial Holding Corporation (GIHOC) on 19th July, 1965. The factory was established by a legislative instrument that same year. Later, a Chinese firm, known as Winner Company, was engaged by the Ghana Industrial Holding Corporation to take over management of the factory. The name of the factory was later changed to Tema Textiles Limited (TTL) under a joint ownership of Ghana Industrial Holding Corporation (40%), Winner Company (40%) and Ghana National Trading Corporation, the government (20%). However, a private firm known as the Ghana Textile Manufacturing Company (GTMC), owned by Winner Company was already in operation before the State Textile Manufacturing Company was established. In 1967, Akosombo Textiles Limited (ATL) was established by Chinese Company. Two other joint state companies were also established; Juapong Textiles Limited (JTL) in 1968 and Ghana Textile Printing Company in 1969. Many textile factories including garment manufacturing companies sprang up in the capital, Accra. Among them include; Millet Textiles Corporation, Freedom Textiles, Zakour Textiles, Loyalty and Tejtex. The textile industry in Ghana flourished in the 1970s and there was no doubt that, despite the fact that the textile industry depended on imported raw materials, the industry developed to become one of the most important productive sectors in the country (MOTI, 1973). Manu (1994) affirms that the development of textiles in Ghana was so rapid that, within less than a decade of its take off, the firms were able to supply most of the country’s textile needs adding that, in August, 1975, the then government banned the importation of suiting materials, knitted fabrics, shirting materials and women fabrics, with the aim of protecting the newly established textile firms. 51

2.8 Government’s Policies on the Local Textile Industry Industrial development has been recognized as one of the surest means of ensuring higher and sustained growth rates; hence, most African countries including Ghana pursued import substitution industrialization (ISI) policy in the 1960s and 1970s through widespread of direct government participation, including State ownership (Quartey, 2006; Dargin, 2010). Quartey elaborates that, Ghana pursued ISI as a means of ensuring industrial development and to foster higher and sustainable economic growth rates. He adds that, the ISI was not only pursued by Ghana alone but some African countries in the 1960s and 1970s. The rationale was to move African economies from their agrarian state to modern industrialized economies as it has been the case of the east and south-east Asian economies. Consequently, policies to promote import substitution industrialization were pursued and this led to the establishment of light industries to produce goods locally and operate behind tariff barriers. Like many African countries, Ghana’s industrial strategy was meant to provide economic dependence; hence, manufacturing industries were established to produce items that were previously imported. For over two decades after ISI was initiated, the textile sub-sector dominated the manufacturing sector and contributed significantly to livelihood. It employed about 25,000 of the labour force which accounted for 27% of total manufacturing employment and operated at about 60% of plant capacity. The textile sub-sector was an important source of foreign exchange in Ghana. However, by 1982, shortage of foreign exchange for importing raw materials resulted in the sub-sector operating at extremely low capacity. Consequently, most of these industries went out of business and the situation deteriorated under trade liberalization, which formed part of the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP) pursued in the 1980s and 1990s by the government. Hence, employment declined from 7,000 in 1995 to 5,000 in 2000. The reforms led to increased importation of textiles and other used apparel, which facilitated the death and closure of many textile industries in Ghana (MOTI, 2004 as cited in Quartey, 2006). Writing on the consequences of liberal trade, Taylor (1994) asserts that one of the major contributions of the trade liberalization was the increased availability of all forms of finished textiles to the general public; assorted textiles such as already made clothing, fancy prints, knitted fabrics, African prints, suiting materials, towels, baby wear, among others, which were previously not in existence due to high restrictive trade measures. Taylor however contends that, the introduction of the trade liberalization policy emanated competitiveness and dynamism in the Ghanaian market and as a result inefficient 52 entrepreneurs and salesmen have gone out of business. He adds that the best impact of the trade liberalization on the manufacturing sector, especially in the textile industry, are the alertness and manpower development programmes that were undertaken by the sub- sector which resulted in upgraded, trained and efficient management. Capacity utilization and efficiency of other methods of production was injected into the industry to enhance the overall efficiency in the economy. The non-viable companies were diversified resulting in savings in the budgetary allocation to the subsector. Government made substantial revenue from textile imports. The boom in the importation of second-hand and used clothing and other foreign textiles encouraged the government to tax the sector more. Government was also quick to lift the ban on certain categories of used clothing shortly after it was announced in 1993 budget statement and this opens avenue for excessive imports of all sorts of textiles into the country on the ticket of trade liberalization. It is evident from the MOTI’s report and Taylor’s assertions that the trade liberalization policy is accountable for the influx of all sorts of highly competitive foreign textiles including used and second hand clothing in the country with which the local textiles are not able to compete. This had consequently led to the closure and diversification of most state own enterprises of which the textile industry is the most affected. It has been argued by Industry watchtower that the near collapse of the textile industry in Ghana is attributed to the trade liberalization policy adding that liberalization in trade in Ghana has led to the flood of textile products from China and other countries (Egu, 2009). Egu further states that, textiles from China are cheaper compared to those produced in Ghana and therefore has made it difficult for the local producers to cope with the competition. Besides, some of the foreign prints are made with Ghanaian motifs which make it difficult for consumers to distinguish between the real made in Ghana prints and imitations from other countries, and consequently, local retailers prefer to sell the imitation brands because they are affordable to local consumers. Stakeholders therefore propose that, it is good to protect the textile industry from external factors since it forms part of the production sector of the economy. However, whiles the industrialists oppose the trade liberalization policy, economists argue that trade protectionism flies against the theory of comparative advantage, which suggests that opening up world markets, and reducing trade barriers would lead to gains from trade for all concerned (Trade liberalization and the Ghana Textile Industry, 2009). 53

Based on the foregoing discussion, one could argue that if the trade liberalization policies had been favourable to the local industries, the alarming losses of jobs and livelihoods would have been minimal. Cheap textiles from countries such as China have flooded Ghana’s market which has seriously injured the local industry on the ticket of trade liberalization which has made industrialists to raise concerns about the implementation of the policy. In the light of this, the Republic of Ghana (Ghana Trade Policy Review, 2001) since the early 1990's, has sought to extensive reforms to reverse previous policies, and trade and investment liberalization has been an integral part of the new development. The source elaborates further that, Ghana, a member of the WTO, applies its trade policies and measures on a non-discriminatory basis, granting MFN treatment to all its trading partners with about 15% of its tariff lines bound in agriculture. Its GATS Schedule covers commitments on certain services, including tourism, maritime transport, construction, and education with a recent agreement in Basic Telecommunications and Financial Services. Obviously, the textiles and garment sector was not given significant attention in the 2001 review policy. However, it is worth mentioning that, when Ghana qualified for AGOA in 2000, exports of Ghanaian textiles and apparel to the US market amounted to $550,000 in 2002, $4.5 million in 2003 and $7.4 million in 2004. Imports of US textile and apparel were $8.87 million, $12.73 million and $11.48 million, respectively, over the same period (Quartey, 2006). However, due to the stringent rules of the AGOA, Ghana’s textile and apparel export to US has declined considerably. Statistics show that, Ghana’s export of textiles and apparel to US reached $9.507million in 2006 but decreased drastically to $0.718 million as at January 2008 (Egu, 2009). From the foregoing discussion, it is evident that government’s policies have not been favourable to the local textile industry. There has been inconsistency in terms of policy implementation and practices. Ghana as a nation cannot boast of a holistic policy document of its own on textile production and trade. The country had, over the years, relied mainly on the policies of WTO to guide its production and trade operations. These policies, although in one way or the other have benefited the country to some extent, they have generally not been favourable to the local industries, but have caused many of them to collapse. A more proactive policies need to be developed and implemented to save the industry from total collapse.

2.8.1 The Case of Some African Countries

Although Asian and European textile firms now determine the pace of today’s textile production and sales with unprecedented competition in the world market, some developing African countries such as Kenya and Nigeria have developed strategies to protect and sustain their textile industry from collapsing (Omolo, 2006). Kenya, according to Omolo, is a good example of an African country that has developed its textile and clothing industry in terms of size, employing about 30 percent of the labour force and providing support to over 200,000 small-scale cotton farmers. The success of the textile and clothing industry during the period of import substitution can be attributed to the policy by the government that ensured the backward integration of the textile mills. Between the time of Kenya’s independence and the end of 1990, Kenya systematically introduced controls in the sector; it helped cooperative societies to buy ginneries from colonial settlers, controlled marketing margins, fixed producer prices and invested heavily in textile mills. The government also protected the local industry by imposing 100 percent duty on imported textiles. This ensured rapid growth of the local textile industry hitting an average production capacity of over 70 percent. Omolo continues that, to increase trade and investment within the sector, the government has reviewed trade licensing agreements to provide market information to Kenyan manufacturers, support the private sector in identifying new markets, improve the quality of Kenyan goods to reduce non-commercial risks. Other measures proposed include promoting trade fairs and putting in place mechanisms for continued exploitation of benefits accruing from AGOA trade opportunities. The government has also pledged to improve the business climate by developing a new regulatory framework for financing and infrastructure, strengthening the rule of law, improving security and reducing the number of regulations and steps required for investing in the country. Faced with fierce competition from outside, Asare (2010) asserts that, the Federal Republic of Nigeria introduced a number of restrictions on imports between 2001 and 2004 to encourage local production and consumption. For instance, the number of broad product groups under import ban rose from 27 in February 2003 to 35 in January 2004. In terms of sectoral coverage. Import prohibition focused on agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables, grains, meat and fish, as well as manufactured products including rubber, wood and textiles. Oyejide (1975) explicates that, the prevalent use of import prohibition as an instrument of trade policy in Nigeria stems from a long-standing import

55 policy regime which was designed to promote industry, employment and balance-of- payments objectives in the context of an import substitution-industrialization strategy. Key elements of this regime include protecting existing domestic industries and reducing the country’s perceived dependence on imports, while at the same time ensuring the availability of raw materials and capital goods which cannot be obtained from domestic sources. Sectoral coverage of import prohibition, according to Oyejide, has obviously varied over time, but it has been determined largely by the general policy that imports of certain products could be prohibited either if they were judged to be ‘not essential’ or when they compete with domestically produced goods that are available in adequate quantities. According to the WTO (1996), the use of import prohibition has perhaps another equally important reason, i.e. it is administratively easier. It clarifies that, Nigeria’s response to the questions raised on the issue of import prohibition during discussions at the various WTO fora, has always been that, the choice of import prohibition as a policy option to shield local products from foreign competition stemmed from the fact that import prohibitions are easier to monitor than price-based measures. They argue that the presence of the banned products on local markets is, in principle, sufficient for enforcement. These forms of restrictions have helped Nigeria and Kenya to withstand, to some extent, the strong competitions that emanate from liberal trade thereby minimizing dumping of used textiles and clothing. Ghana can therefore learn from these experiences to sustain its textile industry.

2.8.2 China’s Experience The textile industry plays a significant role in China´s national economy. From January to December 2008, the total export value of China´s textile industry stood at 65.406 billion USD. In spite of the gloomy export market, China´s textile industry still represents surplus which reached 49.171 billion USD in 2008. Since the second half of 2008, the Chinese government has issued many favourable policies to promote the textile industry of which Revitalization Plans for the industry was passed in early 2009. In addition, there has been an increase in export tax rebates to encourage textile enterprises and lift profits of the whole industry. All these greatly support the textile industry in aspects of capitals, trade environment, etc. The rapid development of China´s economy

56 and its increasing demands and favourable policies have all contributed to the improvement of the textile industry (China's Textile Industry, 2009). It can be inferred from the above that, favourable government’s policies have been the major driving force of the success of China’s textile industry. China’s huge textile exports cannot be overemphasized and this has been made possible due to increase in export tax rebates which encourages textile manufacturing companies to export their products to earn significant foreign exchange. This does not provide a level playing field for domestic textile producers in the developing countries like Ghana which get no export tax rebates on their products and for that matter are unable to export much to accrue meaningful foreign exchange to the country. To increase exportation of locally made textiles to earn substantial foreign exchange for the country will necessitate consideration of export tax rebates to encourage textile manufacturers to engage in fruitful export.

2.9 The Significance of the Ghana Textile Industry The contributions of the textile factories in Ghana to national development in the past have been enormous. According to MOTI Report (2004), the textile sector has been one of the major industrial sources of employment to many Ghanaians giving employment to about 25,000 people across the country in the 1970s which accounted for 27% of the total employment from the manufacturing sector. The report states further that, the garment industry which comprises numerous small-scale enterprises in the form of sole proprietorship and were engaged in making garments for individuals as well as uniforms for schools, industries and governmental institutions such as the police, the army, hospitals, etc., and also for the exports market largely depended on the textile industry to survive. Textile exports by the local textile industries are an important source of foreign exchange and revenue to textile manufacturing firms and the country at large. It is estimated that, textile exports generated $27.2 million dollars in 1992 to Ghana, and this increased to $179.7 million in 1994. This, in fact, had a very significant impact on the national economy (AGOA Implementation, 2000). Orhin (2007) elaborates that textiles produced in the 1960s and 1970s had philosophical significance; the prints had names that could easily depict or explain the beliefs, practices and culture of Ghanaians. Such prints include “Akyekyedeeakyi”-the back of the tortoise, and “Fathia fata Nkrumah”-Fathia deserves Nkrumah. In the light of the fact that the textile industry contributes enormously towards socio-cultural and

57 economic development of the nation, it is particularly important that Ghana takes due advantage of industry to foster economic, social, cultural and artistic developments.

2.10 The State of the Ghana Textile Industry

Industrial development has been recognized as one of the surest means of ensuring higher and sustainable economic growth rates. For this reason, plans were made in the 1960s to establish economically viable industries as part of the industrialization programme in Ghana. A number of factories were established and the textile sub-sector was considered as an important source of foreign exchange in Ghana (Quartey, 2006).

2.10.1 Employment Levels By 1995, employment within the sub-sector declined from 25,000 in the 1970s to 7,000, and declined further to 5,000 in 2000. As the situation continues to deteriorate employment continues to decline. As at March 2005, employment rate of the four major textile companies in Ghana stood at 2,961. A survey of 40 textiles and garments industries in 2005 confirms a worse situation where about 44% of industry respondents had cut down on employment. From the total number of firms that had shed staff, 59% had laid off about 5% of their workforce, 24% had laid off about 6-10% and 11% had cut down employment by over 70% between 2000 and 2005 (MOTI, 2004; Quartey, 2006).

2.10.2 Surviving Factories and Investments Quartey (2006) establishes that by the mid of 1970s about 16 large and 4 medium sized textile companies had been established in Ghana. He however posits that, inconsistent government policies over the years have contributed greatly to the decline in the sub-sector’s activity levels adding that, as at 2002, the four major companies that survived the turbulent times were GTMC, ATL, GTP and Printex. Investments within the textile industry are mainly by local firms. Only 5% were involved in joint ventures with foreign investors. The rest (95%) were locally owned and none was solely foreign owned.

2.10.3 Production Output Total industry output peaked at 129 million yards in 1977 with a capacity utilization rate of about 60%. GTP maintained the lead in the industry with an annual

58 production of 30.7 million yards, followed by GTMC, ATL, and Printex with production levels of 15 million, 13 million and 6 million yards respectively (Quartey, 2006). Unfortunately, total industry output declined from its 1977 level of 129 million to 46 million yards in 1995 but rose to 65 million yards in 2000. Quartey further states that as at March 2005, GTP was producing 9 million yards, 18 million yards by ATL, 2.24 million yards by GTMC and 9.84 million yards Printex, making a total annual output of 39.04 million yards, which was 49.4% of initially installed capacity of the four firms. Thus, output declined from 65 million yards in 2000 to 39 million yards in 2005 indicating a drastic decrease in production.

2.10.4 Imports and Exports According to the MOTI (2002), textile factories in Ghana rely mainly on imported raw materials and machinery from the Netherlands, China, India, U.S, E.U, Nigeria, and Thailand, etc. to survive. It further notes that textile imports into the country comprise dye stuffs and chemicals, calico, etc., with imported machinery, equipment and spare parts. Whereas raw material imports such as cotton are complementary to local production, imported African prints from Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and South-East Asia tend to crowd out local production. These finished products often bear the patent designs, logo and trademarks of local textile industries, which are sold on the local market at a very cheap price. Imports of textile have grown steadily over the years. In 1992, Ghana imported US $35 million worth of fabrics and garments. The figure increased to US $57 million in 1998. At the end of the first quarter of 2005, imported textiles accounted for 48% of total textile prints in the Ghanaian market (Ghana Employers Association, 2005). It is estimated that, textile exports generated $27.2 million dollars to the country in 1992. Ghana increased her textile exports and in 1994, $179.7 million was generated from textile exports. Notwithstanding this significant increase, revenue from textile exports declined consistently thereafter, and by 1998 it had fallen to US $3.173 million. The total textile and apparel export to the US market amounted to $550,000 in 2002, $4.5 million in 2003 and $7.4 million in 2004. However, imports of US textile and apparel were $8.87 million, $12.73 million and $11.48 million, respectively, over the same period (AGOA Implementation Guide, 2000). An obvious indication from these statistics is that Ghana’s imports of textiles and apparel exceed her exports; a scenario that does not

59 present a good picture for the country that wants to develop and sustain its local textile industry. The local market (MOTI, 2002) is facing stiff competition from finished imported textile prints such as calico, grey baft, furnishing materials usually from Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, China, and most recently from India and Pakistan. Consumers, according to this source, have argued that although the locally produced fabrics are relatively better in terms of quality, the market for imported products has increased because the products have attractive colours, new designs with softer and glossier finish. The MOTI’s report also has it that the increase in imports of textile goods into the country has inversely reduced exports of locally produced textiles tremendously. Moreover, the decline in textile exports since 1992 is attributed to internal and external bottlenecks. Ghanaian manufacturers of textiles generally agree that the market for exports is huge, but have reservation about operating in some of these markets, particularly within the ECOWAS sub-region due to trade barriers. Some of the trade barriers include imposition of 20% duty by Côte d’Ivoire (contrary to ECOWAS regulations), transit tax collected at Benin entry point, extortion by Nigerian authorities, and the risk of currency devaluation. Poor packaging of some local manufacturers/ exporters also serves as a barrier to exports to markets such as the EU and the USA. Also, poor finishing of products (quality/conformity to standards), technical barriers, inability of some manufacturers to meet export orders on schedule, high tariffs charged in some export destinations of Ghanaian textile, are among the factors that are causing the decline of the industry (MOTI, 2002). The MOTI’s report clearly shows that, although export opportunities for locally made textiles are great, Ghanaian textile factories have not been able to make full utilization of them due to restrictions that countries in the sub-region impose on the exportation of Ghanaian textile products, as well as the inability of the factories themselves to meet international standards and deadlines of export orders.

2.10. Textiles Education in Ghana One of the engines for accelerated and rapid development of a nation, its self- reliant policy or sustained economic advancement depends largely on proper Technical/Vocational education of which textiles education is a major component. Annoh (1992) opines that investment in Technical/Vocational education benefits the individual, society, and the world as a whole adding that broad-based 60

Technical/Vocational education of good quality is among the most powerful instruments known to reduce poverty and inequality. Annoh further establishes that, with proven benefits for personal health, Technical/Vocational education strengthens nations‘ economic health by laying the foundation for sustained economic growth. For individuals and nations, it is key to creating, applying, and spreading knowledge and thus to the development of dynamic globally competitive economies. Successive Governments in Ghana (Mensah, 2006) accept that education should result in the formation of well balanced individuals with the requisite knowledge, skills, values, attitudes and aptitudes to enable them became functional and productive citizens. In this regard, the education system should lead to improvement in the quality of life of all Ghanaians by empowering the people themselves to overcome poverty, and create the wealth that is needed for socio-economic transformation of the country. To this end the education reform of 2007 places emphasis on Technical/Vocational, Agricultural and Information Technology education. The general philosophy of Ghanaian education is towards poverty alleviation and wealth creation. Mensah (2006) asserts that t he reforms made by previous Government since independence have the general philosophy of making Ghanaians self-reliant or self-actualized adding that self-reliance or self-actualization can better be achieved through Technical/Vocational education as these are aimed at equipping one with practical and employable skills. As part of the accelerated development plan for education in 1951, Baffour (2000) observes that the government places a high importance on Technical/Vocational education hence the introduction of Secondary/Technical schools, polytechnics and universities, where much more needed technical scholars controlling vital organs of national development and economy are produced. Individuals who have received education in Technical/Vocational Agriculture generate incomes for themselves, add to the prosperity in their communities and even safeguard the environment. Technical/Vocational education also produces technocrats who are self employed to bring creativity and skills in this modern day of information technology to make way for the development of a country (Thompson, 1996). Vocational/Technical education is associated with subjects like Fashion, Catering, Leatherwork, Textiles, Basketry, Jewellery, Science,

Woodwork, Metalwork, Building Construction, etc. which provide the individual with practical but employable skills to be able to compete in the global market (Annoh, 2001). Textiles education is offered at both second cycle and tertiary levels in Ghana. The SHS textiles programme is structured and geared towards the diversification of the industry in order to generate more jobs and alleviate poverty. The scope of the textile programme covers the history, principles and practice of Textiles as a vocation. The programme has been designed to provide adequate foundation for students who will pursue further education in art (CRDD Textiles Syllabus, 2010). The SHS textile education aims at the following: a) Appreciate Textiles as an integral part of constructive living. b) Develop self-esteem, pride, confidence and patriotism through appreciation of his/her own artistic creations. c) Develop the capacity for creativity and problem-solving activities that use traditional and/or contemporary tools, materials and ICT d) Develop effective manipulative skills using tools, materials and ICT. e) Acquire perceptual and analytical skills through direct artistic experience and through the processes of self-expression. f) Develop critical thinking that assists in harmonizing opposing ideas, contradictions and inconsistencies in human life and in human relations. g) Be aware of the variety of vocations available in the field of textiles and opt for a viable, fulfilling career in Textiles. h) Develop appropriate attitudes and skills for sustainable development i) Appreciate products of locally produced textile items and patronize them j) Develop positive attitudes for exploring the indigenous textile industry k) Be aware of the hazards of using some tools, materials and chemicals and the precautions to take when using them.

It could be inferred from the scope and objectives of the SHS textiles programme that, it is very exhaustive and for that matter expected to offer enough knowledge and skills to students terminating their education at the end of Senior High School who would practise the vocation for industrial and national development. With regard to the polytechnic textiles programme, the Accredited syllabus for HND Fashion Design and Textiles Technology (2007) records that, in 1993, it became necessary to pass the Polytechnic Law under PNDCL 321(1992), which upgraded 62 polytechnic education in Ghana to tertiary status. This gave rise to the running of Higher National Diploma (HND) Programmes in all polytechnics in Ghana. In 2007, the polytechnic law was revised into “The Polytechnic Act”, which confirmed polytechnics as public tertiary institutions in Ghana with academic autonomy. The major objective of Polytechnic education in Ghana is to develop the middle and higher level manpower to the highest technological and academic standards for the country’s needs especially in the fields of manufacturing, commerce, science, technology, applied social science and applied arts. In addition to these, polytechnics are to provide opportunities for skills development, applied research and publication of research findings. Though the textiles programme (B-Tech, 2010) at the Higher National Diploma (HND) level has run for nearly eighteen years, current trends in industry require that HND graduates are given further training with specialties to enable them perform more efficiently in contemporary industry. After 15 years of education at the Higher National Diploma (HND) level, it has become very necessary for Takoradi Polytechnic to move up the educational ladder to satisfy this need and provide opportunities for further studies. The Bachelor of Technology (B-Tech) Degree programmes have therefore been introduced to provide the much needed academic progression for graduates of the Higher National Diploma (HND). The Bachelor of Technology in Textiles is therefore, one of a number of top up programmes designed for graduates of the Higher National Diploma (HND) and holders of similar certificates and diplomas. The major objectives of the programme as spelt out in B-Tech Textiles Syllabus (2010) are: a) To provide an opportunity for HND Graduates and people with similar qualifications to acquire advanced knowledge, skills and academic status in Textile and Fashion Design and Technology. b) To provide specialised skills to HND Graduates to meet contemporary manpower needs at managerial levels in industry. c) To equip the graduates with enhanced entrepreneurial skills to enable them establish their own business ventures. d) To up-date analytical techniques of the graduates to enable them solve modern technological problems. e) To develop and up-date their supervisory and management skills in a rapidly changing environment.

f) To enhance the Information Communication Technology (ICT) skills of HND Graduates and make them more suitable to meet the modern industrial challenges. g) To position the graduate to pursue advanced graduate studies.

The programme is designed to train students to attain theoretical and practical competencies that will equip them with skills to serve as Textile Technologists, Weavers, Spinners, Dyers, Printers, Launderers and Dry-Cleaners, Garment Manufacturers, Fashion Designers, Interior Decorators, Sales Representatives, Textile Designers, Private Business Executives, Quality Controllers, Managers and Mill Supervisors of Textile Production Units. The textiles programme of KNUST, with reference to IAD (2010), was created in 1964 with the main aim of producing graduate artists and art teachers for schools and colleges. The programme has expanded and is now a blend of Textile Design, Technology, Management and Fashion. Textiles and Fashion Design are two separate but interrelated disciplines too broad to be contained in one syllabus. Specialised areas have not been designed for these two fields of study, resulting in students being overburdened in an attempt to cover all these areas for a degree certificate in Textiles. The result is that, graduates leave school knowing bits of everything but mastering none, making it difficult to market themselves on the job market which has become very competitive more than ever although the current needs of the country and trends in the global textile and fashion industry demand training of specialized manpower to handle the design and technology of production of textile and fashion goods. Among the aims and objectives of the KNUST textile programme (IAD, 2010) are: a) Produce technologically trained graduates in the field of textile and fashion design, textile/fashion production and marketing b) Improve the manpower resource base for the textile and fashion industry in Ghana. c) Prepare students for careers in research development or other technological aspects of the textile, fashion and allied industries d) Produce trained graduates in the field of textile and fashion design, production and marketing

e) Offer technical expertise in the textiles, clothing and related industries and make ready-to-wear garments commercially available to the manufacturer and consumer. f) Build a couture clothing (high fashion) industry compatible with international standards and expand the export promotion exercise under the President’s Special Initiative (PSI) and African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) among other g) Offer outreach programmes and workshop in textile/fashion technology and design h) Produce graduates with the requisite knowledge and skills to take up positions in the following areas: Manufacturing; Commerce; Teaching; Research and Development i) Enhance some existing academic programmes of the university such as Communication Design, Metal Product Design and Interior Decoration. j) Develop income generating activities in the form of outreach academic programmes such as short training courses and workshops.

Apparently, the textile studies at the university level focus on producing technologically trained graduates with specialized manpower and skills to handle the design and technology of production of textiles and fashion design, production and marketing, to meet the current needs of the country and trends in the global textile and fashion industry. It could be established that, the curricula of the various levels of textiles programmes in Ghana; SHS, Polytechnic and the University, place much emphasis on skill acquisition and technological development aimed at producing qualified graduates to satisfy the manpower needs of the country. With these broad objectives, graduates are expected to fit and perform well in the industry to contribute to the development of the country. Inferring from the literature reviewed, it is evident that the global textile industry has seen a lot of developments since the 19th century industrial revolution from fibre processing to fabric application. Research and advancement in technology have expanded the industry from the conventional use of naturally occurring fibres to the technology of man-made fibre production which had offered the consumer with a wider variety of fabrics to choose from. High speed machines have been developed with computer programmable systems to increase productivity, produce variety of innovative high 65 performance fabrics for fashionable and industrial purposes, save time, and also reduce noise and labour in the industry; all these are aimed at reducing cost and achieve quality. The global advocacy for environmentally friendly production in the millennium had ushered in new technological paradigms in the textile industry and most textile producers have re-strategized to plan and budget accordingly. This has led to newer technologies with much focus on the production of Biodegradable fibres, Genetically Modified Cotton and Organic Cotton which are produced with little or no pesticides. Moreover, amidst liberal trade that forbids quantitative restriction of textiles, a stiff competition now exist in the global textile market and most WTO members have developed strategies to get competitive edge to sustain and move their industries forward. Some vulnerable developing countries have therefore put in place mitigative measures to withstand or safeguard their industries from the consequences of trade liberalization. In addition, most developed economies such as China, US, EU, India and Pakistan depend largely on textile production for sustainable development of other sectors due to the socio-economic significance and employment opportunities the industry creates. In the past, Ghana had made significant benefits from textiles with regard to employment, productivity and revenue generation, employing 25,000 workers with output performance of 129 million yards of cloths in 1977 and revenue of 179.7 million dollars in 1994 from textile exports. That notwithstanding, by 2004, revenue from textile exports had dwindled to 7.4 million dollars and in 2005 the total employment of the sector had reduced to 2,961 workers with total output performance of 39 million yards, indicating a significant decline of the industry. These are attributed to both internal and external challenges that confront the industry. Based on the developmental indicators that have occurred in the global textile industry as highlighted above, it could be established that, for the Ghana textile industry to sustainably remain operational and to maximize productivity for maximum returns, the industry needs to build a strong competitive edge with its offshore counterparts. This therefore sets high standards for the domestic textile factories to meet in the following domains; utilization of high speed modern machinery and technology, conservation of energy and raw materials, development of new fibre/fabric variance, practising of environmental friendly production, innovative and high performance fabrics, product competitiveness (quality, design and price) through adoption of effective operational strategies, increase in export levels, implementation of favourable policies, development

66 of local raw materials and collaboration with institutions of higher learning for research and development.

CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

Overview In any activity that requires investigation into a phenomenon to reach concrete results, a well defined and systematic methodology for achieving authentic results become very imperative. In this chapter, therefore, the research design used, the data collecting instruments, the population for the study, the sampling techniques used and the data collection procedures have been discussed.

3.1 Research Design The study was based on the phenomenological perspective of qualitative approach but adopted the descriptive observational and multiple case study methods to investigate the challenges and prospects of four major textile factories and implication thereof for textile education in Ghana. As epitomized in phenomenological study (Encarta, 2009), the description of structures and experience as they presented themselves in the operations of the selected textile factories were carried out. The qualitative enquiry allowed close interactions with the respondents, observation of their settings and interpretation of findings (Osuala, 2001). The justification for using qualitative research for this study is because it collects descriptive information and gives detailed descriptions and explanations of the phenomenon studied rather than providing and analyzing statistical data. Again, it is usually based on quality rather than quantity and its description of observations is not ordinarily expressed in quantitative terms. This does not imply that numerical measures are never used in qualitative research, but it is not largely dependent on numbers; Encarta, 2009) as is the case for this study. With respect to the study, the production and sales processes of the selected textile factories were closely studied, examined, described and interpreted qualitatively to deduce their strengths and weaknesses for conclusions to be drawn and recommendations made. In this regard, the quality of the processes and the products were invariably paramount than quantity as buttressed by Merriam (1988). The paradigm of qualitative research evolves on process versus product quality with the focus on an individual's experience and description of life situations. The core characteristics of qualitative research; description, interpretation, verification and evaluation of situations, settings, 68 processes, relationships, systems, or people (Leedy & Ormrod, 2005) made it very relevant approach for this study to investigate the quality of processes and products of selected textile factories in Ghana.

3.1.1 Descriptive Observational Study The descriptive observational study was used in this research to describe the industrial settings, production and sales processes, situations with regards to challenges and prospects of the factories, and for analysis and interpretation of collected data. Sidhu (1984) explains that descriptive research is the method of investigation which attempts to describe and interpret what exists at present in the form of conditions, practices, processes, trends, effects, attitudes, beliefs, etc. It seeks to answer the question as “what the real facts are with regards to the existing conditions”. In line with this, the descriptive observational method was employed to document data from real life situation and the natural setting of what exists in the factories. The working environment, workers attitudes to work, safety measures, labour force, management structure, machinery capacity, raw materials, processes, products, make ups and distribution and sales operations of the factories were systematically studied and descriptively analysed. This was done based on what, when, where and how of a situation parameters of the descriptive research methodology. Again, data collected were presented in their natural sense without any manipulation (Leedy & Ormrod, 2005). The data were analytically compared with that of various authors and the expert opinions from resource personnel of the textile industry to draw conclusions and make projections on possible means of achieving the set objective. With the focus on the Ghana textile industry as the study area with its multifaceted challenges, it was imperative to present the situation of the selected factories as they stand without any manipulations in order to ascertain the true picture for the descriptive analysis and interpretation to reach unbiased findings. Because observation becomes indispensable in such a study, the observational study of the descriptive research was used to investigate the situation of the factories to arrive at concrete results.

3.1.2 Multiple Case Study The case study method of qualitative research approach was used alongside the descriptive research method for the study. The nature of the study demanded the need to identify and select relevant textile factories that could be considered as a fair representation of the large-scale textile factories in Ghana which could yield authentic 69 results to make practicable generalisations for the development and sustainability of the textile industry in Ghana. The case study method was considered very appropriate in this regard as it made it possible for the researcher to embark on an in-depth study of selected major textile factories in Ghana, which focused on GCCL, TGL, ATL and VSTL. The relevance of the case study for this research stems from the fact that it makes it possible to embark on an in-depth investigation of a particular individual, programme, or event within a defined period of time. A case study may be single a case or multiple case with the latter involving two or more cases to allow comparisons to be made, build a theory, or propose generalizations (Leedy & Ormorod, 2005). This research therefore employed the multiple or collective case study method as it targeted four major selected textile factories in Ghana. A stage was therefore set to make comparison to decipher the strengths and weaknesses of the selected factories with reference to their production and sales operations to draw realistic conclusions.

3.2 Sources/Facilities for Data Collection 3.2.1 Libraries The following libraries were visited to solicit secondary data for the research. a) KNUST Main Library, Kumasi. b) University of Ghana Library, Accra. c) University of Cape Coast Library, Cape Coast. d) University of Education Library, Winneba. e) British Council Library, Kumasi. f) The George Padmore Research Library on African Affairs-Accra.

3.2.2 Archives Archival data were also obtained from the following sources. a) National Archives-Accra b) Archives of MOTI, Accra. c) Archives of CEPS, Accra. d) Archives of GCCL, TGL, VSTL and ATL.

3.2.3 Industries GCCL, ATL, TGL, and VSTL were the four main textile factories where the research was conducted. However, the researcher made references to other factories such as GTMC and Printex to support the study.

3.2.4 Institutions The research also sourced data from institutions whose operations have direct or indirect impact on the activities of the textile factories. These were; the Ministry of Trade and Industries (MOTI) the major government institution which spearhead formulation and implementation of policies on trade and industrial production in Ghana; the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) the government institution whose duty is to ensure that importers and exporters pass through the approved roots and pay the right tariffs to have their goods transported for the government to retrieve appreciable revenue for national development; Higher Intuitions that run textiles programmes in Ghana such as KNUST, UEW, Kumasi and Takoradi Polytechnics that train textile designers and technologists for the local textile factories.

3.2.5 Markets/Sales and Distribution Outlets A market survey was conducted at the various sales depots of the selected textile factories to observe the trends of patronage of the locally made textiles. Premium African Textiles, CTD (Char Textiles Distribution), Woodin shops, and UAC (United African Company) were the major textile merchandisers the research focused. The researcher also called on textile retailers who are predominantly market men and women who trade in textiles at Makola in Accra and Central market in Kumasi to collect data for the research. The market survey was also aimed at finding and assessing the extent of importation and smuggling of foreign textiles and the effects it is having on the locally produced textiles.

3.2.6 Other Sources of Data The researcher retrieved current information from the internet on textile production and sales. In addition to the internet, primary data or first-hand information were solicited from selected resource personnel who are textile consultants and lecturers.

3.3 Population for the Study The study targeted workers of four selected textile factories which are Ghana Cotton Company Limited (GCCL), Akosombo Textiles Limited (ATL), Texstyles Ghana Limited (TGL), Volta Star Textiles Limited (VSTL); resource personnel whose operations have direct or indirect influence on the textile industry such as the Ministry of Trade and Industries (MOTI), Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), textile lecturers and textile merchandisers as parent population. The target population for the study is grouped into five categories as follows: a) Workers of selected textile factories in Ghana, comprising technical and administrative staff of GCCL, VSTL, ATL and TGL. b) Textiles lecturers– KNUST, UEW, Kumasi and Takoradi Polytechnics. c) Government agencies with specific reference to MOTI and CEPS. d) Cotton farmers in the northern region of Ghana (Tamale). e) Textile merchandisers – Sales agents of Woodin shops, market women and men who trade in textiles. The total potential or accessible population for the study was 370 respondents as shown in Table 3.1.

3.4 Sampling Technique The purposive or convenience (non-probability) sampling technique was used in the selection of interview respondents from the accessible population to be studied. This was used alongside with stratified sampling technique which was used primarily in collecting data through questionnaire from a section of the population. Since the potential or accessible population for the study was 370, 185 respondents were selected for the study which represents 50% of the accessible population. This figure is fairly adequate for the study since Cohen & Manion (1980) assert that, for quality research, 30% of the population for the study is a fair representation for an acceptable accuracy of results. The four textile factories were purposefully chosen with the aim of gathering specific relevant data on each of the factories for discussion to meet the set objectives. Ghana Cotton Company Limited (GCCL) was selected based on the fact that it is the only surviving large-scale cotton processing company in Ghana. Testyles Ghana Limited (TGL) formerly GTP was selected in the sense that the factory is among the first few large-scale textile factories that were established in the 1960’s. The factory had also been leading the 72 textile manufacture sector in Ghana for years and is still in operation. Akosombo Textiles Limited (ATL) was considered viable for the study because it is also among the first established textile firms in Ghana and currently the only textile company operating in a vertically integrated production system in Ghana (i.e. from fibre processing to fabric printing). Volta Star Textiles Limited (VSTL), formally JTL, was selected for the study because it is the only existing textile factory that produces cotton yarns and production of grey cotton fabrics in Ghana. Leedy and Ormrod (2005) postulate that, in purposive sampling, people or units are chosen for a particular purpose. They explain further that, more often, qualitative researchers are intentionally non-random in their selection of data sources. Their sampling is purposeful to select those individuals or objects that will yield most information about the topic under investigation. Fraenkel and Wallen (1993) add that, based on previous knowledge of a population and the specific purpose of the research, investigators use personal judgement to select a sample that will yield accurate results. Because the research focused on specific textile factories and the fact that the resource persons in this area were less available, purposive sampling technique was used to select specific and resource persons from the selected factories for the study. This category was made up of high ranking textile industrialists and other resource persons comprising; administrative managers, personnel managers, production managers, sales managers and textile lecturers. The use of purposive sampling technique made it possible to collect relevant data from experts in the field of textile production and sales with regards to challenges and prospects. In addition, stratified sampling technique was employed, after purposefully selecting the factories and interviewing the key resource persons, to solicit data from selected technical staff of the respective textile factories to support and authenticate the data collected through interview. This category consisted of assistant managers and supervisors from ginning, spinning, weaving, dyeing and printing departments. The stratified sampling technique was appropriate in the sense that the population for the study was heterogeneous in nature. Tables 3.1 and 3.2 show the accessible population and stratification of the accessible population; Figure 3.1 illustrates the schematic overview of the proportional stratified and sampling procedure used to randomly sample the 185 respondents for the study.

Table 3.1: Distribution of Accessible Population for the Study Population for the study Accessible Population Textile Industries: ATL 60 VSTL 60 TGL 60 GCCL 60 Textile Lecturers: KNUST 10 UEW 10 Kumasi Polytechnic 10 Takoradi Polytechnic 10 Government Agencies: MOTI & CEPS 20 Cotton farmers (Tamale) 20 Textile merchandisers: Central market (Kumasi) 20 Makola market (Accra) 20 Woodin Shops 10 Total Population 370

Table 3.2: Stratification of Accessible Population Strata Population for the Study Accessible Population ST - 1 Textile Industries ATL VSTL TGL GCCL 240

ST – 2 Textile Lecturers KNUST UEW Kumasi Polytechnic Takoradi Polytechnic 40

ST - 3 Government Agencies (MOTI & CEPS) 20 ST - 4 Cotton Farmers (Tamale) 20

ST - 5 Textile Merchandisers Central market (Kumasi) Mokola market (Accra) Woodin Shops 50 Total Population 370

Population level Total Population

370

ST1 ST2 ST3 ST4 ST5 Proportional Stratification level 240 40 20 20 50

Randomisation Level (Sampling) 50% 120 20 10 10 25

Total Randomised Stratified Sample 185 (Data Level)

* ST – Stratum All figures used in sample design are estimates

Figure 3.1: Schematic Diagram of the Stratified Sampling Design

3.5 Data Collecting Instruments Interview and observation were employed as the main instruments for data collection. However, questionnaire was used in some instances to collect data from respondents with busy work schedules and could not be available for interview. Interviews were conducted to collect relevant data from cotton farmers, textile industrialists and merchandisers. With the cotton farmers the interview was conducted through focus group discussion method with maximum of five farmers at a time in the Tamale metropolis. The group discussion helped the researcher to interact with the farmers who gave out their heartfelt concerns on the cotton production in the region. One-on-one interview was conducted with high ranking staff of the large-scale textile factories and textile merchandisers. The use of interview was significant in the study because it made it possible to get immediate responses from the respondents. Moreover, it helped in the collection of data from the market textile traders with little or no formal education and for

75 that matter could not respond to a questionnaire. Structured interview guide was designed and used in this regard (see appendix B). The use of interview guide helped in asking relevant questions that yielded relevant responses from the interviewees. Participant observation was used to collect primary data from the selected textile factories. Participant observation according to Sidhu (1984) deals with the behaviour of a person or a group who plays an active role in the situation or context in which the behaviour is recorded. This type of observation was employed in the study using an observational check list (see appendix A) to record observable findings. With participant observation, the infrastructure, raw materials, quality control processes, personnel, mode of production, working environment and machinery in the various factories were critically observed and recorded. The researcher also embarked on market survey to observe the various forms of textiles on the Ghanaian market and took photographs where necessary for discussion. Observation as a research tool helped in collecting first hand or natural information from respondents. Structured questionnaire with both close and open ended questions was also used to collect data from a section of the research population comprising textile industrialists and textile lecturers for the study (see appendix C for sample questionnaire). The use of questionnaire provided an opportunity for a written response which was relatively less expensive than interview and observation.

3.6 Data Collection Procedure Collection of data for the study was done through the qualitative approach. Data were collected from field research mainly through direct observation, interview, audio- visual documentation and questionnaire. The researcher toured the respective textile factories located in the Northern, Eastern, Volta and Greater Accra regions together with a research assistant to collect relevant data. At Tamale in the Northern region, the Ghana Cotton Company Limited was visited and selected top ranked personnel were interviewed. Other staff were selected at random and given samples of the questionnaire to respond to. The interviewees comprised; field operational manager, ginning operational manager, monitoring and evaluating manger and administrative manager. Those given copies of the questionnaire were field supervisors and ginning operators. The production line of the Tamale ginnery with its infrastructural capacity was observed. Other ginneries in the region such as Nulux Plantation Company 76

Ltd, Plantation Development Company Ltd, Juni Agro Company Ltd, Bafcot Company Ltd, Agrostar Company Ltd, Intercontinental Farms Co. Ltd, A.A. Ibrahim, Upper West Cotton Company, Amantin Complex Farms Ltd, etc. were also visited to observe the state of the cotton industry. Cotton farmers in the locality were also engaged in focus group interview (five cotton farmers in a group) to discuss the problems they encounter in their business and solicit their views toward revamping the cotton industry. The first group were made up of executives of the Cotton Farmers Association including the president and the secretary of the association. The discussion was based on how the farmers organise themselves to negotiate lint cotton prices at the beginning of every cotton farm season and how they obtain farm inputs and financial assistance from the cotton processing companies and the government. With the second group which was purely made up of cotton farmers (out-growers), the discussion was geared towards the problems they encounter as cotton growers and what they thougt must be put in place to motivate them to remain in the cotton farming business. At Akosombo in the eastern region, the Akosombo Textile Limited was the focus. After a thorough observation and recording of the factory’s production line and machinery, the personnel and production managers were interviewed. At the Accra office, the administrative manager together with the sales and design managers were interviewed. The types of prints that were on display at their sales and distribution outlet (CTD) were observed together with smuggled pirated ATL print designs which had been intercepted and were in store at the design section. The technical director, personnel, quality control, spinning and weaving operation managers of Volta Star Textile Limited, Juapong in the Volta region, were interviewed. The factory’s production line, machinery and products were observed and findings recorded. At Texstyles Ghana Limited, Tema, the group administrative manager, production manager, design manager, marketing manager, and safety control manager were interviewed and the factory’s plant and processes observed and findings recorded. At all the four factories, copies of questionnaire were administered to selected technical staff to respond to (Table 3.3). Visits were also made to the Ministry of Trade and Industries (MOTI), Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), and selected textile merchandisers to solicit relevant information for the study. At CEPS, five (5) workers in charge of smuggling of textiles were interviewed to find out the rate of textile smuggling in the country, causes and measures to curb it. At MOTI, five (5) staff from the Textiles Section were interviewed. The MOTI interview was conducted to find out government policies and 77 interventions toward sustainable development of the local textile industry. At the Makola (Accra) and Central Market (Kumasi), twenty (20) men and women who trade in textile goods were interacted with to find out the rate of patronage of locally made textiles as against the foreign types. Five (5) respondents were selected from Woodin Shops in Accra and Kumasi to get their views on similar issues. The prices of the locally made textiles were assessed with the foreign types based on quality, competitiveness, and affordability. The interviews were recorded trough written notes and audio tape with prior permission from the respondents, whereas findings made on observation were recorded using observational check lists (see appendix A) and by snap shots with digital camera where this was allowed. Data were also sourced from the country’s major tertiary institutions that offer textile programmes to train students for the textile industry. These institutions were; KNUST, UEW, Takoradi Polytechnic and Kumasi Polytechnic. The study focussed mainly on lecturers who teach in textiles to find out the relevance of their programmes to the local textile industry, the collaboration between them and the industry, and seek their opinions on the challenges confronting the textile industry and suggest ways to revamp the industry. Some textiles students were randomly picked to solicit their views on the subject with special reference to the type of training they were being given to meet the challenges of the industry. Table 3.3 shows the percentage distribution of copies of questionnaire and their responses.

Table 3.3: Percentage distribution of questionnaire and responses Respondents Copies Percentage Copies Percentage Copies Percentage Administered (%) Retrieved (%) Lost (%) GCCL 25 20.8 22 18.3 3 2.5 ATL 25 20.8 23 19.2 2 1.6 VSTL 25 20.8 25 20.8 0 0 TGL 25 20.8 20 16.6 5 4.2 Lecturers 20 16.6 18 15.0 2 1.6 Total 120 100 108 89.9 12 9.8

Inferring from Table 3.3, 108 out of 120 copies of questionnaire (89.9%) administered were retrieved representing 89.9%. The 120 respondents administered with questionnaire made up 65% of the total sample population of 185 respondents (which is 50% of the accessible population). The remaining of the sampled population, i.e. 65

respondents 35% were however, engaged in different forms of interviews to collect relevant data for the study. The various groups that were engaged in interview are represented in Table 3.4.

Table 3.4: Interview respondents Respondents Number Percentage (%) Cotton farmers 10 15.4 ATL 5 7.7 VSTL 5 7.7 TGL 5 7.7 GCCL 5 7.7 CEPS 5 7.7 MOTI 5 7.7 Central market (Kumasi) 10 15.4 Mokola market (Accra) 10 15.4 Woodin shops 5 7.7 Total 65 100

It must be clarified that the questionnaire was used to obtain data to support and validate the data collected through direct interview and observation as the study focused on qualitative enquiry. Prior to the field study, arrangements were made with the factory authorities regarding the visits. The date and time for the visits were scheduled conveniently to the factories and the interviewees. The interview schedules were also fixed to suit the preference of the respondents. Copies of introduction letters were first sent to the factories via fax machine and e-mails with follow up calls. A personal follow-up visits to the factories were made prior to the actual study schedule to remind the authorities about the visits, and to make personal introduction and built a rapport with them. Copies of the interview guides were given to the respective respondents to go through and copies of questionnaire administered. As Leedy & Ormrod (2005) posit, it is purposeful in qualitative research to collect data that will yield most information about the topic under investigation. This is imperative in order to ascertain the best results in answering the research question(s) and to meet the set objective(s). To achieve this, library research was conducted prior to the field research to search for relevant secondary data from books, publications, and unpublished theses and dissertations to provide enough theoretical data to support the study. Additional data were sourced from database and internet to obtain current information on the subject.

Four parameters (Creswell, 1994) must be noted when collecting data in qualitative study; the setting - the research environment, the actors or the respondents - the people to be observed or interviewed, the event - what to be observed or interviewed about the actors, and the process - the nature of event the actors undertake within the setting. Based on the parameters outlined by Creswell, data for the study were collected in response to the research questions right at the research setting through triangulation of research instruments as shown in Table 3.5.

Table 3.5: Triangulation of research instruments for data collection

I Interview Questionnaire Observation Focus group Q discussion 1 √ √

2 √ √ √ √

3 √ √ √ 4 √ √

The use of triangulation ensured validation and credibility of data. This is because it provided the platform for comparison to be made with specific data collected with different instruments leading to determination of factual data for acceptance, or otherwise rejection of a particular date during assembling, synthesis, and discussion of data.

3.7 Data Analysis Plan The researcher after data collection, subjected the raw data into a thorough examination in order to find linkages between the findings and the formulated research questions. In doing this, the researcher remained open and objective to new developments and insightful ideas and made possible effort to refrain from premature conclusions. Recorded interviews were played back, listened to, transcribed, and compared with written notes made during the interviews to ascertain its authenticity. Responses from the questionnaire and ticked observation guides were sorted out and common and varied opinions together with observable findings recorded to support the interview responses. Digital photographs taken from the research sites were downloaded onto computer and relevant ones selected, edited and used in support of the data collected. Discussion and 80 presentation of data were done descriptively and supported with tables, figures and plates in the fourth and fifth chapters of the dissertation. Both primary and secondary data obtained were assembled, synthesized, analysed, and interpreted to draw conclusions and recommendations made toward the invigoration of the Ghana Textile Industry.

CHAPTER FOUR

PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

Overview The chapter presents and discusses the findings of the study. As a multiple case study, it focuses on four major textile factories in Ghana with special reference to their production, sales operations, internal challenges and prospects of the selected factories. The chapter specifically looks at the internal and external challenges and prospects of the factories, measures put in place to mitigate the challenges, and the implications of the challenges on textiles education in Ghana.

4.1 Production and Sales operations of the selected Textiles Factories This section presents findings on the production and sales operations of the Ghana Cotton Company Limited (GCCL), Volta Star Textiles Limited (VSTL), Akosombo Textiles Limited (ATL) and Texstyles Ghana Limited (TGL).

4.1.1 Ghana Cotton Company Limited (GCCL) A survey of the Ghana Cotton Industry GCCL revealed that, the factory is situated at Lamashegu, a suburb of Tamale industrial area in the Northern region of Ghana. The company, being the largest cotton processing mill in the region, produces lint cotton for the local textile factories and for export. It serves as one of the major employers in the region providing jobs to the natives of the region who are predominantly farmers. Production of cotton in northern Ghana, according to the administrative manager of GCCL (Personal communication, May 25, 2010), started in the late 1960s with the establishment of the Cotton Development Board (CDB) in 1969. He explained further that the core objective for its establishment was to develop cotton to feed the local textile factories for sustainable development of the textile sub-sector. Production capacity reached 11.000 tons of seed cotton by 1976 but declined tremendously to almost zero by 1984. The decline, among other factors, was attributed to low capital investment necessary to lift the cotton production to appreciable level. Government, recognising the important role cotton plays as a significant cash crop aside cocoa to the country’s GDP (i.e. the employment it generates, foreign exchange it accrued, as well as serving as the main raw material base for the textile factories, among others), decided to invest in the development of cotton 82 production. This led to the establishment of the Ghana Cotton Company which started operation in April, 1986. The prime objectives for the establishment of GCCL as enumerated by the administrative manager include: a) The development of the cotton industry in Ghana

b) Provision of technical and extension services, inputs and credit to farmers.

c) Marketing, processing, handling, transportation, distribution and export of cotton.

d) Determination and guarantee of producer price of cotton.

e) Undertaking of research or arrangement of research facilities for the development and promotion of the cotton industry.

The shareholding structure of the company when it was incorporated as private limited liability firm with floating shares which allowed extensive public participation is exhibited in Table 4.1. Table 4.1: Share holding structure of GCCL List of Shareholders Total No of Shares % Shares Akosombo Textiles Ltd 7,600 6.44 Akotex Synthetics 7,600 6.44 GTMC 5,800 4.92 Freedom Textiles Ltd 6,200 5.25 Juapong Textiles Ltd 25,143 21.31 Printex 8,600 7.29 Tema Textles Ltd 564 0.48 West Coast Spinning Ltd 112 0.09 Textile Trico Ltd 2,857 2.42 Najim Industries Ltd 3 2.54 Zakour Textiles Ltd 666 0.56 Asma Production Ltd 71 0.06 Local Cotton Production Ltd 342 0.29 SIAT (Gh) Ltd 10,996 9.32 Wienco (Gh) Ltd 17,924 15.19 Reiss & Co (Gh) Ltd 1,125 0.95 Agric Dev. Bank 18,000 15.25 Chemico (Gh) Ltd 1,000 0.85 Agroverts Ltd 400 0.34 Total 118,000 100.00% Source: ADB (2001)

A former MD of GCCL (Personal communication, May 24, 2010) narrated that GCCL was incorporated as a private limited liability company after taking over asserts of the erstwhile Cotton Development Board (CDB) and the Upper Region Agricultural Development Programme (URADEP). Seventy percent (70%) of its shares were held privately and 30% by the Government of Ghana. Under the Ghana Government’s divestiture programme, the 30% share held by the Government was further divested to the private sector with the Agriculture Development Bank (ADB) taking 20% of the government shares and the other 10% shares going into other private investors who were mainly textiles firms. With 320 workers, the company provides employment to about 50,000 farm families with each farm family having an average of five or six farmers. This indicates that GCCL alone provides jobs and better living conditions to over 250,000 farmers and their dependents, in addition to 320 staff of the company and their dependents which is very significant in terms of employment rate in the region and for that matter the country at large.

Operations of GCCL The administration manager of GCCL (Personal communication, May 25, 2010) established that, the company’s operations mainly fall under administration, cotton production (farming), and cotton processing (ginning) adding that the offices of the Internal Auditor, Public Affairs and Monitoring and Evaluation are located in Tamale but report directly to the Managing Director whose office is in Accra. The main production operations of the company are in the hands of the field operation manager who is in charge of field cotton production (i.e. cotton farming), and the ginnery operation manager in charge of processing of seed cotton into lint cotton. The company currently does not have substantive board to spearhead its activities. It is now operating under an acting managing director. The organisational structure of the company is shown in Fig 4.1.

Board of Directors

Managing Director

Internal Financial Accra Office Monitoring & Public Affairs General Auditor Controller Manager Evaluation Manager Manager Manager

Divisional Heads (Tamale, Bolga, Tumu)

Account Field Operation Administration Ginnery Operation Manager Manager Manager Manager

Zonal Officers

Cotton Production Assistants/Field Extension Officers

Cotton Farmers

Figure 4.1: Organisational Chart of GCCL

Cotton Production (Farming) The Field Operation Manager of GCCL (Personal Communication, May 26, 2010) explained that Cotton production by GCCL and other cotton processing companies in the northern Ghana is organised mainly on out-grower basis. The companies, first and foremost, determine inputs prices through market survey and look out for creditors or suppliers (buyers) to establish financial agreement with them. Registration of the out- growers follows once the company has acquired enough capital to commence production. The registration of out-growers is done in groups by Zonal officers under the auspices of the field operation manager. The cost of production, excluding labour, of each out- grower is pre-financed by the company from the funds obtained exclusively from ADB and other financial institutions with commercial interest rates. The loans are used primarily to provide inputs for registered out-growers. Such inputs include; land preparation services such as clearing and ploughing, provision of cotton seeds and agro-chemicals including fertilizers and pesticides.

The Field Operation Manager added further that, in addition to inputs supply, the cotton company provides extension and field supervision to support its registered out- grower to maximize their productivity and to ensure quality yields for the benefit of both the company and the farmers. Each out-grower cultivates a minimum of one unit (i.e. 0.5 hectare) within each production season. The out-growers are categorized into two main groups; the individual farmers with the production capacity of 1 unit (0.5 hectare) i.e. 5000 square metres and the commercial farmers with the production capacity of up to 5 units (2.5 hectares) equivalent of 25000 square metres. Farm maintenance and picking of matured cotton, on the other hand, are undertaken at the expense of the farmers who have no other option than to sell the seed cotton generated to the company at a pre-determined price fixed at the onset of the production season through negotiation between the cotton farmers association and the cotton processing company with Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) as an intermediary body. Each out-grower is paid according to the quantity and quality/grade of seed cotton supplied by the processing company. The study observed that, the work of the out-growers starts with land acquisition. Land for cotton farming is acquired without pay and readily available. Cotton production in the region is highly labour intensive where farmers work without any mechanized means. They also depend solely on the rains for cultivation. In view of this clearing and ploughing of the land is done in advance with the assistance of the cotton company to allow the rain to fall before cultivation. Regular farm maintenance culture is carried out after cultivation by the individual farmers under the supervision of the field operation officers and the agricultural extension officers to ensure better yields. The type of cotton grown by the farmers is the short staple type (American cotton) with shorter maturity period of 120 days (about 4 months) and up to 6 months to be harvested. The farming season begins in March with land preparation and by September the seed cotton is ready to be harvested. Picking of cotton in the region is done manually by hand and mostly by women who are employed and paid by the farmers themselves which adds up to their cost of production. After picking the seed cotton is graded into A, B and C depending on the quality. The graded cotton is baled and weighed to ascertain its volume. The weighed cotton in kilograms is computed and multiplied by the pre-determined unit price per kilo to get the actual value of the farmer’s output. As at June, 2010, the unit price per kilo of seed cotton was 60Gp for grade “A”, the total cost of land preparation and agro-chemical inputs for one hectare of land was 125 Ghana cedis, and the labour cost for picking one unit (0.5 hectare) of cotton farm was 40 Ghana cedis excluding food and water. The company 86 finally calculates its inputs cost and deduct it from the total value of the farmers output and the remaining is what goes to the farmer. Out of this figure the farmer pays the pickers and other labour expenses. Interactions with the farmers indicate that a hard working cotton farmer get a maximum profit of 300 Ghana cedis per annum on 0.5 hectare cotton farm. However, due to labour intensiveness of cotton farming, most farmers get an average of 100 Ghana cedis per annum on 0.5 hectare of cotton farm.

Ginnery Capacity and Operation (GCCL) According to the Ginning Operation Manager of GCCL (Personal Communication, May 27, 2010) the company has four ginnery systems installed in Tamale, Tumu and Bolgatanga operating in different capacities with total of 47,000 metric tonnes of seed cotton as indicated in Table 4.2.

Table 4.2: Ginnery Capacities of GCCL Location Type of Ginnery Capacity Tamale 2 Lummus Gin Stands of 128 saws each 10,000mt Tumu 2 Lummus Gin Stands of 128 saws each 10,000mt Tumu 1 Murray Gin Stands of 90 saws 2,000mt Bolgatanga 2 Lummus Gin Stands of 178 saws each 25,000mt Total 47,000mt

Source: Field Research (2010)

He explained further that, the Bolgatanga ginnery is newly installed modern facility (i.e. 2 Lummus Gin Stands of 178 saws) with an output capacity of 25,000mt. This notwithstanding, the company upgraded its ginnery systems at Tamale and Tumu (i.e. 2 Lummus Gin Stands of 128 saws to 158 saws) with the intention of maximizing its production capacity. However, due to insufficient supply of cotton raw material, the company has not been able to utilize its ginnery capacity to the fullness to maximize productivity as expected. Plate 4.1 reveals a section of GCCL’s Tamale Ginnery facility.

Plate 4.1: The front section of Tamale Ginnery, GCCL Source: Field research (2010)

Other Ginneries in the Northern Sector Aside GCCL, there are a number of private owned cotton ginnery firms working in different production capacities and employing appreciable number of workers and farmers which add up to the workforce of the entire cotton industry in the northern region of Ghana. These include; Nulux Plantation Company Ltd, Plantation Development Company Ltd, Juni Agro Company Ltd, Bafcot Company Ltd, Agrostar Company Ltd, Intercontinental Farms Co. Ltd, A.A. Ibrahim, Upper West Cotton Company, Amantin Complex Farms Ltd, etc. Some of these ginneries have folded up while others have diverted into other farm produce as the world market price of cotton continues to depreciate season to season. The ginning capacities of other cotton ginneries that are still in operation with GCCL are presented in Table 4.3.

Table 4.3: Ginning capacities of other ginnery companies in the north

Company Type of ginnery Location Capacity Nulux Plantation 4 Jinshi Stands of 91 saws each (China) Tamale 10,000mt Plantation Dev. Ltd 4 Jinshi Stands of 91 saws each (China) Wa 10,000mt Inter C/A.A Ibrahim 1 Jinshi Stand of 91 saws each (China) Tamale 3,000mt

Total 23,000mt

Source: ADB (2010)

The existing ginnery companies have a total capacity of 70,000 metric tonnes of cotton. The 47,000mt capacity of GCCL ginnery, however, makes it the largest ginnery in the region. The ginnery operation as explained by the ginning operation manager of GCCL is a continuous process. The baled seed cotton fibres are transported from the farm to the mill by means of trucks. At the mill the cotton fibres are reweighed to check whether or not the weighed figures recorded by the field staff are accurate. The seed cotton in bales are off-loaded from the trucks and stored at the company’s ware-houses to be processed later. In most cases, the trucks carrying the seed cotton are made to park at the delivery section of the gin where a telescopic sensor mechanism is made to suck the seed cotton pneumatically into the gin to be processed directly into lint cotton. In the gins the seed cotton is subjected to series of cleaning process after which the cotton flows into the front side of the gins where the ginning process actually takes place, thus, the separation of the fibres from the seed. The type of ginnery system employed by GCCL operates on saw teeth technically known as Saw Gin. A number of saws lined up together in these ginning systems with each saw in a form of a metallic plate or disc having a number of teeths around its circumference. The number of saws in a gin determines the output capacity of that particular gin. Plate 4.2 shows 2 Lummus Gin Stands of 158 saws of Tamale ginnery, GCCL.

Plate 4.2: Lummus Gin Stands of 158 saws, GCCL-Tamale Source: Field research (2010)

Prior to the dressing of the bale after processing, a sample of the lint cotton is taken to a quality control unit to be examined to ascertain the quality and other characteristics of the baled lint cotton. Based on the examination results from the quality control unit, the

89 bales are labelled with the following descriptions; the name of the company, the gross weight of the bale in metric tonnes, the year of manufacture, serial number of the bale, and the quality/grade mark of the bale. Because cotton is very volatile and combustible in nature, friction from the various machine parts during the ginning operation may generate fire which may be burning gradually inside the bales unknowingly. In light of this the cotton bales are left on the open floor of the ginnery room for two to three days to cool down and also to detect burning of cotton through smelling in order to prevent any fire disaster.

Sales of lint cotton An interview with the administrative manager of GCCL (Personal Communication, May 25, 2010) revealed that, the local textile factories have been the major consumers of the lint cotton produced by GCCL and other ginnery firms operating in the northern Ghana. The company used to supply the bulk of its lint cotton to the former Juapong Textile Limited, now Volta Star Textiles Limited and Akosombo Textiles Limited. Currently, due to insufficient supply of seed cotton by cotton farmers, the cotton companies are not able to produce enough lint cotton to meet the demands of the few existing textile factories in the country. This has resulted in the situation where the textile firms have lost faith in the Ghana Cotton Industry and have rather directed their focus to the neighbouring countries such as; Mali, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo and Benin as well as other Asian countries like; China, India and Pakistan for imports of lint cotton for continuous production. In view of this, GCCL and most cotton ginnery firms in northern Ghana mostly embark on “forward sales” involving middle men (suppliers/buyers) who order for the production of the lint cotton and sell or supply them to textile firms and other cotton consumers within and outside the country. With the forward sales, the buyer or the supplier negotiates the price with the company to agree on a reasonable price prior to production. After production the company had no other option but to deliver the quantity of lint cotton produced to the supplier at the initially agreed price without any amendment. With this arrangement the buyer always get the opportunity to buy the lint cotton at a low or reduced price irrespective of the cost of production or the changes in world market price of cotton within the period of production and this adversely affect the profit margin of the ginneries who run at loses as a result.

4.1.2 Volta Star Textiles Limited (VSTL)

Highlighting on the profile of Volta Star Textile Limited, Technical Director of the company (Personal Communication, June 7, 2010) narrated that, VSTL was incorporated in November 2007 after the closure of Juapong Textile Limited in June 2005. The closure of JTL was occasioned by management decision of Vlisco Ghana Limited, the then majority shareholder and managers of the factory, to pull out and concentrate on their core business of printing and finishing textiles at GTP, now Texstyles Ghana Limited. The staff of the factory were accordingly laid off and the factory put on liquidation. The other shareholders before the closure and the subsequent initiation of the liquidation process, were the Government of Ghana and Freedom Textiles Investment Company of Hong Kong. The Government of Ghana through the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) stemmed the liquidation process and acquired the plant from Vlisco Ghana Limited in the same year 2005 with the intention of revitalizing the company. A technical committee comprising former technical staff of JTL and officials from MOTI was set up by the Ministry to ascertain the condition of the plant to support production activities. The committee submitted its report to the Ministry and indicated that the plant was technically sound to support textile manufacturing. The Government through MOTI then embarked on massive rehabilitation and refurbishment of the factory to position it to restart manufacturing. In response to this the factory was officially commissioned on 11th by the former president, John Agyekum Kuffour and later incorporated in November 2007. The factory has since started production on test run basis engaging a few hands in the process.

Production Lines (VSTL) A survey of the plant of Volta Star Textiles Limited revealed that company’s production line is segmented into two departments; the Spinning and Weaving Departments. The Spinning Department is subdivided into three sections: Preparatory Section involving blow-room processes, carding, drawing/drafting, and roving; Ring Spinning Section; and Cone Winding Section. The Weaving Department is also subdivided into three sections: Preparatory Section which involves pirn winding, warping, sizing, and drawing-in; Weaving; and Finishing Section which primarily involves quality control processes; inspection, mending, folding and packaging.

Spinning Operation According to the Technical Director of VSTL, the company acquires its main raw material (lint cotton) mainly from GCCL, OLAM, WIENCO, as well as other African countries including Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, and Mali. The bales of lint cotton that are received from the suppliers are kept at the Blow-room storage section ready for blowing which is the first stage of the spinning process . A management trainee of VSTL (Personal Communication, June 8, 2010) explained that the Blow-room section is equipped with a number of opening, blending and cleaning systems. Notable among them are; Blendomat (BDT)/Plucker, Condenser (LVSA), Axi-Flow 1 (AFC), Electromagnetic Detector (EMA), Multipurpose Mixer (MPM), Condenser 2 (LVSA B), Cleanomat (CVT3) and Dustex (DX). The blowing operation aims at; beating and opening of baled cotton to loosen the fibres, cleaning the cotton to remove all the foreign matter present, and mixing and blending the cotton to get a homogeneous material. Carding follows the blowing operation to individualize, clean, align, and partially draft the fibres for sliver formation. The carding operation of VSTL has taken slightly new dimension where the older lap feeding system has been replaced by the tuft feeding system. With this new development the card is fed directly with tufts of cotton thereby skipping one complete production operation i.e. scutching, with which the tufts of cotton have to be converted into lap prior to the carding process. After carding the slivers are subjected to drawing and drafting actions where they are doubled to attain uniformity in length and in thickness, and then drafted to attenuate the size of the sliver and aligned into parallel formation. Several slivers are put together (doubling) and drafted for homogenous mixing thereby achieving uniformity in length and thickness. The fibres are further drafted by attenuation action to align them properly in parallel formation. This is done to ensure smooth twisting of the fibres during the roving and subsequent spinning process. The drawn sliver, which is of an extremely high count (i.e. great number of fibres in its cross section), has to be reduced so that it can be wound onto bobbins. Roving is therefore carried out to further draft and twist the slivers into partially strong continuous strand and wound into packages (bobbins) suitable for the spinning operation. The spinning operation which is the final stage of the yarn formation process aims at drafting and twisting the drawn slivers into yarns and winding them onto bobbins. Volta Star Textiles Limited (VSTL) employs the Ring Spinning System for its yarn manufacturing operation. According to the Technical Director, the company has 86 Ring Frames with maximum of 35,000 spindle capacity; the biggest in the country. The 92 material at this stage is given a final draft from Tex 600 to Tex 19.69 which is the required count of VSTL yarn production specification. The final product of the spinning department is repackaged into a suitable form for weaving. As a usual practice of VSTL, the spun yarn package (cop) is rewound into cone package using series of Cone Winding Systems. This is very essential to remove certain defects that may be present in the spun yarn. These defects may include; fluffs, slubs, thick and thin places which are not desirable for weaving and must be removed. The main objectives of the cone winding operation include; removal of thick and thin places from the spun yarn, removal of slubs and fluffs from the spun yarn and rebuilding the spinner’s yarn package into a suitable package for weaving. Operational flow chart (material flow) of the spinning processes of VSTL is shown Fig 4.2.

COTTON BALES Conditioning of cotton prior to production

BLOWING Opening of baled cotton into tufts, cleaning and mixing (Blendomat or Plucker, Condenser 1, Axi-flow, Electromagnetic detector, multipurpose mixer, Condenser 2, Cleanomat, Dustex)

CARDING Removing trash and short fibres, unraveling neps, individualizing fibres, parallelizing fibres, drafting and forming sliver (Card)

DRAWING Drafting, mixing, removing hooks and forming drawn sliver (Draw frame)

ROVING Drafting, inserting slight twist, winding, forming roving (Roving /Speed frame)

RING SPINNING Drafting, twisting, winding, forming yarn (Ring frame)

CONE WINDING Removing thick and thin places, removing slubs, packaging on cones (Cone winder)

Fig. 4.2: Flow chart of the spinning processes of VSTL

Weaving Operation The study observed that, the weaving department of VSTL is segmented into five sections with each section having special machinery performing specific functions. The operational flow chart (material flow) of the weaving department is presented in Fig. 4.3.

PIRN WINDING Winding pirns to be placed in shuttle for weaving (Lakshmi Pirn Winder)

WARPING Laying the warp sheet, removing weaker portions in the yarn, packaging the warper’s beam (High Speed Beamer)

SIZING Strengthening, smoothening and lubricating the ends. Winding the weaver’s beam (Slasher)

DRAWING-IN TYING-IN Passing the ends through the eyes of Knotting the ends from an exhausted the droppers, healds and the dents of beam to those on a fresh beam the reed (Drawing-in Stand) (Uster Knotter)

WEAVING Interlacing ends and picks at right angle to form a fabric (1515 Automatic Loom)

Fig. 4.3: Flow chart of the weaving department, VSTL Source: Courtesy of VSTL (2010)

The pirn winding operation (weft preparation) of VSTL, according to a management trainee of VSTL (Personal Communication, June 8, 2010), aims at winding a suitable weft package which is placed in the shuttle for weaving. Pirn winding eliminates weaker portions in the yarn and render it uniform. Since the warp and weft yarns are subjected to different levels of tension and friction during weaving, it may be necessary for them to possess different properties such as strength, twist, count, etc., which are imparted

94 to them during spinning. It is a normal practice to select yarns with high tenacity for warp and that of relatively low tenacity for weft. That notwithstanding, VSTL uses yarns of the same tenacity for both warp and weft but the warp yarns are sized to give them the required strength. The company has two types of pirn winding systems; Scharer and Lakshmi, but only the Lakshmi is in use due to its relatively high speed which is beyond that of the Scharer. The settings of the Lakshmi pirn winders allow each unit to run at approximately 12,000rpm producing a full pirn within 2 minutes, 45 seconds. Prior to weaving, warp preparation is carried out by laying a required number of ends on a warp roller which is mounted on the loom for weaving. The warp ends are arranged in parallel formation and evenly spaced. The essence of warp preparation is laying and packaging of the warp sheet and determining, to some extent, the warp density. Prior to warping, certain factors are considered which include: the count of yarn to be used, the number of ends required in the entire width of the fabric, the number of warper’s beams to be mounted at sizing. Explaining further, the management trainee indicated that sizing/slashing which is the next process aims at treating the warp sheet with size liquor primarily to improve its smoothness and tensile properties to withstand the vigorous motions of the loom during the weaving process. The size liquor of VSTL is made up of water which act as a solvent in dissolving the other components, Vicol and Kollotex acting as binding agents to hold the individual fibres together thereby strengthening the yarns, and Alcowax as a lubricant to smoothens the surface of the yarn. The presence of Vicol in the size solution also serves as an antifungal agent in the solution preventing fungi attack. After slashing, drawing-in is undertaken which primarily involves threading or passing the warp ends through the eyelets of the drop wires, healds and dents of the reed according to a predetermine weave plan. Because VSTL products are mainly grey baft which is basically a plain weave structure, the following weaving particulars are used:

Heddling order = 1, 3, 2, 4 Tie-up = Treadle 1 – shafts 1 and 2 Treadle 2 – shafts 3 and 4 Stepping order = 1, 2

The actual weaving involves interlacing of two sets of yarns; warp and weft yarns in producing a plain weave fabric using 1515 Automatic Looms. The weft yarn, previously 95 prepared on pirn, is placed in the shuttle which is placed in one of the two shuttle boxes. The warp, on a weaver’s beam, is also mounted on the loom for the weaving operation to commence.

Quality Control Operation The quality control section of VSTL embarks on a number of tests and inspections which according to a quality control expert at VSTL laboratory (Personal Communication, June 9, 2010) are carried out to ensure that there is proper adjustments of the machinery for maximum performance, attainment of high quality products from the various production lines, and production processes are carried out diligently in accordance with the company’s set standards. VSTL has a testing laboratory facility equipped with textile testing devices that are used to check the quality levels of chemicals, machine performance and product quality. The following were the testing equipment that the study observed at the VSTL testing labouratory. a) Fibrograph: for determining the staple length of a fibre. b) Yarn twist tester: for determining the twist level of a spun yarn, i.e. the number of turns per inch in a given yarn. c) Sliver/Roving testing machine: for determining the count and weight of the card sliver and the material from the roving frame. d) Neps detector: for determining neps and other particles in the form of foreign matter in cotton yarns. e) Yarn strength tester (Statimat): for determining the strength of a single yarn. f) Uster tester: for checking the evenness of the roving and yarn and their count. g) Ring spinning reeling tester: for determining the count of the yarn. h) Blackboard tester: to determine the grades of the fibres and the spun yarns. i) Tachometer: for determining the speed of the running machines and adjusts them accordingly to yield a good result. j) Testometer: for checking the amount of moisture in raw cotton to the finished product.

Finishing/Make-Up Observation made at the finishing/make-up section of VSTL shows that, the section primarily embarks on examination of the loom state cloth (grey baft) to check all weave faults present in the cloth and possibly mend them. The section detects weave faults that 96 such as neps, knots, smash, running weft, floats, etc. The main activities that take place at this section are; inspection, folding, cutting, joining, grading and packaging.

Sales Operation With respect to sales, the Acting Technical Director of VSTL (Personal Communication, June 7, 2010) indicated that the company markets its products mainly through orders from textile printing firms both within and outside Ghana. The company do not embark on any special or intensive marketing strategies to sell its grey cloths as there is high demands and readily available market for the products. However the sales management team make routine contacts with textile firm and other consumers of grey cloth both locally and offshore, to seek market orders for production. The target market is the textile printing manufacturing companies who uses the products as the main raw material for production. Prior to the company’s re-designation as Volta Star Textiles Limited in 2007, during the era of Juapong Textiles Limited under the technical supervision of Vlisco who was also the major shareholder of the company, the Acting Technical Director established that the bulk of the company’s products (about 70%) were made for consumption of GTP, which was a sister company of JTL. Limited percentage of about 20% went to the other textile firms and flour mill companies on request bases; while a mere 10% were supplied to grey cloth merchandisers who traded them in open market to batik and tie-dye producers.

4.1. 3 Akosombo Textiles Limited (ATL)

Highlighting on the profile of the company, the Administrative Manager of ATL (Personal Communication, June 14, 2010) established that, Akosombo Textiles Limited commenced production in 1967. He further added that, the main factory, covering about 47 acre site of land, is situated at Akosombo in the Eastern Region of Ghana with close proximity to the west of the bank of the Volta Lake, and on the south of Akosombo Hydroelectric Dam. The factory’s Headquarters, with its administrative departments, is situated in Accra, where also the Design Studio and the main marketing and distribution outlet (CTD) are located. It is one of the surviving large-scale textile companies in Ghana operating in a vertically integrated system with its production line involving all stages in textiles manufacturing involving spinning, weaving, dyeing, printing, and finishing. The company is one of the major employers in the Eastern region employing about 1,500

97 workers. Akosombo Textiles Limited (ATL) is a subsidiary of CHA group of companies, a leading textile group in the world and a multinational conglomerate. The CHA Textiles Group according to the Administrative Manager was founded by Mr Cha Chi Ming in 1949 in Hong Kong. The Group principally engages in traditional textile manufacturing with its activities covering spinning, weaving, dyeing, printing and non-woven industrial products. The mission of ATL is to clearly and firmly establish its position as the leading textiles company in Ghana, to serve as a main conduit in textile production in a friendly environment and to distribute excellent quality, fashionable but reasonably priced textiles fabrics in Ghana, West Africa and beyond. The company’s shares is owned privately with the CHA group holding majority shares of 80% with only 20% shares held by two Ghanaians; Frimpong Ansah and Frank Bechem. The factory produces various kinds of fabrics with much emphasis on the manufacturing of African fancy and wax prints, using 100% mercerized cotton and imported chemicals and dyestuff for the consumption of local consumers and export. It operates on three shifts within 24 hours a day. At the moment, the factory produces about 1.5 million linear yards of African prints comprising fancy and wax monthly. The company has seen a new development in the area of printing and dyeing with the merger and move of ABC (Manchester), one of the world’s leading textiles manufacturing companies of the CHA group to ATL’s premises at Akosombo.

Management Structure of ATL Outlining the management structure of ATL, the Administrative Manager indicated that, ATL is managed by Board of Directors, Chief Accountant, Personnel Manager and Chief Engineer. He elaborated that, the Board is the top hierarchy of the company that makes decisions pertaining to the smooth running of the company. The Chief Accountant is responsible for preparing financial statements and accounting reports for distribution to the company’s managers for their planning, control, and decision-making needs. The Personnel Manager is responsible for training and recruitment of workers for the company. He also seeks the welfare of both workers and staff and ensures efficiency in the various departments of the company. The Chief Engineer makes sure that all machines used for production are working efficiently and are in good condition. The managerial outline of ATL is given in Fig. 4.4.

Fig. 4.4: Organizational Chart of ATL Source: Courtesy of ATL (2010)

Product range

The main products manufactured by ATL include grey cloths, printed fabrics with emphasis on real wax and fancy prints for funerals and other social occasions. The various print derivatives as outlined and defined by the Design Manager of ATL (Personal Communication, July 2, 2010) include the following:

a) Indigo print:A wax print with blue-violet colour design. b) Cracko Print: Wax print with crackled effect without block design. c) Cracko Block 1: Cracko print printed with 1 block design. d) Cracko Block 2: Cracko print with 2 block designs. e) Sepia print:A printed cloth with shade of reddish brown colour. Just as cracko print, sepia may be printed with 1 or 2 block designs that given description as Sepia Block 1 and Sepia Block 2 respectively. f) Superior Fancy: A high quality fancy print usually with modern designs. g) Classical Fancy: A fancy print with conventional designs. h) Double Print: An already printed fabric, either wax or fancy, that have been reprinted with another design. 99

According to the Design Manager, there are specific base colours which are introduced to differentiate the various prints. He explained that, for wax prints, there are; Sepia 31 (Blue base), Sepia 41(Green base), Sepia 11 (Wine base), and Sepia 23 (Coffee- Brown base). These form the base colours on which the various block design colours are made. The block design colours vary from yellow, lemon green, orange, etc. The Guarantee Real Wax designs include; Indigo Wax Prints with blue and white colours, Sepia Wax Block Prints that comes with various range of base colours, and Clacko Wax Prints with dark waxes. There are also evergreen designs in bright colours made to suit every occasion. The Fancy (Java) range comprises; Double Prints, Black and White Prints, Black Prints (Brisi) and Black and Brown Prints, which are mostly used for funerals. The design team also create other Fancy print designs with unique colours ways for Classical and Superior Prints as well as Traditional and Seersucker Prints. The newer developments in ATL’s designs are the high class gold and silver printed fabrics known as “Treasure”, with conceptualized inspiration from the structural patterns of the indigenous Ghanaian woven fabrics which is doing very well in both local and international markets. Another novel print is Daviva, a printed cloths with “Woodin” resemblance which offer customers and fashion designers a varied colour ways (combination of plain and printed fabrics) to help them produce interesting garment silhouettes to meet the taste of their consumers, especially the youth. In order to monitor the quality of fabrics delivered to customers, the factory grades its print quality which determines the level of output of production. The products after production are grouped into A, B, C, D and E and interpreted as; ‘A’ (excellent), ‘B’ (good), ‘C’ (fends), ‘D’ (tabs) and ‘E’ (rugs).

Production Lines (ATL)

The study observed that, Akosombo Textiles Limited has six main production departments consisting of design, spinning, weaving, pre-treatment, printing and dyeing, and making-up. Other supporting departments of the factory include; quality control, maintenance, purchasing and marketing and sales departments.

Design Studio operation Survey of the factory’s design operation revealed that, the Design Studio of ATL is situated in Accra opposite the former Kingsway, within the factory’s main administration 100 block. The design department primarily embarks on design research and development to create a variety of designs to meet the demands of their clients. It was observed that, the factory mostly produces for specific clients on request basis. In view of this, the design team usually interacts intensively with the clients to know their taste and requirements for the intended print design. They also engage in the development of new design concepts for specific print to promote and enhance their product range at both local and international markets. In an interview with the Design Manager (Personal Communication, June 14, 2010), he noted that, the design team are predominantly Ghanaians drawn from KNUST, Polytechnics and other textile institutions. Some of the designers are products from Ghanatta College of Art, who have been given in-service training by Chinese and British designers and working as designers and design assistants at the design studio. Periodically, selected designers are sent outside the country to be acquainted with new textile design technology and updated with current computer software programmes for textile designing. A focus group discussion with ATL designers (June 15, 2010) revealed that, the designers take inspiration from natural and artificial objects. They also rely on designs in magazines as well as geometric patterns to generate print designs. The designers periodically embark on field trips in search for new design sources to enhance their work. They also conduct market survey to find out the type of designs that are available on the market, which type(s) sell best, colour schemes that attract consumers, what the customer looks for in making his or her choice of printed designs, etc., to give them enough background information to set the stage for the design process. Experimental designs are usually made manually using colours and brushes and finished with the computer to attain the necessary precision, required colour schemes and to create special effects such as wax crackle and bubble effects that may otherwise be difficult to achieve by hand. In this case, the painted hand design on paper is scanned to transfer the design unto the computer to be refined using a suitable computer software programme, usually Adobe Photoshop. Sometimes, the designs are created entirely by hand or computer. In generating designs using the computer, the ATL designers usually combine Photoshop with Corel Draw to achieve better results. Institutional designs for schools and companies, for instance, usually require incorporation of lettering. In creating such designs, the designer employs Corel Draw which offers much flexibility in lettering creation. The Corel Drawn lettering thus obtained is imported to Photoshop which, on the other hand, facilitate effective rendition of motifs, textures and colours to produce a desirable textile design. The design team is 101 tasked to produce a variety of high quality print designs to meet the demands of their customers. Each designer is charged to produce a certain number of designs per week and must have at least one of his designs selected for printing within a month.

Spinning Department/Operation Operating in a vertically integrated factory system, the Sinning Manager (Personal Communication, June 28, 2010) noted that, ATL embarks on processing of fibres into yarns and convert the spun yarn into fabric which is finished through series of dyeing and printing processes in a continuous manner. The study observed that, the spinning processes of ATL is similar to that of VSTL. The difference lies in the type of machinery, set standards and flow of material in the line of production (Fig. 4.5).

Raw Cotton from Warehouse

Blow Room & Mixing Opened and Mixed Cotton

Carding Carded Sliver

Draw Frame Draw Sliver

Speed/Roving Frame Roving

Ring Spinning Yarn (wound on Bobbin)

Yarn (wound on Cone) Cone Winding

Fig. 4.5: Flow Chart of the Spinning Department (ATL)

Weaving Department/Operation The weaving department of ATL, from observation, has five sub-sections comprising; Pirn Winding, Warp Preparation, Sizing, Drawing-in, and Weaving. Figure 4.6 is a flow chart of the ATL’s weaving department. In order to attain suitable yarn

102 package for weft, a supervisor at the weaving department of ATL (Personal Communication, June 28, 2010) explained that, the yarn in cone packages is further rewound onto pirns to be fixed into shuttles for weaving. He added that, just as yarn in cone packages are rewound unto pirns for weft, cone packaged yarns are wound unto warp beams which are mounted on the loom for weaving. The products of ATL require 3,551 ends for Java print and 3,789 ends for Wax print. A supervisor in charge of the sizing section (Personal Communication, June 28, 2010) noted that the sizing liquor of ATL is prepared with locally available materials, which is equally effective and much more economical compared to the imported sizing agent.

Yarn from Cone Winding

Warp Preparation Processes Weft Winding Processes

Warping Pirn Winding

Sizing

Drawing-in

Weaving process

Figure 4.6: Flow Chart of the Weaving Department (ATL)

It was observed that, the drawing-in operation of ATL is done by only one person and not two as the case is at VSTL and this reduces labour cost. The weaving department has total installed capacity of 2000 tappet looms which are all in operation. The looms are arranged in horizontal layout with spaces in between them which allow for easy movement of workers. There are loom attendants who see to the smooth and continuous running of the looms. Their major duty is to mend broken yarns and restart the loom when necessary. Like VSTL, the looms at ATL are all shuttle tappet looms producing only plain weave structures. The personnel manager (Personal communication, June 29, 2010) noted that,

103 the looms have been in operation for the past four decades with regular maintenance and some kind of retrofitting for effective performance. This notwithstanding the obsolete nature of the looms increases power consumption thereby adding to the cost of production with relatively low productivity. Again, the looms require regular which consequently results in high cost of production. After weaving, the grey cloths are transported to the inspection unit where detection of weave faults is carried out as part of the quality control process of the factory. At the inspection unit, three main processes are undertaken; Inspection, Mending, Joining, and Folding. The inspection is done basically to detect faults caused by mechanical malfunction of the loom parts and weak yarns. Because ATL engages in vertically integrated production, the inspected grey cloths are made to go through a series of pre- treatment, dyeing and printing processes for value addition. The pre-treatment department carry out singeing, desizing, scouring, bleaching, mercerization and stentering processes to transform the grey cloth into white lustrous and absorbent fabric which provides a good ground for dyeing and printing. Figure 4.7 shows the flow chart of the Pre-treatment Department.

Singeing

Desizing

Scouring

Bleaching

Mercerization

Figure 4.7: Material flow of ATL Pre-treatment Department

Printing and Dyeing Operation (P&D Department) The P&D manager (Personal communication, June 30, 2010) asserted that the core business of the P&D department is to convert the mercerized cotton fabric into dyed/printed cloth based on the design specifications that are received from the Design Studio in Accra. He explained further that, the design comes with an order form specifying the type of print (i.e. ATL/ABC wax or fancy print), number or yards to be 104 printed, deadline for production, name of the client, and most importantly the codes of the base and cover colours. These serve as production guide (design brief) for the P&D department to meet the request. After determining the type of print, the design is sent to the respective section for production to commence. There are two main sections operating under the P&D department; the Wax Printing and Rotary Screen Printing (RSP) sections. With the merger of ABC, some of the production lines of these two sections have been doubled with the installation of additional machines operating under the same roof but with different design concepts and standards. Where the production line demands two sets of machinery for ATL and ABC products, the systems are set adjacent and parallel to each other to run simultaneously in the same direction with enough space between them to facilitate movements of workers and moveable equipment. In some cases the same machine is used for both ATL and ABC prints but with different parameters and characteristics with regards to colour scheme (brilliance and shades), type of finish required, fabric width, number of base and cover colours, etc. According to the P&D manager, the Wax Printing at ATL is made up of two sections; Hand Block Wax Printing and Machine Wax printing. The wax printing operation starts by engraving the designs on copper roller at the Engraving unit. Based on the Duplex printing principle both sides of the cotton fabric are printed simultaneously with molten wax from two engraved rollers as the cloth passes between them. Dyeing of fabrics was formally done in pits. However, with the introduction of CID (Continuous Indigo Dyeing) and Sepia dyeing systems, ATL has discarded its traditional indigo dyeing operation which makes use of dyeing pits. The P&D manager also recounted that, the pit indigo dyeing is a discontinuous process which was found to be highly labour intensive, very cumbersome, time consuming and requires more space. Both CID and Sepia machines, on the other hand, are continuous systems requiring less time and less labour with competitive production output. These continuous dyeing systems perform four main functions in one line of production, i.e. dye application, washing, drying, and fixation. He continued that, oxidation and dewaxing follow immediately after the fabric had emerged from the dyeing range adding that the oxidation process of ATL is achieved with atmospheric oxygen instead of oxidizing agent which reduces cost of production. During dewaxing, some of the wax spots are left deliberately in the fabric to achieve bubbled or marbled effect. In order to achieve this, the dyed fabric with the wax is subjected to crashing and crackling actions prior to dewaxing and printing of cover designs (fittings). The function of the Crashing Machine is to indicate or demarcate the bubble areas for the 105

Crackling Machine to remove the wax outside the demarcated areas in the fabric. Material flow of the P & D Department of ATL is presented in Fig. 4.8.

Preparatory (Padding the Calico) Real Wax Section

Wax Printing

Dyeing

Crashing

Crackling Rotary Screen Printing (RSP)

Caustic Washing

Stentering (Pin)

ABC Fitting

Alkali Shock Fixation & Washing After- treatment

Finishing

Inspection

Finished Goods Store

Fig. 4.8: Material flow of ATL P&D Department

Distinctions can be drawn between bubbles and marbled effects of ATL and ABC prints in terms of sizes. ATL bubbles are smaller in sizes as compared to ABC bubbles.

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The wax removed from the fabric is recovered and channelled through series of connected pipes into the factory’s Wax Recycling Plant (Plate 4.3) for reuse. Other chemicals such as wood resin and processing oil that are added to the wax solution to render it shiny, thick and to facilitate accurate print registration are also recycled to ensure environmental friendly production. Sixty five percent (65%) of wax is recovered chemically, whereas 35% is recovered mechanically.

Plate 4.3: Wax Recycling Plant (ATL, 2010)

Printing of wax cover designs (fittings), according to the P&D manager, are done manually by hand blocks in the conventional method, and mechanically by roller or rotary screen printing machines in the recent times emphasizing that about 80% of the company’s products are printed with the RSP system. Hand block printing is mainly used on request by the clients due to its labour intensiveness. Unlike the manual hand block printing, the RSP (Plate 4.4) is faster and registers the repeats in accurate manner with excellent colour brilliance. It also requires limited labour thereby reduces cost of production. The final stage of production is the finishing operation which consists primarily of fixation and calendaring after which the finished printed fabric is sent to the Make- up Department for inspection, folding, cutting, labelling, and packaging.

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Plate 4.4: Rotary Screen Printing System (ATL, 2010)

Aside the main production lines of ATL, The Production Manager (Personal communication, June 29, 2010) cited Quality Control, Safety, Maintenance, and Purchasing as other departments that operate within the Production Department. He elaborated that, the Quality Control Department embarks on series of tests to ensure that high quality standards are attained at the various levels of production. They check and do follow-ups on inputs and outputs and suggest means of improving on quality of the products. The Safety Control Department is concern about the safety of the workers on the plant. Akosombo Textiles Limited has risk allowance and insurance policy for all the workers working on the plant from spinning to finishing. The Maintenance Department sees to the repair of mechanical, civil, electrical faults of the machines and other infrastructure which include boiler house and steam maintenance. They also set and adjust the machinery for effective running to maximize productivity. The Purchasing Department is responsible for the buying and importation of spare parts, equipment, and raw materials such as chemicals, cotton fibres, grey cloth, as well as fuel, black oil, and power required for production. The Production Manager however noted that, ATL sources free water for production from the Volta Lake which is of close proximity to the factory via its installed high capacity Water Plant (Plate 4.5) adding that as textile production demands high water consumption, the construction of the water plant has really minimized cost of production significantly. However, the factory purchases electricity directly from VRA at subsidized rates for production.

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Plate 4.5: Water Plant (ATL, 2010)

Sales and Distribution Operation Responding to the question regarding how the sales and distribution department of ATL operate, the Sales Manageress of ATL (Personal communication, July 1, 2010) noted that, the Char Textiles Distributors (CTD), an affiliation of ATL was established in 1999 to market the company’s products. This is done through CTD outlets and other major distributors located all over Ghana in the regional and some district capitals including Accra, Bolgatanga, Cape Coast, Kumasi, Sunyani, Takoradi, Tamale, and Techiman. These are managed under the auspices of the company’s Marketing Department. Their job is to ensure that the products get to the doorstep of the right consumers. The Sales Manageress also emphasized that, the Marketing Department conducts market research into consumer behaviour and recommends to the production unit the kind of products that would satisfy the taste of consumers. She further recounted that, the company’s current production is based primarily on orders both locally and internationally. The Marketing and Sales Department takes the orders from the clients and distributors and submit the design brief to the Design Studio for the design to be developed which after showing it to the client for verification and approval is sent to the factory for production. The sales management team follow up the orders to ensure that deadlines are met. They also receive report from the production team to check whether or not the design specifications and quantity ordered are attained. ATL target both local and international markets to sell its products. The wax prints are mostly exported with the fancy dominating in the local market. The Sales Manageress established that, ABC wax prints are 100% exported together with about 40% ATL wax prints. The remaining 60% ATL wax is marketed solely by CTD locally. The fancy prints 109 are, however, marketed by ATL sales outlets and retailers in Ghanaian open markets. The company promotes its products through beauty pageant, grand sales, TV advertisement, newspapers and billboards.

4.1.4 Texstyles Ghana Limited (TGL) Giving an account on the profile of the company, the Health and Safety Manager (Personal Communication, July 7, 2010) elaborated that, Texstyles Ghana Limited (TGL) formally Ghana Textile Printing (GTP) was originally set up by the late president of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah at a cost of about 240 pounds. The factory was then known as National Textile Company. The initial shareholding structure stood at 51% shares for Government of Ghana and 49% shares for United African Company (UAC), a multinational corporation. The company was originally set up as a fancy (Java) printing factory before it became a wax printing factory in 1969. In August 1960, Ghana Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and Messrs Alexander Drew and Sons Limited / Messrs Dodwell Co. Limited signed an agreement to build a textile print works at Tema. In March 1963 the factory was constructed, and production started in 1964. Due to political idiosyncrasy the agreement was terminated and new ones made with Unilever and Anglo Dutch African Textiles Investigation Group (ADATIG). In 1966 the company was incorporated as Ghana Textiles Printing Company (GTP) and handed over to United African Company (UAC) under joint management agreement by the then National Liberation Council (NLC) and UAC. The agreement stated that the company was to be run by United African Company from 1967 to 1977, (ten years period). Fifty five percent (55%) of the shares were retained by the Government. The United African Company acquired 30% of the shares whilst Vlisco of Holland had 8% shares. United African Company had absolute control of the company although it had only 30% of the shares. The successive governments did not show any interest over the years in the affairs of Ghana Textile Printing. This was due to non-representation of government officials on the management board of the company. The loss of interest worsened when in 1977 United Africa Company began to incur losses. Workers therefore created an awareness of the state of the company by the rise of the 31st December, 1981 revolution. In 1982, the workers of Ghana Textile Printing Company asked the management of United African Company to use some of their repatriated profits to restructure the company but instead, United African Company callously decided to lay off workers and asked them to

110 choose between going into foodstuff production individually or to retire with their entitlements. In the early years of the 31st December revolution, September 1982 to be precise, workers took over the factory’s administration and as a result Unilever lost its management control and the offshore shareholders were also disenfranchised. In November 1988 Ghana government closed down the factory for alleged malpractices by the workers’ administration and re-opened it one month later to be managed by a government appointed committee, headed by Dr. Kwasi Botchwey. As at 1991, there were 1,800 workers and 73 management staff and by 1994, the total workforce had reduced to 980 whilst the management staff had increased to 105. In November 1992 a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Ghana government and the offshore shareholders; thus restoring their shareholding right. Government appointed Board of Directors in January, 1993 to monitor the management of the company. In 1994, the government floated its shares of 51% and Unilever (Ghana) having retained majority shares resumed management control of the company with a ten (10) year programme to reach full production capacity by 2004. GAMMA Holdings, represented by Vlisco, acquired majority shares in 1996 and assumed management control. By 1998, GAMA Holdings had taken over assets of the company after buying off Unilever’s shares to become the sole management body of the company. Texstyles Ghana Limited (TGL) was incorporated in 2004 by management. The shareholding structure of the company production unit now stands at GAMMA, represented by Vlisco BV 70%, Truebrook (Holland) 12.95% and Ghana government 16.07%.

Management Structure of TGL Figure 4.9 shows the management structure of Tex Styles Ghana Limited.

Fig. 4.9: Organizational Chart of Texstyles Ghana Limited 111

Product range The main products of TGL, according to the Production Manager (Personal Communication, July 5, 2010), are wax and fancy prints which come in the following derivatives such as; Indigo print, Indigo block 1 and 2, TNI print, TNI block1 and 2, Sepia print, Sepia block1 and 2, Woodin, and Diva prints. He elaborated that each type of print has its related base colours for specific prints; TNI (Traditional non-indigo) having Azoic dyes with wine, brown, and mauve base colours; NNI (New non- indigo) with blue, green, and black; Indigo group: Vat dyeing; Black Sepic with the combination of indigo and non- indigo; and Plain dyeing where the base colour is dyed without the use of wax. The Production Manager explained further, as a rule, the prints are coded with figures to give a description of the various colour ways and the type of product. Whereas the non-indigo products are designated with the figure (7), indigo prints are considered unique and are designated with (00). The various commonly used colours are however coded as follows; white (1), yellow (2), orange (3), red (4), violet (5), blue (6), green (7), brown (8) and black (9). This coding rule apply only to NNI, TNI, Black Sepic, Cover colours and Azoic colours that are not base colours. It does not apply to Hand blocking colours and pads. For example, TNI prints are coded as 740 (red), 751 (violet), 780 (brown), whereas NII prints come in the range of 760 (blue), 771(green) and 790 (black). Indigo (blue) prints are designated (00). It was observed that, TSG periodically develop new brand of products to stay in competition within the African print market. Recent development in this regard include “Nustyle” which is designed to target the youth and “Prestige” a high quality print of gold and silver colours for a niche market.

Production Lines (TGL) Operating on horizontally integrated production system with the focus on dyeing and printing, the main production lines of TGL as outlined by the Production Manager are; Preparation, Printing, Finishing and Making up (Personal Communication, July 6, 2010).

Designing process (Design Studio) Just as ATL, the study observed that, TGL’s production operation starts with designing but the design studio is located inside the main manufacturing premises. Designs are made specifically for the different wax products as well as fancy prints. Designers of the factory work from hand paper designs to computer aided designs (CAD). As a well

112 known company in terms of classical designs, most of the old and popular designs are replicated (Knock-off) with slight modifications for elderly consumers. Such designs are very symbolic in colour and motifs. New designs are made to target the youth and the modern fashion.

Pre-treatment operation According to the Production Manager, the preparation department embarks on singeing, desizing, scouring, bleaching, mercerization and stentering processes. He recounted that, the company used to obtain its grey cloth from the formal JTL which was a sister company under the management of Vlicso but due to the break in linkage between the two companies, TGL now import the bulk of its grey cloth from China, Pakistan, Thailand, and India for production. The hydrophobic nature of the grey cloth necessitates several pre-treatment processes prior to dyeing and printing. Upon receiving, the grey cloth are subjected to inspection to detect various weave defects and other vital technical consideration such as length, width, weight and tensile strength. The grey cloths are either stored in the Grey room or passed on for the various pre-treatment processes to be carried out. Figure 4.10 shows material flow of the pre-treatment process of TGL.

Grey Cloth (Imported or local)

Grey room

Singeing/Desizing

Scouring

Bleaching

Mercerization

Stentering

Figure 4.10: Material Flow of Pre-treatment Department of TGL

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To begin the pre-treatment process, the Production Manager explained that, the grey cloth is made to pass through a singeing machine whose duty is to burn off hairs or fibres projecting on the surface of the cloth. This is followed by a desizing process which involves the removal of starch by treating the cloth with enzyme and left to stand for four hours which as a result decomposes the starchy matter in the cloth to render it susceptible to dyes and chemicals and to prevent uneven or patchy dyeing in the subsequent processes. The desized grey cloth is rinsed with water at the temperatures between 80-85ºC to remove all broken down starch. The cloth is then impregnated with caustic soda and sent to a J- Box at a temperature of 100ºC for an hour. This process, called scouring, removes all oils, facts and other impurities in the fabric. With hydrogen peroxide solution, the cloth is bleached in a second J-Box to remove the colouring matter which renders it white. The next stage after bleaching in the pre-treatment process involving treatment of the cloth with strong solution of caustic soda under tension in a process called mercerization. The mercerization process makes the cloth readily absorbent, lustrous, dimensionally stable, and increases its tensile strength. The final pre-treatment process, stentering, aims at setting the cloth to the required width, straightens the fibres, beams the fabric straight without folds and damaged selvedges, prepares or naphtholates the cloth, with the ultimate aim of getting the required cloth dimensions with respect to the company’s standards.

Printing and Dyeing (P&D Department) The study observed that, the P&D department of TGL has three sections; rotary screen printing, roller printing and hand block printing with two main production lines which are the wax and the fancy printing lines.

Wax print production As a resist printing process, the Production Manager of TGL explained that, the company makes use of natural resin which is recovered via a Tri-X (Trichloroethylene) range by means of breaking-off through extraction and distillation. The company’s wax recycling plant makes it possible to recover 91% used resin which 9% is added for reproduction. The quality of resin is daily monitored through content analytical laboratory assessment based on three main parameters; viscosity at 120 ºC, ash content and Tri content. Using Matta and Platt duplex printing system both sides of the cloth is printed with molten wax. The cloth is then subjected to a vigorous washing to remove some amount of wax from it. The remaining wax particles are fixed in a Festoon dryer for 114 reinforcement to facilitate the resist process. The cloth is subsequently dyed in vat (indigo), azoic (TNI) or phtalogen (NNI) depending on the type of print. This process creates accidental random crackle or bubble effects in the cloth after dyeing, printing and dewaxing processes. A distinction can be drawn between bubbling and crackling. Whiles bubbles are found in all first colours with large, medium and small types, crackles are executed in indigo prints with large, medium and heavy types. According to the Production Manager, TGL produces three distinctive wax products. These are wax prints, wax block prints and wax cover prints. The wax prints have no other colours apart from the base colour that is dyed after the wax print design. Wax block prints are those that come with first colour (always with bubbling) and additional colour(s) incorporated into the print with block design. The wax print covers employs roller printing machine (RPM) or rotary screen printing machine (RSP) to introduce additional colour(s) on wax printed base. Observation made at the wax printing department revealed that, TGL uses the Matta and Plat system which operate in the same manner as the duplex system where identical designs are first engraved on two rollers which are fixed unto the machine to print molten wax on both sides of the fabric prior to dyeing and dewaxing processes. With regards to the hand block wax printing, the study observed that, though the technique provides unique effects, it is manually operated and as such time consuming. The process makes use of hand block designs in printing on motifs or on the ground. The hand blocks are made of three layers of which two outer layers of wood function as stabilizers to minimize deformity of the block which may be caused as a result of wetting and drying. A layer of felt is glued to the wooden base and by means of a tracing film, specific areas of the design are removed to obtain a relief pattern which is polished and washed for printing. During printing, colour in reservoirs is spread even with the movement of brush from one end to the other. The printer fetch the ink from the pad and stamped it on the cloth which has been laid flat on a padded resilient table and moves intermittently along with a back grey which absorbs excess colour. After blocking, the cloth is dried in a chamber at 60-80 ºC, beamed and sent for inspection and fixation.

RPM/RSP wax print production In order to increase productivity, the study found that, roller or rotary screen systems are now employed by TGL instead of blocks to introduce additional colours to

115 wax print base. These are usually applied to new product range like Nustyle to reduce cost and save time. Figure 4.11 present the flow chart of TGL’s Wax Printing process.

Grey Room

Pre-Treatment

Wax Printing

NNI TNI INDIGO

Breaking-off

Festoon

Hand blocking

Alizarine

Finishing

Make-Up

Fig 4.11: Material flow of the Wax Printing Department of TGL

Alizarin section Observable evidence at the Alizarin section indicate that the section undertakes three main processes; fixation, dewaxing, and rinsing/washing. With respect to fixation, two distinctive processes were found; cold fixation (in case of resin on the cloth) and hot fixation (without resin on the cloth). This, according to the Production Manager, is aimed at achieving the required shade of colour with the use of Sodium. He added that, trichloroethylene is used in the dewaxing process to remove all resins from the cloth

116 followed by a neutralization process which involves washing and rinsing the cloth with water to remove excess dyestuff and other chemicals and thickeners. The cloth then moves to a drying chamber to be dried.

Finishing and Make-Up At the finishing and make-up department of TGL, it was observed that calendaring was the major finishing treatment which is given to the printed fabrics to enhance its aesthetic appeal and marketability.

Production of Fancy Prints According to the Production Manager, TGL produces fancy prints using rollers (RPM) and rotary screens (RSP). He added that, three main systems; the Stenter, the Baking oven and the Calender are main systems used. The stenter has many combined functions which include; controlling the width of the cloth, adding chemical finishes to the cloth for crease resistant, optical brightness, and adding colour in the cloth (pad). The Baking oven fixes the chemicals and the pigment pads at temperatures of 130 ºC for pigment pads and 150 ºC for crease resistant finishes. The final finishing process is the calendaring where the printed cloth is made to pass through metallic rollers which iron and add lustrous finish to it. The making up department basically deals with inspection of the printed fabrics to eliminate portions that have defects to be graded as seconds or otherwise rejected. The work of the Make-Up also involves folding the cloth into the required yardage, labelling and baling for sales and distribution. Figure 4.12 is the process routine for TGL Fancy print production.

Grey Room

Pre-treatment

RSP/RPM

Finishing

Make-Up

Fig 4.12: Material flow of Fancy print production of TGL

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The production statistics of the company’s Fancy prints as at June, 2010, revealed that 90% is printed with RSP with only 10% printed with RPM. The major categories of Fancy prints produced are institutional prints, Diva and Woodin prints. Just like ATL, the study found that, TGL have other departments whose contributions are paramount to maximizing production and achieving better results. These include quality control, marketing, maintenance, security, and purchasing departments.

Sales and Distribution operation The Marketing Manager of TGL (Personal communication, July 6, 2010) stated that, Premium African Textiles Company Limited is the major sales and distribution outlet of TGL who engages in wholesale marketing of the company’s major prints. He added that, GAMMA group of companies represented by Vlisco BV holds 100% shares of Premium Textiles. The company market and distribute a wide range of TGL products which comprises; Real wax (Blocks 1and 2, Nustyle and Institutional prints), Fancy (Woodin, Diva, and Institutional). Wax prints of TGL are solely distributed by Premium Textiles on wholesale basis to clients and retail merchandisers. The sales and distribution outlets are spread throughout the major towns within the country. Specific locations as enlisted by the marketing manager are; Accra (Okaishie, Osu, Accra Mall, ), Tema (Tema Mall), Koforidua (Commercial Road), Ho, Agona Swedru, Akim Oda, Kumasi (Adum, Harper Road), Sunyani, Techiman, Tamale, Bolga, Takoradi (Market Circle), Cape Coast (Kotokoraba Road), Dunkwa Ofin, etc. Like ATL, TGL also produces on request basis but primarily targets a niche market with the mass market being a secondary priority. Aside the local market with the target of about 80%, 20% of the company’s prints are exported to other countries to generate foreign income. Statistics of the company’s sales shows an average of about 14 million yards of printed fabrics annually with monthly sales of 55,000 yards.

4.2 Internal Challenges and Prospects of the Selected Factories This section identifies and discusses internal challenges and prospects of the selected textile factories.

4.2.1 Challenges of the Ghana Cotton Industry with Special Reference to GCCL A survey of cotton farms and ginneries in the Northern region of Ghana (Tamale to be specific) revealed a devastating state of the Cotton Industry as it is found to be 118 confronted with a number of challenges leading to the closure of most ginneries in the region with most farmers diverting into farm produce. The major cause of the decline of the Ghana Cotton Industry from interview and questionnaire responses as well as observable findings is attributed to inter-play of low productivity level of the local out- growers and the recession in world market price of seed cotton. This section, as part of the internal challenges, addresses the low productivity levels of the industry.

Low Production Performance The study found that, the performance of the cotton industry in the country over the past decade has not been favourable as expected. Statistics on productivity levels of the industry provided by the former MD of GCCL (personal communication, May 24, 2010) reveals that there was a considerably decrease in production from 89,539.00 unit cultivated in 1998 to 71,280 units in 2000. These figures represent reduction from 20% to 11% of the targeted cultivated units within a three year period. According to him, a total of 87,600 units were targeted for cultivation in 1999 season out of which 80,383.25 units were achieved representing about 10.22% reduction in 1998/99 production season. Within three years of production seasons, production of cotton reduced considerably as indicated in Table 4.4.

Table 4.4: Cotton Production from 1996-2000

Cotton Production 1998 1999 2000 Unit Cultivated (0.5ha) 89,539.00 80,383.25 71,280.00 Seed Cotton Produced (mt) 38,700.74 36,664.40 32,076.00 Lint Cotton Recovered (mt) 15,480.29 14,665.76 12,224.60 Cotton Seed Recovered (mt) 20,898.40 19,794.45 16,507.67

Source: ADB, Tamale (2010)

Productivity figures in Table 4.1 shows that the industry recorded a total of 89,539.00 units cultivated in 1998 which is equivalent to 44,769.50 hectares. This yielded 38,700.74mt of seed cotton with a total of 15,480.29mt of lint cotton. However, production level dwindled in 1999 season where a total of 80,383.25 units were cultivated out of the targeted 87,600 units representing 10.22% reduction. This was further reduced by 11% in 2000 season. These statistics clearly shows that about half of the unit cultivated each season is lost in the course of production. A further reduction, about half the quantity of seed cotton obtained is lost during processing of the seed cotton into lint. These losses 119 therefore suggest the low output performance of both out-growers and ginneries. Comparatively, Ghana’s performance in cotton production with some African countries around the same period has not been encouraging as countries like Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Togo, among others, are doing quite better (Cotton Outlook, 2001) as indicated in Table 4.5 of the 2000/2001 cotton production seasons.

Table 4.5: Lint cotton production of some African countries (2000/2001) Country 2000 (Lint cotton mt) 2001 (Lint cotton mt)

Benin 130,000 135,000

Burkina Faso 115,000 140,000 Cote d’Ivoire 122,000 145,000 Mali 105,000 200,000 Togo 50,000 60,000 Ghana 13,000 9,864

Source: Cotton Outlook (Sept, 2001)

An obvious indication from Table 4.5 is that, as there was a significant increase in the productivity levels of other African countries, Ghana invariably experienced a major decrease in cotton production within 2000 and 2001 seasons with maximum of 9,864mt in 2001 season. Statistics of GCCL from 2000/2001 to 2009/2010 cotton seasons as presented in Table 4.6 indicate abysmal decline in the company’s productivity.

Table 4.6: GCCL output performance (2000-2010) Production Seed Cotton Lint Cotton Produced Season ginned (kg) No. of Bales Weight (kg 2000/2001 4,426,005 7,392 1,699,781 2001/2002 1,876,410 3,164 723,812 2002/2003 1,208,040 2,111 481,594 2003/2004 1,410,930 2,585 582,846 2004/2005 2,383,580 4,196 941,012 2005/2006 4,155,050 7,521 1,713,540 2006/2007 3,091,067 5,610 1,247,777 2007/2008 2,323,270 4,285 950,781 2008/2009 1,803,549 3,272 737,475 2009/2010 810,598 1,482 332,323 Source: GCCL, Tamale (2010)

In the 2000/2001 season, the company out of 4,426,005kg of seed cotton ginned obtained 1, 699,781kg lint cotton which is equivalent to 7,392 bales. Although the 2005/2006 season output of the company was quite significant, there was low and

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inconsistent production performance within the period and by 2009/2010 season, lint cotton production had declined to 332,323kg equivalent to 1,482 bales. This was attributed to low yield of seed cotton as a result of improper farm culture among out-growers, according to Monitoring & Evaluation Manager of GCCL (personal communication, July 22, 2010). Deducing from the figures in Table 4.6, it could be established that the company’s productivity within the last decade declined by 79.95% indicating a very poor performance of the largest ginnery company in Ghana with total installed ginnery capacity of 47000mt (Table 4.7) as against total of 23000mt capacities of other ginneries in the region (Table 4.8).

Table 4.7: Ginnery Capacities of GCCL Location Type of Ginnery Capacity Tamale 2 Lummus Gin Stands of 128 saws each 10,000mt Tumu 2 Lummus Gin Stands of 128 saws each 10,000mt Tumu 1 Murray Gin Stands of 90 saws 2,000mt Bolgatanga 2 Lummus Gin Stands of 178 saws each 25,000mt

Total 47,000mt

Source: GCCL, Tamale (2010)

Table 4.8: Ginnery capacities of other cotton processing companies (Northern Ghana)

Source: ADB, Tamale (2010)

The study reveals that Ghana’s total cotton production in the 2008/2009 season amounted to 4000mt of lint cotton (Former MD of GCCL, personal communication, May 24, 2010). Comparing this figure with the previous year’s performance with specific reference to the 1998 output of 15,480.29mt of lint cotton, it can be established that the Ghana Cotton Industry is operating at a very low performance considering the current total installed ginnery capacity of 70,000mt. These figures show that the cotton industry of

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Ghana is making use of only 5.7% of its total installed capacity which suggests underutilization of the available machinery assets of the industry. Major internal factors accounting for the low productivity level of the local cotton industry that the study identified are discussed in the following sections with much emphasis on the activities of both ginneries and out-growers.

Lack of Incentives for Small-Scale Cotton Companies and Individual Cotton Farmers The study revealed that, small-scale cotton producing companies which do not have their own ginnery facilities lack the necessary incentives to enable them work as expected to boost seed cotton production in the region. The former MD of GCCL (personal communication, May 24, 2010) indicated that, the large-scale ginnery companies are fond of ginning their own seed cotton before accepting seed cotton from their smaller counterparts for ginning. This culminates in long delays of up to 6 months after harvesting leading to great loses on the part of the smaller cotton producing companies and individual cotton farmers. In confirmation of this, the general secretary of Cotton Farmers Association and Abubakar Wumbei, a cotton farmer (personal communication, May 28, 2010) disclosed that problems that emanate from the long delays of seed cotton ginning include; loss of market opportunities, decrease in quality and quantities of seed cotton, fire out-breaks, high cost of storage as well as high cost of debt servicing which discourage cotton farmers and others who want to venture into cotton production. The delays in ginnery with its associated problems, to the researcher, are avoidable in the sense that, Tamale alone has the capacity to gin up to 23000mt if ginnery capacities of GCCL, Nulex Plantation and Inter Continental/AA Ibrahim are put together (Tables 4.3 and 4.4). GCCL with proper planning can take up the task by giving special ginning offer to self-financed small-scale cotton producers and individual cotton farmers as a means of motivation to farmers to attract more people into the cotton farming in order to increase productivity levels.

Ineffective Utilization of Land by Out-growers Ten (10) cotton farms randomly selected and observed (May 31 to June 11, 2010) in the Tamale metropolis revealed that cotton production is organised primarily on out- grower basis. Commenting on the activities of the out-growers, the Administrative Manager of GCCL (Personal communication, May 25, 2010) indicated that GCCL 122 provides land preparation services, seeds, fertilizers, agro-chemicals and other inputs to the out-growers who cultivate a minimum of one unit or 0.5 hectare each. He concluded that an average production yield per hectare should be about 1,500kg; however, the current seed cotton yield per hectare is 800kg representing about 50% of the expected yield per hectare as indicated in Fig. 4.13.

1600 1400 1200 Expected yield per 1500 kg hectare 1000 800 Current yield per 600 hectare 800 kg 400 200 0

Fig. 4.13: Cotton yield per hectare in kg Source: Field Survey (2010)

The former GCCL MD in an earlier interview had noted that, advocates for the local cotton industry have always been optimistic of Ghana having the requisite resources and potential to boost its cotton production considering its hot climatic conditions that favour cotton. This is in line with the assertion made by Asante and Associates (2009) that, the climate and soils of the country are generally favourable except, perhaps, in the southern part of the country. Despite these favourable climatic conditions, out-growers have been experiencing low yield and this according the Field Operation Manager of GCCL (personal communication, May 26, 2010) is attributed to poor farm practices and maintenance culture. In a counter reaction, the General Secretary for Association of Cotton Farmers (personal communication, May 28, 2010) contended that the low yield is as a result of poor seedlings the farmers are supplied with by the ginnery firms and not because of poor farm practices. Based on these views, conclusion could be drawn that, although the climatic conditions in Ghana favours cotton production, much more efforts are required from both out-growers and ginnery companies with respect to good farm practices and maintenance culture and provision of quality seedlings to increase yield in cotton production in Ghana.

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Inconsistent Technical Supervision by Extension Officers A focus group discussion conducted with ten (10) cotton farmers made up of members of the Association of Cotton Framers of the North Central Division of GCCL (June 14, 2010) revealed that most of the out-growers have no formal education and for that matter have little or no technical knowledge in cotton farming and for that matter lack the requisite technicalities regarding proper farm maintenance practices that are essential in cotton farming. For this reason, the services of Agric Extension Officers are inevitability required to educate and reinforce the activities of the farmers for better yield. The Field Operation Manager of GCCL admitted that cotton cultivation requires high level of technical knowhow to increase yield. Ghana Cotton Company Limited (GCCL) knowing the high illiteracy rate among out-growers periodically send Agricultural Extension Officers to monitor the activities of the out-growers and offer technical advice to them with the aim of increasing seasonal productivity of cotton. However, due to the limited number of Agricultural Extension Officers to supervise over 60,000 GCCL’s registered farm groups, the work of the extension officers has not been fruitful. The extension officers are not able to patrol all the farms to render their services to the out- growers as expected. He added that, government’s paid extension officers who are supposed to coordinate with the out-growers to offer technical advice for fruitful productivity are also not consistent in their work, hence, resulting in low productivity of out-growers season by season. With the limited Agricultural Extension personnel available coupled with high illiteracy rate among out-growers, the researcher concludes that the best proactive approach in curbing the situation would be for the ginnery companies in collaboration with Agricultural Extension Officers to organise periodic workshops and in- service training programmes to out-growers to enlighten and equip them on best cotton farming practices.

Relatively Low Solar Radiation and Inconsistent Rainfall Pattern The study reveals that, the low intensity of sunlight and inconsistent rainfall pattern as a result of the global climate change is generally having an adverse effect on the production of cotton in Ghana. Interviews with the Former MD and the Field Operation Manager of GCCL revealed that cotton requires hot climatic condition to be able to thrive well for better yield. This confirms the assertions made by Tortora and Merkel (2005) and Adu-Akwaboa (2010) that, cotton thrives best in sub-tropical and warm temperate regions in the world. The former MD of GCCL was emphatic that the change in whether pattern in 124 recent times with low intensity shed of solar energy had led to decrease in seasonal cotton yield adding that the situation is consequently killing the interest of cotton producers as they rely solely on the weather for production. The Field Operation Manager of GCCL noted that, as an annual perennial crop with 5 to 6 months maturity cycle, it is the usual practice for out-growers to prepare the land for cultivation around March, wait on the rains for cultivation and by September the seed cotton should be ready for harvesting. This timely period in cotton production has changed considerably as the rainfall pattern keeps on changing season by season. The researcher observed that, as at June 2010, cultivation has not been started and out-growers were still waiting for the rains to commence cultivation which was certainly going to delay harvesting, ginning and marketing. It was evident that, the over reliance of out-growers on the rains for cultivation creates a lot of uncertainties to both out-growers and the ginnery companies causing many of them to leave the cotton production scene. To resolve this therefore requires installation of irrigation system as an alternative for cultivation of cotton by out-growers. This will help them to meet timelines of the cotton production season to save them from loses that may emanate as a result of changes in climate or rainfall pattern.

Labour Intensiveness of Cotton Production Observable findings by the researcher (May 31 to June 11, 2010) based on the production activities of the out-growers of ten (10) randomly selected farms show that cotton production is labour intensive. Right from the preparation of the land to harvesting, both out-growers and the cotton companies have to hire intensive labour to ensure proper farm maintenance for a better yield. Land preparation is mainly done by the cotton companies with high duty mechanical equipment with high fuel consumption to clear and plough the land at the expense of the out-growers. An alternative ploughing method used by the out-growers, from observation, is a bullock system which is relatively cheaper as compared to the mechanical ploughing systems. Aside labour for land preparation, the out- growers (Focus group discussion, June 14, 2010) indicated that they usually employ more hands by hiring people to assist them in cultivation depending on the size of the land to be cultivated. The out-growers confirmed the fact that cotton production is labour intensive stressing that cotton requires proper farm maintenance culture such as; frequent pruning, weeding and spraying which demands more time and labour. Additional labour, according to the out-growers, is required during harvesting of the matured cotton, also at the expense of the out-growers. 125

The researcher observed that the absence of mechanical pickers, makes out- growers solely dependent on hand picking which though produces high quality lint cotton is very expensive in terms of labour and time consuming. According to the out-growers, the charges for hand picking as at June, 2010 was GH¢40 per one unit (0.5 hectare of land) of cotton farm excluding food and water. They estimated an average income of a very hardworking farmer to be GH¢300 per unit for each cotton season. However, the labour intensiveness nature of cotton production makes most out-growers earn an average of GH¢100 per unit for a season making the cotton farming business not lucrative to most young farmers in the region to venture. Considering the large sizes and over 60,000 cotton farms registered under GCCL alone with the hope of increasing the number to increase productivity level, the researcher posits that the cotton production activities must be mechanized with modern technology. The onus is therefore on the ginnery companies to acquire modern and more efficient machinery such as mechanical planters for cultivation and pickers for harvesting to reduce manual labour in order to attract more farmers into the cotton production scene. This will in turn increase production speed and output performance of the industry for economic gains.

Diversion of Inputs and Seed Cotton by Out-growers The Administrative Manager of GCCL (Personal communication, May 25, 2010) noted that fertilizers and pesticides are distributed to the out-growers in proportionate to their farm sizes with the aim of boosting productivity levels adding that, out-growers are under obligation to strictly use all the agro-chemicals only on the registered cotton farms under the supervision of the Agricultural Extension Officers assigned to the various farms. He argued that, a situation is created where out-growers are found of diverting some of the agro-chemicals to other unregistered farms on the detriment of the ginnery companies due to inconsistent supervision by Agricultural Extension Officers. This, results in low productivity which adversely affect the ginnery companies as the funds for the provision of inputs are sourced through loans with commercial interest rates. According to the M & E manager of GCCL (personal communication, June 15, 2010), in some cases, the out-growers after picking divert their seed cotton to other ginnery companies who have not pre-financed the production. These practices have become very common with out-growers as the M&E manager was emphatic that about 30% of the seed cotton harvested by the company’s registered out-growers is diverted to other ginnery companies but was not certain as to the percentage of inputs the company 126 loses in the course of production. The out-growers, to the researcher, deliberately do this to gain knowing very well that the value of the inputs provided by the ginnery companies is eventually going to be deducted from their gross output rate of seed cotton. Those who divert the seed cotton to other companies are not given any sanction to deter others to desist from such unscrupulous practices and for that matter continue the act. Out-growers must therefore be made to sign an agreement of compliance with appropriate sanctions which may include double payment of the cost of land preparation and inputs to deter others from such practices.

Poor Pests Control Habit by Out-Growers Diversion of agro-chemicals by out-growers to their individual farms according to the Former MD, GCCL leads to deficit in agro-chemicals to embark on intensive pest control. He continued that, the cotton plant is vulnerable to high pests attack. Leaf eaters attack the leaf making numerous holes in them which prevent the plant to develop to the fullest. Moreover, strainers such as American bolo warm changes the colour of the seed cotton which affect the quality of the resultant lint cotton. In addition, the Field Operation Manager of GCCL made it clear that, inconsistent spraying of cotton plant by out-growers renders the plant susceptible to pest attacks which consequently lead to low yield. This was proven through observation made by the researcher which revealed that, the out- growers aside the registered cotton farms have other farms which they depend to cater for their food needs. It is on these farms that they divert the inputs supplied to them by the ginnery companies which are meant for use solely on the registered cotton farms. This situation, to the researcher, has been so because the out-growers are given the inputs to be used on their own under no supervision by the officers of the ginnery companies. To check this situation however requires putting in place stringent monitoring measures that will involve supply of inputs to the out-growers directly on the respective farms for application under strict supervision of the Field Operation Officers. This is the only way that the ginnery companies can ensure 100% utilization of inputs supplied by out-growers on the cotton farms to reduce pests attack for better yield.

High Cost of Inputs Elaborating on how the ginnery companies work with the creditors and out- growers, the Administrative Manager of GCCL explained that, the cotton companies at the beginning of every cotton season determine inputs prices and look out for creditors or 127 suppliers to establish financial agreement in order to solicit enough capital to enable them provide the requisite inputs for out-growers. Inputs supplied to the out-growers are in the form of land preparation and agro-chemicals. He concluded that, the high cost of inputs deprives the ginnery companies of getting appreciable profit as the bulk of their working capital is spent on inputs. It is estimated that, the total cost of land preparation and agro- chemical inputs for one hectare of land (2 units) for cotton cultivation is GH¢125 as at June, 2010 (The M&E manager, GCCL, June 15, 2010). The M&E manager added that GCCL alone serves about 60,000 farms with inputs with minimum of each farm size being 1unit to a maximum of 5 units. This therefore indicates that at every cotton season GCCL spent between GH¢ 7,500.000 to GH¢ 37,500,000 on inputs supply. The Administrative Manager contended that, although the loans given to the ginnery companies to provide inputs to out-growers carry commercial interest, the inputs advanced on credit to the out- growers do not include any interest component adding that land preparation, field extension and other related services offered to out-growers are subsidized and for this reason in the periods of cotton price slump, the ginnery companies are the most affected in terms of profit. Evidently, the cost of inputs is very high and this, from the researcher’s point of view, is due to the obsolete cotton production technology being used by the farmers which require high pesticide control. The high cost and usage of pesticides can be brought to the barest minimal through the use of more efficient and environmental friendly cotton production technologies which require little or no pesticides such as Genetically Modified cotton (GM) as projected by Dip (2011) and Organic cotton (Organic Cotton, 2010). This will reduce the cost of production of the domestic cotton industry significantly.

Low Seed Cotton Price and Delays in Payment The out-growers in a focus group interview argued that the price of seed cotton is relatively low and this is one of the major factors causing many farmers to leave the cotton scene which has resulted in low productivity figures in recent times. The general secretary of the Association of Cotton Farmers established that most of the cotton farmers have diverted into other farm products which require less labour and provide them with food and appreciable profits compared to cotton. The price of seed cotton per kilo as at June 2010 was 60Gp for grade A, whereas grade B was selling at 45Gp per kilo. However, as one of the country’s most significant cash crop considered second to cocoa, the out- growers argued that the current rates for selling seed cotton is not encouraging, 128 considering the labour intensiveness of its production coupled with the usefulness and value of the crop. The discussion with the out-growers revealed that, although some cotton farmers have vowed to stay in the cotton farming business, one disturbing factor dwindling their faith is the delays in payment by the ginnery companies upon delivery. The out-growers claimed that, payment is sometimes made 2 to 3 months after they have supplied the seed cotton to the ginnery companies; perhaps, the ginnery companies want to process and sell the lint cotton before paying the out-growers. This, as a result, had persuaded some farmers to leave the cotton scene with others diverting their seed cotton as the out-growers consider this as injustice or foul-play on their part. Commenting on the issue of low seed cotton price, the GCCL Administrative Manager clarified that the price of cotton is determined by the international market and for that matter the ginnery companies have little to do as far as the price is concerned. He added that, the Association of Cotton Farmers is given the chance to negotiate the price with the ginnery companies prior to the commencement of every cotton season; hence, the out-growers have no cause for complain about the price during sales. With regard to delays in payment, he admitted that this sometimes happens as the loans they source from the banks for production are mostly used up on inputs supply and for this reason have no option than to process and sell the cotton before payment can be made to out-growers. In light of this, the researcher projects that, government intervention in subsidizing cotton production in the form of inputs supply can help resolve the delays in paying out-growers.

Falsified Weighing of Seed Cotton at the Ginneries In another development regarding sales of seed cotton, the out-growers through focus group discussion (June 14, 2010) complained of the ginnery operators fraudulent activities during weighing of seed cotton. Upon long period of observation, the out- growers claimed to have noticed anomalies in cotton seed weighing with the view that the weighing officers do adjust the weighing scales to read in their favour. The researcher observed that, the act of “give and take” between the ginnery operators and out-growers has become the norm in the cotton industry where the ginnery companies have become very much aware of the unscrupulous behaviour of out-growers regarding diversion of inputs provided to them to boost their yields for the benefit of both parties into other farm produce other than on the registered cotton farms. Because the ginnery companies find it difficult to determine whether or not the farmers fully utilized the inputs given to them as 129 required, the weighing period provides a good platform for the ginneries to recover their losses through scale adjustments.

Unavailability of Cotton Seedlings in Ghana Interview with the former GCCL MD revealed that cottonseeds are not locally available but are obtained outside the country by the ginnery companies for cultivation. He added that, the importation of cotton seeds adds up to the production cost making the final profit of the ginnery companies very marginable since the seedlings are given to the out- growers free of charge. The out-growers in a focus group discussion complained of poor quality cotton seeds given to them and attributed the recent low cotton yield to the inability of the ginnery companies to obtain high quality cotton seeds for cultivation. To the out- growers, the cotton seeds supplied to them are 4th and 5th generation seeds which are of less quality and results in low yields. However, both the former GCCL MD and general secretary of the Association of Cotton Farmers were in consensus that, the use of high quality cotton seeds is one of the main key factors underlining the success in cotton production of some countries in the sub-region like Burkina Faso, Mali, and Cote d’Ivoire. These countries, according to the Former MD, have advanced into the cultivation of genetically modified cotton seeds which is less labour intensive with high yields compared to the 5th generation seeds. The study reveals that, GCCL has been dependent on Burkina Faso for cotton seeds over the years; but, interactions with the Administrative, Field operation, and Monitoring and Evaluation managers of GCCL indicate that Burkina Faso had declared its intention to discontinue supply of cotton seeds to the company as it now engages in cultivation of genetically modified cotton seeds. This therefore poses a serious threat to Ghana cotton industry if the country should still remain in cultivation of 5th generation cotton seeds. A proactive action to safeguard this situation is for the domestic cotton industry to find ways of developing its own cotton seeds for which SARI could be strengthened and brought to task in this regard.

Accumulation of High Debts The study found that, poor production performance of the cotton industry has led to accumulation of high unpaid debts of the cotton companies. The former GCCL MD (now ADB Portfolio Manager, Scheme Development Finance Unit) disclosed that, the total indebtedness of the Cotton Industry to ADB alone as at March, 2010 stood at 130

GH¢111,875,729. The details of this debt with respect to the various cotton companies, including accumulated interests are shown in Table 4.9. The debt statistics presented in Table 4.6 has been accumulated through long unpaid loans from ADB since 1996 according to ADB portfolio manager. It is apparent from the figures that, the total accumulated interests of some of the companies far exceed their principal loan figures. Some of these companies, from the survey of the industry, have gone off production and this justifiably suggests that they are incapacitated to repay their debts. The ADB portfolio manager who is also in charge of cotton development stated that the high accumulated debts place statutory limitation on the Bank’s capacity to further invest in the cotton industry. He concluded that it is management’s intention of moving into the companies that are indebted to them to seize and sell their assets to repay the debts.

Table 4.9: Accumulated debts of the cotton companies as at March, 2010 Name of Company Total Outstanding Balance Principal (GH¢) Interest (GH¢) Total (GH¢) Ghana Cotton Company 12,655,263.02 5,077,744.74 17,733,007.76 Nulux Plantation Co. Ltd 2,768,861.45 20,084,450.45 22,853,311.90 Plantation Dev. Co. Ltd 4,464,676.75 32,385,361.41 36,850,038.16 Juni Agro Company Ltd 6,717,537.37 2,535,186.84 9,252,724.21 Bafcot Company Ltd 7,280,640.34 2,747,700.91 10,028,724.25 Agrostar Company Ltd 6,335,963.59 2,391,181.56 8,727,145.15 Intercontinental Farms Co. Ltd 1,877,204.60 708,453.73 2,585,658.33 A.A. Ibrahim Farms Co. Ltd 681,222.27 428,182.55 1,109,404.82 Upper West Cotton Prom. Co. 919,180.63 1,004,204.84 1,923,285.47 Amantin Complex Farms Ltd 388,393.13 424,319.49 812,712.62 Total 44,088,943.15 67,786,786.52 111,875,729.66 Source: ADB, Tamale (2010)

Tribal Disputes among Out-Growers One major sociological problem facing the cotton industry as revealed in the study is numerous unresolved tribal disputes among out-growers in the region which have contributed to the low production performance of the cotton industry. The Ginnery

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Operation Manager of GCCL (Personal communication, May 27, 2010) noted that the company in 2004 embarked on infrastructural expansion with the aim of maximizing its production capacity which led to the installation of two modern ginnery stands at Bolgatanga with total capacity of 25,000mt and upgraded both the Tamale and Tumu ginneries. The installation of two additional gins increased the total ginnery capacity of the company to 47,000mt which suggests that more raw materials are required in order to make full utilization of the systems. The Ginnery Operation Manager emphasized that, because the Bolgatanga ginnery is new with high capacity compared to that of Tamale and Tumu, it became necessary for the company to send more seed cotton from Tamale and Tumu to Bolgatanga to be processed to meet the company’s set target. This, according to him, did not work as out-growers in Tamale and Tumu protested against any transit of seed cotton from their locality to Bolgatanga with the contention that farmers in Bolgantanga should produce enough seed cotton to feed the newly installed ginnery. This was confirmed by the General Secretary for the Association of Cotton Farmers (personal communication, May 28, 2010) who also added that, the out-growers do not want to form groups with their brothers from other tribes as there is high rate of tribal conflicts in the area. The Bolgatanga ginnery is now sitting idle waiting for raw material to be processed and GCCL has no option but to encourage out-growers in the area to increase their productivity to feed the ginnery.

Rampant Fire Out-Break within the Cotton Growing Areas Observation made by the researcher indicated that, illicit farm and hunting practices by some farmers amidst excessively dry weather conditions cause rampant bush fire in the region leading to deforestation and destruction of many farms. The former MD of GCCL in an interview asserted that cotton farms are the most affected in this regard due to the volatility and combustibility nature of cotton which makes it very susceptible to fire. The General Secretary for the Association of Cotton Farmers also added that, long storage of seed cotton due to the delays in purchasing by the ginnery companies increases the probability of the cotton to risk of fire. He continued that, there has been frequent fire disaster on seed cotton on storage with the recent one leading to the death of two children of a cotton farmer. The children were burnt to death whiles they were asleep in the absence of their parents as the seed cotton on storage caught fire from an unidentified source. What the ginnery companies can do to avoid these situations is to put in place proper purchasing mechanism plan that will allow them to buy the seed cotton from the out-growers on credit 132 immediately after picking to be stored in their warehouses under proper storage conditions or processed the seed cotton for sale and pay the out-growers within an agreeable period of time.

High Cost of Cotton Production The use of obsolete farm equipment, ginnery machinery, old vehicles coupled with high electricity consumption of the ginnery as well as high cost of input for farmers increases cost of production as indicated by the Ginnery Operation Manager of GCCL (Personal communication, May 27, 2010). He explained that, the GCCL’s Tamale and Tumu ginneries, for example, were installed in early 1960’s and have ever since received no retrofitting except the 2004 upgrading. He therefore concluded that, the efficiency of the gins has reduced resulting in high energy consumption adding that an average cost of electricity consumption is estimated at GH¢70,000 per production. Stressing on the high cost of production, the Field Operation Manager attributed this to the poor conditions of the company’s farm equipment and trucks which make them consume more fuel. This, in addition to high input cost between GH¢7,500,000 and GH¢35,500,000 per each production season as already indicated, coupled with purchasing of seed cotton logically indicate that the company’s production is not cost effective.

Absence of Substantive Management and Board of Directors (GCCL)

One other major setbacks of the cotton industry, with reference to GCCL, has been management instability. The former MD of GCCL in an interview indicated, a company’s success is determined, to the greater extent, by good expert and technical directives, decisions and policies by both management team and board of directors who are elected or appointed to oversee to the company’s affair for sustainable development. He added that, as ceremonial management team, the board takes decisions and makes policies ostensible for the well being of the company whereas management sees to the day to day running of the company. Based on the assertions made by the former MD, it can be established that, absence of these two bodies or even one, makes a company vulnerable with respect to developing and implementation of pragmatic policies and taking strategic decisions toward sustainable development of the company. That notwithstanding, the Administrative Manager reported that, since 1994 GCCL as a limited liability company has operated without any substantive Board of Directors and management. He continued that,

133 management has evolved from Taskforce under ADB regime, through Interim Management Committee to the current Acting Management. ADB’s involvement in the affairs of the company, according to Former Interim MD of GCCL, was in line with the Bank of Ghana’s financial sector rationalization process in 1989 when it became necessary to raise enough funds to support the cotton industry through floatation of shares and mandated ADB to take up this responsibility. He elaborated that, under the Ghana Government’s divestiture programme when the 30% share of the government were further diversified into the private domain, ADB acquired additional 20% shares and became a majority shareholder with 80% shares. In order to protect its investments as a financial institution, the bank moved in with interim management team to accomplish its objective. The dynamisms and vigour that the management team of ADB brought into the company, however, made some workers felt restless and agitated for the removal of ADB management. Government then came in to pay off the 80% shares of ADB, took over assets of the company and currently the company is being managed by an acting managing director under the government. These are but some of the major internal challenges confronting the domestic cotton industry that need to be addressed in order to revive the industry. Considered as the second significant cash crop next to cocoa in Ghana, there is the need for cotton to be given a priority as cocoa and other food crops to help sustain the local textile industry.

4.2.2 Prospects of the Ghana Cotton Industry In spite of the numerous challenges confronting the local cotton industry, the study found that the industry can boast of a number of prospects that could serve as a catalyst to revitalize its operation. As projected by Asante and Associates (2010), Ghana has the capacity in terms of land and manpower to cultivate about 400,000 hectares of cotton which could yield 216,000mt of seed cotton and 160,000mt of lint cotton with the estimated value of about US$250 million annually. These projected figures can be achieved based on the evidence that there are available key prospects for the local cotton industry to even do better.

Availability of Land for Cotton Cultivation The study revealed that, the northern Ghana exhibits vast available land for cotton production. This was evident from observable findings and questionnaire responses of a section of GCCL staff as shown in Fig. 4.14. Responding to a question on whether or not 134 there is available free land for cotton production, 18 out of 22 respondents representing 82% indicated that land for cotton farming is readily available and obtainable free of charge. Two (2) of the respondents representing 9% responded that land for cotton farming is readily available but were not sure as to whether or not it is free. The remaining two (2) representing 9% think that land for cotton farming is available but not free.

Available free land 9% 9% Available land but not sure as to whether or not is free 82% Available land but not for free

Fig. 4.14: Availability of land for cotton farming Source: Field Survey (2010)

In support of available free land for cotton production, the General Secretary of Association of Cotton Farmers in an interview confirmed that acquisition of land for cotton production is virtually free adding that, all that farmers need to do is to identify a portion of land, inform the owners and prepare it for cotton production. He also stated that, as the major cash crop in the region which provides employment to most farmers, chiefs and family heads are always ready to release land for cotton growers without any payment. He however concluded that, the only problem is that cotton producers have to cultivate within their tribal terrain or jurisdiction to avoid tribal conflicts which result from cross- border farming in the region.

Favourable Soil and Climatic Conditions for Cotton Production Table 4.10 presents the views of 22 respondents on favourability of soil and climatic conditions in the northern part of Ghana for cotton production. Fourteen (14) otwenty two (22) representing 63.6% were of the view that the soil in the area is favourable for cotton production, with 4 (18.1%), 3 (13.6%), and 1 (4.5%) indicating that the soil is very favourable, fairly favourable, and poor respectively. With reference to the climate, 12 that is 54.5% think the climatic condition in the area is favourable for cotton

135 production, whereas 6 (27.2%), 2 (9.0%), and 2 (9.0%) indicated that the climate is very favourable, fairly favourable, and poor respectively.

Table 4.10: Multiple responses on soil and climate favourability for cotton production

Item Poor (%) Fair (%) Favourable (%) Very Favourable (%) Soil 1 4.5 3 13.6 14 63.6 4 18.1 Climate 2 9.0 2 9.0 12 54.5 6 27.2 Source: Field Survey (2010)

From Table 4.10, it is evident that northern Ghana presents favourable soil and climatic conditions for cotton production. This therefore offers cotton producers the best opportunities to increase their yields. The study observed that cotton farmers in the north due to the favourable climate and soil conditions have depended greatly on these factors for cultivation over the years. Although the recent climatic change is having adverse effects on cotton production as indicated by the former MD of GCCL, both cotton companies and out-growers can study the changes in climate and reschedule their production activities accordingly to boost productivity levels.

Available Human Resource for Cotton Production The study finds significantly high population of farmers available in the region for cotton production. Statistics given by GCCL Administrative Manager show that GCCL alone serves about 60,000 farm families with each comprising 5 or 6 farmers. This implies that there are more than 250,000 farmers who are engaged in cotton farming. A survey of the cotton production industry (May 31 to June 10, 2010) revealed that, some of the farmers predominantly peasant, are now idle whereas others have diverted into food crop farming. In the focus group interview conducted with the Association of Cotton Farmers, the farmers were optimistic that more farmers would be joining the cotton farming business if better conditions are put in place and the problems confronting the industry are brought to the barest minimum. The farmers have keen interest in cotton production but most of them have temporarily left the cotton business due to the recession in the world market price of cotton and lack of subsidy for cotton farmers. These need to be addressed in order to increase the workforce in the cotton production industry to maximize returns.

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Readily Available Market for Ghana Cotton Responding to the question on demand or market prospects for cotton, both the Ginnery Operation and Administrative Managers of GCCL were in agreement that the demand for cotton is exceptionally high which presents a good opportunity for industry to capitalize upon to revamp its operation. They however noted that the local cotton industry due to low productivity as a result of insufficient supply of seed cotton, are not able to meet their demands. The Ginnery Operation Manager concluded that, most fabric manufacturing companies, both domestic and offshore, make Ghana cotton the first target because of its quality due to the hand picking method employed by the farmers which minimizes impurities as much as possible in the process. It was observed that, due to the inability of the local cotton companies to feed the fabric manufacturing factories with lint cotton, the textile factories have stopped depending on the local cotton industry for lint cotton. The local cotton companies have therefore redirected their focus completely to the exportation of lint cotton which, to them, earn them more profit than they could earn from the supply to the local textile factories.

High Ginnery Capacity for Cotton Processing As presented in Tables 4.4 and 4.5, the summation of ginnery capacities of cotton processing companies that were in operation in the north as at July, 2010 stood at 70,000mt. This capacity is high enough to put Ghana at a better position in terms of cotton production to compete keenly with other producers in the sub-region. The 47,000mt ginnery capacity of GCCL, as the study revealed, has been under-utilized where the company’s production level is currently pegged below 20% of the installed capacity. The other ginneries with the total of 23,000mt capacity were not in production as at the time of the research.

Available Technical Expertise for Cotton Production The study finds appreciable number of technical experts in the cotton production industry with special reference to GCCL. Although the company is faced with managerial instability with frequent change of management, its sustainability could be attributed to presence of qualified and experience staff who are still at post and continue to render their services to the company. These include top level management and technical staff made up of field operational officers, ginnery operation experts, mechanical and electrical

137 engineers, and agricultural extension officers who have minimum of first degrees with five to ten years working experiences in their respective fields.

4.2.3 Challenges of Volta Star Textiles Limited (VSTL) Since the government became the sole shareholder after acquiring and taken over assets of the then JTL under the management of Vlisco Ghana Limited in 2005 with the intention of revitalizing the industry, production of the company has dwindled in the sense that no effort of recapitalization in any form has been done according the Acting Technical Director of VSTL (personal communication, June 7, 2010). The major challenges of the factory as revealed from the interviews conducted with selected staff of the interim management, questionnaire responses by selected technical staff of the company and observation of the company’s production operation are discussed here.

Lack of Working Capital The Acting Technical Director of VSTL in an interview stated that the company in pursuit to commence full production on commercial basis lacks the needed working capital to operate. He added that as a state owned company, several proposals for capital injection have been made to government with the aim of sourcing vital raw materials, spare parts and other technical equipment. One of such proposals was made to Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF) for consideration since the company’s operations promote export trade. EDIF, after studying the proposal came to the rescue of the company with a grant of GH¢3 million which saw the company through some form of expansion in productivity. This, to the Acting Technical Director, was inadequate to propel the company to utilize fully its installed capacity to increase productivity. Responding to the questionnaire on the challenges of the company, all the twenty five (25) technical staff that is 100% who were administered with questionnaire indicated lack of working capital as the major challenge confronting the company. However, eighteen (18) of the staff, representing 72% attributed this to lack of government commitment for the textile industry, five (5) that is 20% blamed the financial institutions for their unwillingness to make loans available to the textile factories, but two (2) of the staff were indecisive (Fig. 4.15). This therefore confirms the Acting Director’s view that the company lacks needed working capital to operate. 138

Lack of government commitment for the 8% industry 20% Unwillingness of Banks 72% to release loans to the industry Lack of private investors for the industry

Fig. 4.15: Reasons for lack of working capital of VSTL Source: Field Survey (2010)

It was observed that, the problem of inadequate working capital is adversely affecting the company’s operation thereby making it vulnerable to maximize its productivity on commercial basis. The earlier the government injects capital to revamp the industry the better, as some of the machines of the company were found to be deteriorating as a result of long period of inactivity. Alternatively, government may call on foreign investors to invest into the company to sustain and expand its operation.

Low Capacity Utilization Leading to Low Productivity As the largest commercially viable spinning and weaving company in Ghana with total installed plant capacity of 86 Ring Frames and 35,000 spindle capacity; the biggest in the country producing 65,000 yards in three shifts per day, the Acting Technical Director established that, VSTL is now operating at 30% of its installed capacity. In confirmation of this, the Production Manager of VSTL (Personal communication, June 8, 2010) agreed that only 30% of the company’s installed machinery capacity is being utilized adding that most of the company’s machines now stand idle and as a result some have developed faults. He continued that, in order to ensure good standing of the machinery, the maintenance department of the company embark on frequent servicing, lubricating and dusting of the machines which add up to maintenance and labour cost although these machines are not in operation and for that matter do not add up to production output of the company. In response to factors attributing to low productivity performance of the company, eight (8) of the 25 technical staff of GCCL respondents representing 32% were of the view that frequent power outbreak is a major attributing factor, three (3) that is 12% indicated long down times, one (1) being 4% ticked lack of technical expertise, six (6)

139 representing 24% indicated the use of obsolete machinery, seventeen (17) that is 68% noted lack of raw materials, whereas twenty one (21) representing 84% indicated lack of spare parts as major factor. This evidently shows that lack of spare parts, lack of raw materials, and frequent power outbreaks are the major factors for low productivity levels of the company (Fig. 4.16).

Frequent power outbreaks 32%

Long down times 12%

Lack of technical expertise 4%

Obsolete machinery 24%

Lack of raw materials 68%

Lack of spare parts 83%

Fig. 4.16: Factors attributing to low productivity of VSTL Source: Field Survey (2010)

Lack of Spare Parts for Repairs and Maintenance of Machinery Interview with both the Acting Technical Director and the Production Manager revealed that out of the company’s 86 Ring Spinning Frames with maximum spindle capacity of 35,000, only 24 are operational. Moreover, 300 out of 960 weaving looms of the company are currently in use. The remaining spinning frames and looms, according to the Production Manager, have developed faults in one way or the other and for that matter require spare parts for repairs and maintenance. Nevertheless, the difficulties and high cost of acquiring spare parts to put the machines in good shape to maximize their efficiency for maximum output is among the major factors that is crimpling the company’s production operation. This is evident in Fig. 4.17 where twenty two (22) out of the twenty five (25) respondents representing 88% indicated that 90% of the company’s spare parts are imported with only 10% obtainable locally. The remaining three (3) indicated that the company acquires its spare parts both locally and abroad but did not specify the percentages.

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10% Inported spare parts

Locally available spare 90% parts

Fig. 4.17: Accessibility of spare parts (VSTL) Source: Field Survey (2010)

It was noticed however that, the obsolete nature of the machinery, especially the spinning and weaving systems, makes their spare parts not easily accessible from the international market as most manufacturers have stop producing such machinery. This is confirmed by the assertion made by Lord and Mohammed (1982) that shuttle looms had almost been replaced by shuttleless looms due to their slow production rate adding that projectile, rapier, air-jet and water jet looms have become extensively operational with their exceptionally high rate of production. Although, the company’s maintenance department sometimes tries to improvise some of the spare parts when production necessitate a higher capacity other than the one which is currently in use, it was observed that such attempts have not been fruitful as such spare parts get worn out in no time. Installation of fast speed modern looms with available spare parts on the market, from the point of view of the researcher, will be a better option to salvage the situation.

The use of Obsolete Machinery for Production Barely four decades now that the installation of machinery was undertaken for the company to commence production under the management of JTL, no major form of refurbishment and development according to the Acting Technical Director, have taken place as far as machinery is concerned. He added that, some form of machine retrofitting took place in the early 2000 at the spinning department with specific reference to blowing and carding systems, but this was not implemented throughout the entire plant. Observable findings by the researcher show obsolete state of weaving looms, pirn and cone winding systems, testing and inspection machine with a number of broken down machines which need replacement. Moreover, it was observed that, the Testing Laboratory of the Quality

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Control Department lacks the requisite equipment to undertake effective testing operations. The adverse effects of the use of obsolete machinery from questionnaire responses by technical staff of the company include; high energy consumption, high labour cost, poor product quality, and low productivity as shown in Fig 4.18. Installation of modern and high speed systems equipped with microprocessor for effective performance (Strolz, 1988) will address these problems to give the company a face-lift.

Low productivity 52%

Poor product quality 72%

High labour 66%

High energy consumption 75%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Fig. 4.18: Multiple responses on the effects of the use of obsolete machinery (VSTL) Source: Field Survey (2010)

High Cost of Production Figure 4.19 shows multiple responses on factors causing high cost of production of the VSTL. It is evident that from Fig 4.19 that, twenty (20) out of the twenty-five (25) respondents representing 80% consider high energy consumption (electricity) as a major factor leading to high production cost, twelve (12) that is 48% think high usage and cost of RFO is the major cause, fifteen (15) representing 60% believe the major cause is high cost and scarcity of spare parts, eight (8) thus 32% chose water, whereas five (5) that is 20% went in for high labour. This therefore suggests that, high cost of electricity and spare parts are major attributing factors to high cost of production of the company. The Production Manager of VSTL (personal communication, June 8, 2010) indicated that, the nature of the company’s machinery requires high labour, frequent maintenance and repairs which lead to long downtimes thereby minimizing productivity. He added that, the company though resides closer to the Volta Lake from which Ghana generates a greater percentage of its hydroelectric energy depend solely on paid electricity and water from Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and Ghana Water Company (GWC) with commercial rates. 142

90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 80% 30% 60% 48% 20% 32% 10% 20% 0% High energy High usage High cost and High labour The use of consumption and cost of scarcity of paid water RFO spare parts

Fig. 4.19: Multiple responses on factors attributing to high cost of production (VSTL) Source: Field Survey (2010)

Moreover, the company does not have any standby or alternative source of power to ensure continuous operation. He however indicated that, the company used to have a power plant belonging to Vlisco, the then majority shareholder of JTL, but it was taken away to GTP after the closure of JTL in June 2005 by management decision of Vlisco Ghana Limited to pull out and concentrate on their core business of printing and finishing of textiles at GTP. The absence of standby power plant however leads to long downtimes especially during light-out hours making the workers idle which results in low productivity. The high cost of utility bills the company incur on electricity as a result of high duty and obsolete machinery, coupled with high labour, water, importation of spare parts and RFO consequently lead to high cost of production making it difficult for the company to break even.

Inadequate Supply of Raw Materials As a spinning and weaving company, lint cotton is the major raw material base of VSTL. However, with reference to the low productivity performance of the local cotton industry as already discussed, the study found that VSTL is faced with the problem of frequent shortage and insufficient supply of lint cotton which lead to low productivity. In order to ensure continuous operation, however, both the Acting Technical Director and Production Manager disclosed that, the company, apart from occasional supply of cotton from ginnery companies in the northern Ghana, now relies significantly on importation of lint cotton from the neighbouring African countries with specific reference to Mali,

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Burkina Faso, and Cote d’Ivoire as alternative sources for production at a cost higher than that obtained locally. The researcher is optimistic that the revamping of the Ghana Cotton Industry will resolve these problems to the barest minimum.

High Cost of Importation of Raw Materials and Machinery The Acting Technical Director of VSTL reported that, before JTL was closed down under the management control of Vlisco, 70% of the company’s raw materials were imported with only 30% obtained locally to fully utilize its plant capacity. He however added that, since 2005 when the company was reopened with only 30% utilization of the total plant capacity, lint cotton which is the chief raw material base of the company has been sourced locally. This notwithstanding technical staff who responded to questionnaire hold varied views. Fifteen (12) respondents, that is 48% asserted that, 70% of the company’s raw materials are imported with 30% obtained locally, four (4) that is 16% stated 89% local and 11% foreign, two (2) that is 8% indicated 60% local and 40% foreign, two (2) being 8% stated 80% local and 20% foreign, another two (2) that is 8% indicated 50% local and 50% foreign, and three (3) representing 12% noted 90% local as against 10% foreign (Fig 4.20).

30% local and 70% foreign 12% 8% 89% local and 11% forign

8% 48% 60% local and 40% foreign

8% 80% local and 20% foreign

16% 50% local and 50% foreign

90% local and 10% foreign

Fig.4.20: Respondents views on utilization of imported raw materials as against local types Source: Field Survey, VSTL (2010)

Evidently (Fig 4.20), majority of the respondents, thus 48%, confirm the Acting Technical Directors assertion that 70% of the company’s raw materials are obtainable abroad and 30% locally. The imported materials, from observation, basically include

144 cotton lint and sizing agents such as vicol, kollotex and alcowax. Aside GCCL which is a local ginnery company, the lint cotton is imported mainly from Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, and Mali. The importation of these raw materials adds extra cost on production due to high import duties and this makes the company’s grey baft quite expensive than those obtained abroad. It was also observed from the company’s production lines that 100% of the machines were acquired abroad and it requires huge capital to purchase such textile production essentials. Sizing agents are basically starchy compound which could be produced locally and with the local cotton industry revamped, the researcher believes that, VSTL can source most of its raw materials locally and only rely on imported machines for production. This will reduce the company’s cost of production considerably.

Poor Remuneration The closure of JTL led to complete redundancy of workers according to the Acting Technical Director of VSTL. He added that when the company was reopened, the interim management decided, in a short run, to re-engage few hands to produce on trial basis with half pay. The idea was to temporarily embark on some form of production whiles soliciting funds from the government to start full production activities before regularizing the appointment of the workers and hire more. However, the study found that as at June 2010, that is five years down the line since their appointment in 2005, the workers have been working as temporal staff with half pay with no sign of optimism of permanent appointment. The Acting Technical Director lamented that, a number of financial proposals have been submitted to the government by the management for consideration but all have proved futile leaving the workers in the state of despair. Some of the workers interacted with have plans of leaving the company upon getting a new permanent job with better remuneration.

Inability to Meet Local Demand With only 30% of the installed capacity being utilized, the study revealed that the company’s production output, as at June 2010, stood at 7,000 yards of grey cloth per day, running only on one shift (8 hours) with maximum workforce of 300. All the twenty five (25) respondents administered with questionnaire confirmed these statistics. The daily output of 7,000 yards represents just 8% of the company’s plant capacity of 65,000 yards of grey cloth per day. The Acting Technical Director noted that, GTP alone consumes 19 to 22 million yards of grey cloth annually. Considering this figure with VSTL’s current 145 production capacity of 7000 yards per day which is approximately 2,562,000 yards per annum, it could be concluded that VSTL cannot even meet GTP’s grey cloth demand, not to talk of the demands of other local textile manufacturing companies like Printex, GTMC, ATL as well as that of the small-scale textile producers and flour mill companies who make use of grey cloth in their production. This therefore suggests that there is readily available market for VSTL grey cloths which set a good platform for the company to take advantage to improve its performance.

Lack of Product Competitiveness The study observed that, since the company assumed production in the 1969, not much has been done in the area of product development. The company still sticks to the production of cotton yarns and grey fabrics with limited value addition. This therefore places a limitation on the utilitarian purposes of the company’s products and with limited market size. There is therefore the need for the company to develop new variance products with aesthetic and functional characteristics to make its products competitive to similar foreign products on the market.

Absence of Substantive Management and Board of Directors Interview with the Acting Technical Director revealed that, prior to the commissioning and start of test production activities of VSTL, the Ministry of Trade and Industry entered into a four year management contract with U-Rich, a Chinese Textiles and Garment company based in Hong Kong. This Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was effective 8th September, 2006. The contract agreement enjoined U-Rich to provide six-member Chinese expatriate staff who arrived in the country and assumed the responsibility of running the factory. By the end of 2008, according to the Acting Technical Director, all the Chinese staff had proceeded on leave to China but failed to return to Ghana after their leave period had expired. A management vacuum was therefore created and the urgent need to take key management decisions to kick-start the operations of the company on commercial basis became necessary. In view of this, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MOTI) constituted an interim Management Team on 9th December 2008 with the team made up of four technical staff of the factory and two officials from MOTI who were to compliment the technical staff to provide Financial and Human Resource services of the factory and steer the affairs of the company. The researcher observed that, the current management is headed by an Acting Technical Director, who 146 was the former technical director of Juapong Textiles Limited. As at the time of this research, it was observed that the Board of Directors of the company has not yet been constituted and this, to the researcher, put the interim management on difficult grounds to take bold decisions to be implemented to revitalize the company.

4.2.4 Prospects of VSTL Though the company is in critical state due to the challenges it is confronted with, it can count on some significant prospects and strengths that provide hope for revitalization. These include readily available market for the company’s grey cloth, available technical expertise, the largest spinning and weaving plant in the country, opportunity of the school uniform scheme by the government, world class grey cloth quality, capacity to diversify and expand product range, and proximity to the Volta Lake.

Readily Available Market for the Company’s Grey Cloth Evidence of the study revealed high demand and readily available market for the company’s grey cloth. According to the Acting Technical Director, the company receives substantial orders both locally and internationally due to its high quality grey cloth. International orders mainly come from Canada, Germany, Italy, etc., which the company rarely meet supply. The company also supplies grey cloth in limited quantities to some local textile firms and some neighbouring countries on demand. The Acting Technical Director emphasized that GTP alone is prepared to take supply of 19 million yards of VSTL’s grey cloth annually. Besides, there are small-scale textile firms like batik and tie- dye producers, flour mill companies as well as grey cloth merchandisers across the country whose work rest on grey cloth to remain in operation which can consume substantial quantity of the company’s products.

Available Technical Expertise The Personnel Manager of VSTL (Personal communication, June 9, 2010) established that, there is high skilled labour waiting to be hired for full commercial production to take off. He added that, the closure of JTL led to high rate of redundancy. However, the study observed that due to the limited job opportunities in the area, most of the workers that were affected are still struggling to get jobs whiles others have diverted into other businesses. A section of the staff who were engaged in focus group interview indicated that most of the workers are willing to come back if they are recalled. The 147

Personnel Manager noted that, these workers are made up of both technical and administrative staff with well over 10 years industrial experiences adding that the senior staff have minimum of tertiary education with HND and first degrees in relevant field of study such as textiles, mechanical and chemical engineering, and business administration. With these technical experts waiting to be hired, human resource for expansion and commencement of full production will not be a problem.

The Largest Spinning and Weaving Plant Capacity As indicated earlier, VSTL has 86 Ring Spinning Frames with 35,000 spindles and 960 power looms making it the largest spinning and weaving firm in the country (Production Manager, VSTL, personal communication, June 8, 2010). The study found that, when these capacities are fully utilized, the company can produce 65,000 yards of grey cloth a day and an average of 2,562,000 yards per annum and will employ an average of about 1000 workers. It can be deduced therefore that, if these capacities are properly restructured, numerous opportunities with enhanced multiplier effect on the economy would be created. Moreover, the researcher observed that, the company has enough infrastructure and space to expand its current total plant capacity to increase output performance.

Taking Advantage of the Government’s Free School Uniform Policy As part of exercising its civic responsibilities, The Acting Technical Director noted that the company has plans of taking advantage of the Government’s Free School uniform Policy when additional machinery are installed in medium term basis. He was optimistic that, the implementation of such production activity will provide extra jobs and maximize productivity thereby reducing imports of foreign textile materials for school uniforms in the country which will in turn limit government expenditure to save revenue.

Producers of World-Class Grey Cloth VSTL’s grey cloth is considered as one of the best qualities in the world by both local and international consumers according to the Acting Technical Director. He in addition stated that the quality accredited to VSTL grey cloth has made it received high patronage in Ghana and abroad. Fabric structure analysis conducted by the researcher on VSTL’s grey cloth with that from abroad showed that the foreign types usually made of cotton-polyester blends of low yarn count, lighter in weight, and less absorbent. That of 148

VSTL is 100% cotton, highly absorbent, takes dyes and other chemicals readily and for that matter provides good ground for dyeing and printing; hence recon high in terms of quality in the cotton grey cloth trade. In view of this, it is envisaged that recapitalization of the company’s operation to maximize productivity to meet both local and international demands will reposition the company on a better pedestal to contribute its quota to enhance the country’s economy.

Capacity to Diversify and Expand Product Range According to the Acting Technical Director, the company’s operation has been horizontally integrated since its establishment where the product range is limited to only cotton yarns and grey cloths which serve as raw materials to other textile firms for value addition. The bulk of the company’s grey cloth (Production Manager, VSTL, personal communication, June 8, 20101) serves as a raw material base for Texstyles Ghana Limited who pre-treat the grey cloth through singeing, scouring, bleaching and mercerization processes and further adds aesthetic quality to the cloth through series of dyeing and printing processes. However, the study observed that VSTL has the requisite capacity to diversify and expand its product range by engaging in the production of mercerized cotton, dyed and printed fabrics. A number of factors could be assigned for this but notable ones as observed by the researcher include; availability of land for expansion, building infrastructure, available technical expertise, housing for senior staff, among others. The diversification and expansion of the company’s production activities will transform its operation from the current horizontally integration into vertically integration to create more jobs and maximize returns.

Proximity of the Company to the Volta Lake With approximately 7 kilometres from the Volta Lake, the researcher is of the opinion that, the close proximity of VSTL to the Volta Lake could offer the company the best opportunity to tap free water and possibly acquire hydroelectricity at reduced rates for production. Responding to the questionnaire with regard to source of water and electricity for production, Twenty (20) out of twenty five (25) respondents representing 80% stated that the company source water and electricity from Ghana Water Company and Electricity Company of Ghana respectively. This therefore shows that, VSTL depend mainly on paid electricity from ECG and water from GWC with commercial rates for production despite its close proximity to Volta Lake. This invariably increases the company’s cost of 149 production leading to low returns. The researcher is of the view that, establishing a water plant and storage facility to access free water from Volta Lake would help the company to save substantial amount of money on long term basis. Moreover, the company instead of accessing electricity from EGC on commercial rates can negotiate with Volta River Authority (VRA) to source hydroelectricity on subsidized rates to cut down cost on electricity. In this way production cost can be reduced considerably.

4.2.5 Challenges of Akosombo Textiles Limited (ATL)

Although the study finds Akosombo Textile Limited to be on top in terms of productivity with competitive market advantage compared to other local textile manufacturers, the company is also confronted with a number of challenges. Among the major ones are presented and discussed in the following sections of the dissertation.

Strong Competition from Other Local Textile Companies With only four large-scale textile factories remaining in operation nationwide, there has been a stiff competition among the local industries according to the Administrative Manager of ATL (Personal communication, June 14, 2010). He added that, ATL is being competed keenly by Texstyles Ghana Limited (TGL) and Printex Ghana Limited (PGL) in terms of product range and quality. This is due to the fact that the companies are privately owned and are all fighting hard to lead the local market. Once a leading textile company with a wider consumers and big branding name in quality African prints and classical designs, the Administrative Manager of ATL acknowledged the fact that TGL prints set a high standard for ATL prints with Printex taking its share of funeral and thanksgiving prints which is moderately priced compared to ATL and TGL prints.

Inadequate Supply of Cotton Lint With the current crisis facing the local cotton industry leading to poor productivity performance as indicated earlier, acquisition of lint cotton for full production is now one of the greatest challenges of the ATL as disclosed by the Manager in charge of Spinning (Personal communication, June 28, 2010). The Spinning Manager lamented that, as the only vertically integrated textile factory engaging in spinning, weaving and printing, supply of the company’s raw material base has not been regular and this is seriously

150 affecting productivity. At full production operation, the factory runs three shifts twenty four (24) hours a day. However, the study as at June 2010 observed that the factory’s spinning and weaving departments were running a maximum of three working days from Monday to Wednesday in a single shift as a result of the shortage in lint cotton supply. The factory, according to the Spinning Manager, now imports lint cotton from Burkina Faso and Mali to remain in operation due to the inability of Ghana Cotton to meet their lint cotton demand. This therefore makes the company to incur extra cost thereby increasing the cost of production.

Difficulty in Accessing Residual Fuel Oil (RFO) Observation made on the company’s plant revealed the use of highly mechanical machinery which necessitates frequent maintenance and lubrication to ensure effective performance to maximize productivity. This requires high utilization of residual fuel oil (black oil) which also serves as a means to power the machinery. In connection with the crisis of Tema Oil Refinery regarding scarcity of crude oil and the subsequent fire outbreak that damaged the plant of the Refinery in the early 2010, the Administrative Manager of ATL established that, assess to RFO became one of the greatest challenges of ATL. He however added that, the company had no option than to source RFO from individual dealers from Benin and Cote d’Ivoire at a very high cost. It was revealed that, the company utilizes an average of 54,000 litres equivalent to about four small tankers or two large tankers of RFO daily for production; thus, a monthly consumption excluding Saturdays and Sundays of 1,242,000 litres. A litre of RFO costs about 64 cent per litre which is approximately GH¢ 1. This implies that the company spent a total of about GH¢ 1,242,000 monthly on RFO which, to the Administrative Manager, takes a chunk of the company’s working capital. As a bi-product of crude oil it makes economic sense, to the researcher, for the company to get supply of RFO internally from Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) which is cheaper compared to that imported. The challenge however is the ability of TOR to supply to meet the demand of the company.

High Energy Consumption The rate of energy consumption by the company is indisputably high. Observation made on the company’s plant reveals that about 90% of the machines, from spinning to finishing, are powered via hydroelectric energy. The study found that, ATL unlike VSTL takes advantage of its close proximity to the Volta Lake by souring hydroelectricity 151 directly from the Volta River Authority (VRA) at subsidized rate for production. Out of twenty three (23) technical staff who responded to questionnaire, twenty (20) representing 89% indicated that ATL receives electricity directly from VRA with only three (3) that is 11% who were not sure of the company’s source of electricity. This notwithstanding, statistics of the company’s energy consumption indicate an annual energy consumption of 24,455,252KWh. Quantifying this in monitory value, the Administrative Manager estimated that an average of GH¢ 400,000 is spent annually only on energy which is comparatively close to the company’s total annual salary of GH¢ 450,000. This is substantially high and for the company to breakeven other source of energy like gas or steam energy might be a better option considering the company’s high rate of energy consumption.

The Use of Obsolete Machinery Although, the Personnel Manager of ATL (Personal communication, June 29, 2010) noted that the company embarks on periodic retrofitting to upgrade its machines to put them in good condition for production, observable findings by the researcher on the factory’s plant revealed that most of the machines have not been totally replaced for modern ones since the establishment of the company in 1967. It was evident that the company has adequate machines and building infrastructure for production considering the current range of products it embarks on with specific reference to African prints. However, the question is whether these machines are unable to work efficiently to achieve maximum output as required. Although the Administrative Manager sees no problem with the nature of the machinery using the company’s product range as basis for this argument and the fact that they are Swiss and German machines, the researcher thinks otherwise as there are modern systems with characteristically high speed of production, enhance fabric quality, less labour and production costs, variety, etc., in the weaving industry as indicated by Lord and Mohammed (1982) and Strolz (1988).

Underutilization of Plant Capacity Theoretically, the total production capacity of ATL is 36 million metres per annum but in reality, the company is able to produce 28 to 30 million metres of printed fabrics per annum as noted by the Personnel Manager in an interview. These figures indicate a yearly loses of 6 to 8 million meters. Both the Administrative and Personnel Managers attribute this to the fact that ATL has directed its focus to niche production other than mass 152 production. In confirmation of this the Sales Manageress of ATL (Personal communication, July1, 2010) indicated that ATL now produces based on orders and the number of orders received yearly determines the yearly output capacities and this has contributed to the company’s inability to utilize its plant capacity to the fullest. The researcher observed that the local mass market of the African prints has taken over by less quality foreign prints mostly from China with very keen competition in terms of price which the local textile factories find it extremely difficult to compete and for that have redirected their focus to orders instead of producing for the mass market.

Inability to Meet Demands and Late Delivery of Orders Arguably, the company’s inability to utilize its plant capacity to the fullest as the Administrative, Personnel and Sales Manageress attributed to total orders received within the year, from the researchers point of view, may be quite misleading in the sense that as at July, 2010, the company still has huge outstanding orders to be produced and sales management were being pressurized by clients whose orders were still pending (Sales Manageress of ATL, personal communication, July 1, 2010). She attributed this to frequent shortage of materials for production mainly RFO which results in delays and late delivery of orders. This apparently suggests that the company is not even able to meet its orders due to high demands for its products. The Sales Manageress explained that it is the company’s policy to meet orders within a maximum of three months; however, this has become a formality. Under normal circumstances, the company must produce both for sale and for orders. But the study observed that the inability of the company to meet orders on time makes it incapacitated to produce for the open market though there is ready market for its products. This has also compelled the management to close down some of its sales and distribution outlets nationwide. The statistics of the company’s sales activities shows that, greater percentage of its wax prints is exported. ABC wax prints, for example, are 100% exported together with about 40% of ATL wax prints. The remaining 60% of ATL wax is marketed solely by CTD. The fancy prints are, however, marketed by ATL sales outlets and retailers in Ghanaian open markets (Fig. 4.21).

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120% 100% 100% 80% 60% Export market 60% 40% Local market 40% 20% 0% 0% ABC Wax ATL Wax . Fig. 4.21: Export and Local markets for ATL/ABC wax Source: Field Survey (2010)

4.2.6 Prospects of ATL In spite of the challenges confronting the company, ATL can boast of some significant prospects which could serve as catalyst to improve its performance. These include high plant capacity, high product demand, vertically integrated production system, free access to water from the Volta lake, transfer of ABC assert to ATL premises, and level headed technical expertise.

High Plant Capacity The plant capacity of ATL is currently the largest in West Africa according to the Administrative Manager of ATL. He added that, in 2006 the company embarked on installation of new machinery when ABC moved aspect of its production to ATL premises due to strong affiliation of the two companies. The plant of ATL now has the capacity of producing 36 million metres per annum which the Administrative Manager is optimistic that fully utilization of the current capacity will increase productivity and maximize the returns of the company for sustainable development. The researcher observed, with the merger of ABC, some of the production lines like printing of wax and fancy have been doubled with the installation of additional machines operating under the same roof but with different design concepts and standards. Where the production line demands two sets of machinery for ATL and ABC products, the systems are set parallel to each other to run simultaneously in the same direction with enough space to facilitate movements of workers and moveable equipment. In some cases the same machine is used for both ATL and ABC prints but with different parameters and characteristics with regards to colour 154 scheme (brilliance and shades), type of finish required, fabric width, number of base and cover colours, etc. This has increased the company’s product range and productivity levels and the company now make good use of space, machinery and labour for cost effective production.

High Product Demands The demand for ATL prints, according to the Design Manager of ATL (personal communication, July 2, 2010) is high due to the quality of the prints the company produces with unique designs and colour ways. In support to this, the Sales Manageress noted that, ATL prints are attracted to both the youth and the adult which set high demand for the company adding that the company’s inability to meet its demands with annual production capacity of 28 to 30 million yards clearly justifies high demand for ATL products. The researcher noted that, the move of aspect of ABC assets to ATL provide the company with a wider market opportunity to explore with a more demanding expectations. International demands for ABC prints now largely rest on ATL which when fully exploited can boost the foreign exchange earning of the company for economic development of the country.

Vertically Integrated Production System As the only textile company operating on vertically integrated system, the study observed that ATL has the power to increase its productivity, add value to its products and develop new range of products to attract wider consumers under one umbrella. With the vertically integrated system of production, products can be designed to suit current fashion trends and monitored through the various levels of production to achieve the best result within the company’s budget at an agreeable timetable. With such system of production in place, the researcher believes that time and material waste can be minimized as much as possible by ATL through integration of all the tasks in the chain of production so that no unnecessary waiting occurs, or by concurrent engineering, that is overlapping some phases of the production such as concept, design and production process to meet timelines (Theories of Production, 2010). This will prevent the long queues and frustrations customers have go through to get their orders delivered.

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Accessibility of Free Water from Volta Lake Sitting on the banks of Volta Lake, the study revealed that the company get free access of water from the Volta Lake via its high capacity water plant for production. The Personnel Manager of ATL (personal communication, June 29, 2010) noted that, this laudable initiative has reduced the company’s expenditure on water immensely. It is a fact that, production of textiles demands high water consumption. With reference to Wasif and Chinta (1998), about 50% of the textile mills are using approximately 200-300 litres of water per a kg of fabric produced while about 20% of the mills are using below 200 litres of water per kg of cloth depending on the process sequence and water utilization practices adopted in the mill. This invariably adds extra cost to production if water supply is paid for. Statistics of ATL whose production is wet processing inclined indicate that, the company’s average annual water utilization is 1,093,000m3. However, with the construction of water plant, the company can save the money which would have otherwise been spent on water for reinvestment to expand and produce at competitive and affordable prices.

The Merger of ATL and ABC with Installation of Additional Printing Systems With reference to ABC Wax, His Excellency, the former President John A. Kufour in December 21, 2005, officially inaugurated ABC's new production facility at Akosombo Textiles Limited. The goal of this initiative as indicated by the Administrative Manager of ATL was to move ABC standard wax to Ghana based on the need to respond more quickly to the changing demands of the local African consumer. He added that, new machines were therefore installed at the Akosombo site and the workers were highly trained by ABC technical managers so that ABC's high production standards could be maintained. The study observed that, this new development has not only expanded the company’s production capacity, but had also improved quality of products, created product variety, and efficiency of machinery. ATL can now boast of modern printing machines which are currently operating concomitantly with the old types under different product specifications and qualities. The transfer of ABC assets to ATL, to the researcher, therefore provides the company with the best opportunity to dominate and take significant lead in the West African market of African prints. Moreover, as the largest producer of ABC prints in West Africa, ATL can now produce for export to compete keenly with similar products in the international market to earn substantial foreign exchange for national development.

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Available Technical Expertise Reporting on the technical expertise of the company, the Personnel Manager of ATL (personal communication, June 29, 2010) stated that the merger of ATL and ABC has strengthened the company’s technical expertise with excellent collaboration with high calibre of technical team working together and sharing experiences under one umbrella. The foreign technical experts, according to the Personnel Manager, are expatriates from China, Hong Kong, France, Switzerland, and Manchester who have joined their Ghanaian counterparts to offer technical advice to the company. This, to the researcher, provides a good platform for development of new technologies, products improvement, mentorship and training of staff and new range of products to ensure sustainable development of the company.

4.2.7Challenges of Texstyles Ghana Limited (TGL) Once the leading textile company in African print production the study found that the company is now struggling hard to survive. A number of operational challenges confront the production and sales of the company of which the major ones discussed here.

Difficulty in Accessing Water for production As a textile printing firm with lots of wet processes from pre-treatment to finishing, the study found water as an indispensable resource in the company’s production activities. It was observed that, the location of the company (Tema Industrial Area) unlike ATL does not allow it to get free access of water for production; hence, the company relies on GWC for treated tap water which is purchased on commercial rates as indicated by the Production Manager of TGL (Personal communication, July 5, 2010). This, according to the Energy Manager (Personal communication, July 6, 2010) cost the company a lot of money considering the high water consumption of the company which adds up to cost of production making the products of the company relatively expensive. To manage water judiciously as part of sustainable practices of the company, however, TGL in collaboration with Ghana Energy Foundation and International Institute of Sustainable Development, Canada, embarked on some measures to reduce waste of water and energy consumption in a two year period (1999-2000) which resulted in a reduction of water consumption by 234,000 cubic metres, that is 23% with a cost saving of 304 million old Ghana cedis(Van Heist, 2000). Although the Production Manager could 157 not provide the current statistics on the company’s water consuption, it could be deduced from the figures provided by Van Heist that the company was consuming an average of 10,173,913m3 of water in 2000 at a cost of 1,321,734,130 cedis in two years period. This therfore implies an averange annual water consumption of 5,086,956m3 at a cost of 660,867,065 cedis (that is, 66,086,706 New Ghana cedis) after the implementation of the water and energy saving practices.Aside the high utility bills incurred on water, a very disturbing situation that has been a deterring factor to the company’s production activities, according to the Energy Manager, is the frequent shortage of water supply by GWC which leads to long down times and prevent the company to meet delivery timelines. In order for TGL to reduce cost of water on long term basis and prevent the problem of frequent shortage of water by GWC, the researcher proposes construction of an industrial water plant facility (Bore-hole system) as an alternative water source to supplement that obtained from GWC.

High Consumption/Cost of Energy Observation of the company’s plant indicates that most of the heavy duty industrial machines are electrically powered with high energy consumption. These machines include heavy duty boilers, steamers, drying ranges, calenders, stenters, singeing, bleaching, mercerizing systems, among others. The Energy Manager noted that, the use of electric energy is inevitable in the factory’s operation and for that matter, the company sources electric energy exclusively from ECG on commercial rates with no form of subsidy. It is estimated that the company spent an average of about GH¢ 200,000 monthly on electricity which as a result increases production cost abysmally (The Health and Safety Manager, personal communication, July 7, 2010). The study revealed that the company’s previous energy consumption per month was higher than the current estimated figure as the sustainable energy and water measures embarked upon in 1999-2000 show a reduction in electricity consumption by 6.5%, that is from 294.7kWh to 275.55kWh per 1000 yards of textile produced in 1998 and 1999 respectivly(Van Heist, 2000). These measures includes improvement in boiler efficiency; continuous monitoring of energy consumption and comparison with production levels; employee education to switch off lights and equipment when they are not in use; installation of steam traps and scale prevention devices; and power factor correction. These nothwithstanding, the researcher still thinks the monthly energy consumption of GH¢ 200,000 that is GH¢ 2,400,000 annually is high. Sourcing energy directly from VRA 158 at subsidized rates as the case is for ATL; in addition to the good energy practices they are already practicing will reduce cost of production and save the company lots of money.

Electricity Supply Fluctuations The Energy Manager of TGL also noted that, besides high cost and consumption of energy, frequent fluctuation of power supply is a problematic factor to the company’s operations. He added that, the source of energy supply to TGL unreliably rests in the hands of ECG. The company’s production is greatly interrupted by frequent unannounced power cut-offs which, in addition, damages the machines and causes long downtimes leading to reduction in productivity. The Health and Safety Manager added that about 70% of machine damages are caused by sudden cut off of power supply and fluctuations. According to him, to repair a damaged machine depending on the type of fault it has developed sometimes requires management to fly in expert(s) to fix the problem. The study observes that, the company owns a power plant which could be used as an alternative source of energy to power the plant, but the cost of powering the company’s machinery with the power plant for production, according to the Energy Manager, is higher than the cost of power supply from ECG. For this reason the power plant is engaged during light out hours to reduce downtimes and ensure continuous operation of the factory.

Difficulty in Accessing RFO for production Accessibility and quality of Residual Fuel Oil (RFO) for production, according to the Production Manager of TSG (Personal communication, July 5, 2010) is one of the major setbacks hindering the company’s productivity. Statistics on the company’s daily usage of RFO show an estimated value of GH¢ 24000 within five working days with a monthly consumption of GH¢ 528,000. The Production Manager noted that, the difficulty in accessing RFO locally compels the company to source supply from middle men oil vendors in the neighbouring countries like Benin at high cost. He added that, the cost of transportation of RFO from outside the country even makes it much more expensive thereby increasing the cost of production. The researcher observes that the issue of availability of RFO is one of the major challenges that confront all the local textile factories in Ghana as the study found a similar situation at VSTL and ATL. The solution to this problem is for TOR to expand its capacity in order to make RFO readily available locally at a subsidized cost for the textile industries.

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Undercapitalization and High Interest Rates The shareholding structure of Texstyles Ghana Limited (TGL) from the Presentation made to the Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry (2010) shows that GAMMA Holding (represented by Vlisco BV) holds 70% shares which has been bought by Artis, Truebrook (Holland) holds 12.95% shares, and Ghana government holds 16.07% shares. With the majority shares of over 82% being held privately, both the Production and Health & Safety Managers of TGL agreed that the company’s major source of financing for production is through bank loans with commercial interest rates, adding that the high interest rates on loans ranging from 22% to 38% make it difficult for the company to break even. They however concluded that, because the company is under capitalization, management has no option than to continue the practice of soliciting loans with high interest rates from the banks to remain in production which to the researcher does not help the company to maximize profit.

Low Productivity and Underutilization of Plant Capacity With the total installed plant capacity of 25 million yards of printed cloth per annum, the company is able to produce maximum of 17 million yards of printed cloths annually as shown in Fig 4.22.

Overview production 1994-2008

30 Start of 15M€ 30 investment program 25 25

20 17.1 20 16.1 16.8 14.8 15.5 15.4 15.5 15 12.7 13.6 15 9.8 10.3 10.3 10.6 10 7.5 10 5.1 5 5 actual production (M yards) (M production actual installed capacity (M yards) 0 0

1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 year Production (Million yards) Installed capacity (Million yards)

Fig 4.22: Overview of TGL’s production levels (1994-2008) Source: Courtesy of TGL (2010)

Figure 4.22 evidently shows inconsistency in the company’s production activities with the lowest production figure of 5.1 million yards recorded in 1994 which represent 20% of the total installed capacity of the company and the highest production figure 160 recorded in 2000/2001 production season with 17.1 million yards representing 68% of the installed capacity. This figure declined to 10.3 million yards in 2005/2006 rising up to 16.8 million yards in 2008. As at July 2010, the study revealed a further reduction in the company’s productivity with an annual production level of 14 million yards of printed cloth as indicated by the Production Manager. In confirmation of this, statistics given by the Sales Manager (Personal communication, July 6, 2010) show average sales of 14 million yards of printed fabrics annually with monthly sales of 55,000 yards. He added that, the fluctuation in productivity is attributed to the quantum of yearly product demands by client and the fact that the company now produces on orders or request basis. Observation of the company’s production line shows that TGL still sticks to the use of obsolete manual technology like hand block printing which slows up productivity and therefore unable to meet its demands as interview with the Sales Manager unearthed a number of orders cued up for production and delivery.

Instability in Management Control Historical evidence with reference to the Presentation made to the Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry (2010) indicates that the company since its establishment in 1963 had gone through diverse management control from the initial government control under the management of National Textiles Company to a two joint management control; Unilever and Anglo Dutch African Textiles Investigation Group (ADATIG) through to UAC management, workers’ management, government appointee management, and back to Unilever who gave way to GAMA Holding represented by Vlisco BV who incorporated Texstyles Ghana Limited in 2004. The current management, according to the Health and Safety Manager, is the Artis Group of Companies who has bought the 70% shares of GAMA Holding and is in the process of restructuring the company. He further contended that, the frequent change of management control had not help the company with regards to development; thus, implementation and achievement of long term strategic goals for sustainable development of the company. This he associated it to the fact that new management always come in with new policies and vision that usually require restructuring of the entire company to meet their targeted objectives towards achievement of their vision. Most often than not, the study found that experienced technical experts and other supportive staff suffer redundancy as a result of change in management control. This to the researcher does not only affect the company’s production activities but also increases rate of unemployment in the country. 161

Difficulty in Accessing Raw Materials The study found that, the major raw material base of the company is grey cloth which is mainly imported. Eighteen (18) out of twenty (20) respondents representing 90% indicated that 100% of the company’s raw materials are imported with only two (2) that is 10% asserting that the company’s raw materials are locally obtained (Table 4.11).

Table 4.11: Accessibility of raw materials-TGL Source of raw material Frequency Percentage Freq. Exclusively imported 18 90% Both local and imported 2 10% Source: Field Survey (2010)

The Production Manager estimated a total consumption of about 22 million yards of grey cloth annually which are 100% obtained mostly from China, Pakistan, and India. He added that, the importation of the grey cloth by TGL from abroad has become necessary due to the fact that the local grey cloth manufacturers are unable to meet the company’s yearly demands. General observation made by the researcher on the local textile industry shows that ATL and VSTL are the only existing spinning and weaving factories in the country. ATL with its vertically integrated production system produces the grey cloths for internal consumption. VSTL, which was initially established as JTL to operate horizontally with the former GTP now TGL to supply it with grey cloth now produces only 7,000 yards of grey cloth per day amounting to a maximum of 1,932,000 yards per annum which is comparatively far below TGL’s 22 million yearly consumption of grey cloth. This, to the researcher, gives a clear indication that the local grey cloth manufacturers cannot be reliable if TGL is to remain in fruitful productivity. This notwithstanding, the Production Manager noted that grey cloth from China in addition to import duties is cheaper compared to that produced locally by VSTL. Moreover, they stand equal quality to grey cloth produced locally. Based on these justifications, the researcher is of opinion that it makes economic sense for the company like TGL, a profit making entity with majority of its share holdings privately owned to import grey cloth from Asia to remain in business. It probable that the company will revert to the use of local grey cloth on condition that their demands would be met coupled with competitive price advantage.

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Difficulty in the Acquisition of Machinery and Spare Parts Like VSTL and ATL, the study observed that the machinery of TGL are all imported types and for that matter acquisition of spare parts for maintenance and repairs to ensure maximum efficiency of the machinery is one of the major challenging factor of the company. The questionnaire responses in Table 4.12 confirms this where all the twenty (20) technical staff of TGL indicated that the company’s machines are 100% imported. With respect to acquisition of spare parts, however, fifteen (15) respondents, that is, 75%, noted that the company acquire spare parts exclusively from abroad whereas five (5) representing 25% indicated that, spare parts are obtained both locally and abroad. This therefore suggests that TGL rely mainly on imported machinery and spare parts for operation.

Table 4.12: Acquisition of machinery and spare parts-TGL Source of spare parts Frequency Percentage Freq. Exclusively imported 18 90% Both local and imported 2 10% Source: Field Survey (2010)

It was however observed that, the scarcity and high capital intensiveness in accessing spare parts from abroad has rendered some damaged machines of the company idle for long time with some completely out of repairs.

Utilization of Obsolete Technology In the 21st Century of technological advancement in textile manufacturing processes, the study observed that, TGL still employs old technology and machinery in some of its production lines. With reference to Wax and Hand-Block printing production lines, it was observed that Pit Dyeing processes are still in operation. These processes, from observation, are not only slow but labour intensive and space demanding. The Production and Health/ Safety Managers argued that the continuity in hand block wax production is due to the preference of the products to some clients and are usually produced upon orders or for a niche market. They posit that, plans are far advance to close down the Pit Dyeing and Hand Block sections of the Wax Printing Department, but this will not be done abruptly but in gradual manner for the sake of workers currently working

163 in these areas. Considering the low production speed and high utilization of labour for Pit- Dyeing and Hand Block printing technologies, the researcher projects that, replacing these old technologies with more advance high speed systems which requires less labour like RSP and Duplex printing systems will help the company to attain high production index with wider target market for better returns.

Operating on Horizontally Integrated System of Production Operating on horizontally integration production system, the study observed that the company’s production with regards to material flow is not continuous. The Production Manager (Personal communication, July 5, 2010) pointed out that, the total dependency of TGL on foreign grey cloth, though cheaper compared to the local type, occasionally makes the company vulnerable when there is scarcity of grey cloth for production. He added that this impedes the company’s production operation thereby hindering prompt delivery and results in long cue of orders. Products range of TGL, from observation, is also limited compared to that of ATL, due to its horizontally integrated system of production. Comparative advantage of ATL has an advantage over TGL in that, its vertically integrated system of production offer the company a continuous and smooth running line of production within a localized geographical area which provides a better opportunity for it to produce wide range of products such as yarns, grey cloths, mercerized fabrics, dyed and printed fabrics of a different variety. This prevents unnecessary time wasting and reduces transportation cost (Theories of Production, 2010) and therefore recommended to TGL for consideration.

4.2.8 Prospects of TGL The study found that TGL was once the leading textile factory producing best quality African prints for both local and international consumers. The factory, despite its numerous operational challenges, can boast of some significant prospects which are discussed in the following sections.

Quality Brand Name in African Prints The study revealed that, TGL has been accredited as number one brand name in terms of quality African prints in the sub-region. The company’s product is proven to be of high quality based on the assessment of Nielsen Brand Equity Global Norms (2010).

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The Brand Equity Index assesses about 13,239 brands in 73 countries worldwide as shown in Figure 4.23.

Figure 4.23: Brand Equity Index Norms Source: Courtesy of TGL (2010) The BEI assesses products based on the following parameters: • BEI > 3 = Strong Brands

• BEI <3 >1 = Moderate Brands

• BEI < 1 = Weak Brands

Inferring from the graph in Figure 4.23 it is apparent that majority of the brands have BEI less than 3 which designates such brands as weak and moderate. The brands that have BEI above 3 are considered as high quality. 18% of the brands fall within the strong zone whereas 45% falls within the moderate zone with 37% falling within the weak zone. The Brand Equity Index of African prints from major textile producing firms/countries with reference to Nielson Brand Equity index (2010) are however presented in Figure 4.24. It is evident from the graph that TGL products top the group with BEI of 4.92 which falls within the strong zone and therefore designated as high using the parameters in Figure 4.23 which assesses products with BEI of 3 and above as high quality as the basis for this justification. ATL brands come second with BEI of 1.87, and Printex third with BEI of 1.51. Other notable brands like ‘Hollandais’ is rated 1.34, Woodin 1.03, ABC wax 0.26, High Target 0.18, Da Viva 0.14, and Chinese wax 0.11. This assessment goes to buttress the point that TGL is the number one brand name in African prints with Chinese prints being the least among the group with BEI of 0.11 BEI which are rated as weak

165 products. This achievement by TGL gives the company a competitive edge to attract more consumers to increase demands through public sensitization of it quality products.

6 4.92 5

2 1.87 1.34 1.15 1.03 1 0.26 0.11 0.14 0.18 0 ABC Wax ATL Chinese Da Viva TGL High Hollandais Printex Woodin Wax Target

Fig. 4.24: Brand Equity Index of African Prints Source: Nielson Brand Equity Index (Courtesy of TGL, 2010)

Introduction of Machine Wax Printing Technology The recent development in the company’s wax printing process, from observable findings, is the introduction of RSP for printing cover designs (fittings). This technology, compared to hand block wax printing, is faster and less labour intensive, hence the resultant prints are less expensive. The use of RSP in wax printing also provides wider range of colour ways with a variety of contemporary designs. This category of wax print is known as “Nustyle” which according to the Sales Manager (Personal communication, July 6, 2010) is aimed at targeting the youth who do not take delight in the usage of African prints. The market advantage of the “Nustyle” prints over classical hand block wax prints, as observed by the researcher, was that it is packaged in six yards (Half piece) and retailed in any yardage which makes it affordable to wider consumers. It also comes in varied youthful colours and contemporary designs.

Capacity to Increase Productivity to Maximize Returns As previously indicated in Fig 4.22 in page 162, the company’s total installed capacity is 25 million yards of printed cloths per annum. However, the company is able to produce the best of 17 million yards of printed fabrics annually which implies that over 7million yards worth of printed cloths is lost every year. The company can therefore make

166 a strategic effort to expand its product range in order to fully utilize its installed capacity in order to make up for the losses. High Technical Expertise Although the management control of the company has now been transferred to the Artis Group of Companies, the study observed that, Vlisco’s experienced technical team is still in place; hence the expertise of the company is unquestionable. Interview with the Health and Safety Manager revealed that, with over three decades of partnership with the company, the Vlisco team had been working harmoniously with the local team with excellent performance. The researcher therefore opines that, the coexistence among the two partners provides a good platform for sharing and exchange of knowledge, training of staff, development of new technology and products brands, among others, for betterment of the company.

High Product Demands Estimated figures given by the Sales Manager indicates that, the company makes monthly sales of 55,000 yards and about 14million yards annually. He in addition indicated that the company is not able to meet its orders timely and for that matter production is now mainly focused on orders and exports than producing for the open market. As at September 2010, the company was in short supply of 2million yards which indicates that the company’s demand highly exceeds its supply. With such an increasing demand for TGL products, the company is assured of high patronage and for that matter can increase its production level for better returns.

Automation and Upgrading of Machinery Observation of the company’s production lines by the researcher shows significant innovations in some of its production processes. Notable among them include the automation of the wax printing system in which all the process parameters are control on a panel for easy detection of fault and control of the various processes which requires less labour. It was also observed that, a lesser engraving system has been introduced to replace the old pantograph system which has speeded up the engraving process. According to the Production Manager, the lesser engraving system is capable of producing an average of 90 design rollers per week compared to the old engraving technology which was low and time consuming with maximum of 20 design rollers per week.

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New Management Control to Recapitalize the Company Commenting on the current management control of TGL, the Health and Safety Manager (Personal communication, July 7, 2010) noted that, GAMA Holdings has sold its 70% shares to the Artis group, who has become the new management of TGL effective from September, 2010. He emphasized that, the management of Artis is currently in the process of restructuring the company. As already indicated, one of the major challenges of the company is under capitalization. The researcher is therefore hopeful that, with the new management in place as a profit making entity, the company will see a recapitalization process to ensure that it is well resourced for better performance.

Water Recycling Plant for Judicious use of Water Confronted with frequent water shortages and high consumption of water, the Health and Safety Manager asserted that, TGL as part of its strategic plans to save water and also to move into environmental friendly production constructed a Water Recycling Plant with three huge overhead and underground reservoirs. About 70% of used water, according to the Production Manager, is recycled for reuse which as a result had reduced the utility bills significantly and had won the company an award for judiciously use of water.

Power Plant for Ensuring Continuous Productivity As already indicated, one of the major challenges of TGL is frequent power fluctuation. This notwithstanding, the study found that TGL has installed heavy duty Power Plant which is used to power the plant during light out periods (Energy Manager, personal communication, July 6, 2010). Though the cost of powering the power plant is higher compared to that of hydroelectric power obtained from ECG as indicated by the Energy Manager of TGL, the researcher observed that, the use of power plant by TGL reduces downtimes to the barest minimum and ensures continuous and smooth production operation which as a result increases productivity.

The Practice of Environmental Friendly Production In pursuit to conform to the worldwide advocacy for environmental friendly production with attempts made by textile manufacturers worldwide to install costly water– purification equipment to reduce water pollution (Frings, 2001), the Health and Safety Manger noted that, TGL’s production is now geared towards environmentally friendly 168 production where recycling of water, wax, and other chemicals that are considered as toxic or harmful carcinogens are carefully collected and disposed-off properly. This move, according to the Health and Safety Manager of TGL, does not only save the company money but also reduces the health risks of the staff and people living around the neighbourhood of the company. The practice of environmentally-friendly production makes the products of TGL internationally endorsed as harmful free or eco-friendly products; hence, widening the market prospects of the products. Deducing from the presentation and discussion of findings so far, it could be established that, the four selected factories have multiples of diverse and common internal challenges and prospects. Evidently, the manner in which they operate (mainly on horizontally integrated production system) makes one factory’s operational challenge or prospect affect the others. The Cotton Industry, with specific reference to GCCL, with its distinctive production lines different from that of VSTL, ATL and TGL, have peculiar problems although some of its problems directly influence the operations of VSTL and ATL whose production lines involve spinning and for that matter make use of lint cotton; a finished product from GCCL as their chief raw material for production. The challenges identified with VSTL as a spinning and weaving firm directly affect ATL and TGL as these two factories employ grey cloth; a finished product of VSTL as their main raw material for production. Obviously, the extent of the effect this has on the two companies varies in that ATL has its own spinning and weaving lines that feed its printing and dyeing department with grey cloth and is usually not dependent on VSTL for supply of grey cloth. For TGL, its grey cloth supply solely comes from VSTL and also from offshore companies since it is basically a printing firm. In view of this, a problem of VSTL indirectly affects TGL.

4.3 External Challenges of the Ghana Textile Industry Multiple responses on major external challenges confronting the Ghana textile industry from one hundred and eight (108) questionnaire respondents made up of technical staff of the four selected textile factories and selected textile lecturers from KNUST, UEW, Kumasi and Takoradi Polytechnics show varied opinions as indicated in Table 4.13.

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Table 4.13: Multiple responses on external challenges facing the Ghana textile in industry Challenge Frequency Percentage (%) Influx of foreign textiles 92 81 High imports vis-a-vis low export of the industry 39 36 Variety of textile products on the local market 22 20 Price competitiveness of foreign prints as against the local prints 45 42 Illicit trade/smuggling of textiles 68 62 Knock-off of local print designs 65 60 Absence of policy document on textile production in Ghana 33 30 Lack of subsidy for the textile industry 57 53 Lack of capital investment in the textile sub-sector 38 35 Lack of research and development in the textile sub-sector 19 18 Recession in world market price of cotton 22 20 Lack of collaboration between the industry and the institutions 55 51 Relevance of courses of the institutions to the industry 16 15 Global concern for eco-friendly production 5 5 Effects of trade linearization 85 79 Effect of AGOA 2 2 Effects of ISI 2 2 Source: Field Survey (2010)

Evidently, the majority of the respondents; ninety two (92) representing 81% indicated that influx of cheap foreign textiles is the major challenge crippling the Ghana textile industry with only 2% going in for effects of AGOA and ISI. Eighty five (85) respondents being 79% indicated the effects of trade liberalization as the major challenge with 62% and 60% indicating illicit textile trade (smuggling) and knock-off of local print designs as the major challenge. Inferring from the views of the respondents in Table 5.1, it can logically be established that as trade liberalization allows in-flow of goods without quantitative restrictions, its operation will definitely results in the influx of foreign goods. Concurrently, as importation increases on the ticket of liberal trade with high import tariffs, importers will strife to find a means of escaping payment of right taxes in order to make more profit and this eventually wil leads to upsurge in smuggling.

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4.3.1 Influx of Cheap Foreign Textiles The Ghana textile industry, according to the Administrative Manager of ATL (Personal communication, June 14, 2010) is faced with a keen competition of cheap foreign textiles that are flooded into the Ghanaian market. He added that, those textiles which come in with a wider variety are mainly imported from Asia and Europe. A survey of selected Ghanaian open market by the researcher (November, 2010) with specific reference to the Makola market in Accra and Kumasi Central market reveals huge quantities of foreign textiles in various degrees of qualities ranging from new brands, seconds, used or second-hand types in display at almost every textile merchandising outlet. It was also observed that, a number of textile merchants, mostly from the neighbouring countries such as Togo, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Benin and Burkina Faso, engage in streets and house-to-house sales of foreign textiles of all kinds bringing such products to the door steps of consumers to the extent of crediting the prints to consumers to be paid by instalments. The observation revealed that such textiles are very cheap and are ready-made and used clothing such as shirt, pants and trousers that sell at GH¢1, whereas very good quality (First selection) is sold at GH¢5. Selected consumers that the researcher interacted with on the spot buying those textiles established that, they prefer the readymade foreign clothing due to their quality and affordability as compared to the locally made types. They emphasized that buying the ready-made foreign clothing saves them from the long processes involved in, for example, sewing a trouser at a cost not less than GH¢20 or a Kaba and Slit at GH¢35 with a local print which, in most cases, does not fit properly due to the ignorance and lack of technical competences of some local tailors and seamstresses. It is disturbing to note based on the foregoing findings that, the local textile market has become a dumping ground for cheap ready-made, second-hand and used clothing of all categories which as a matter of affordability have attracted many consumers and thereby gradually relegating the locally made prints to the background for selected few consumers. As indicated in Table 5.1, ninety two (92) out of one hundred and eight (108) respondents representing 82% attributed the proliferation of cheap foreign textiles on the Ghanaian market as the major threat to the local textile industry. Taking sides with the MP for Subin (In the House TV Discussion, December 27, 2010), the researcher contends that the excessive flood of second-hand foreign textiles in the country is due to the fact that Ghana has no Anti-dumping law to check the excessive importation of used products which is gradually turning the country into a mess with its associated health risks and therefore need immediate attention by policy makers. 171

4.3.2 High Imports vis-a-vis Low Exports Focus group discussion (July 12, 2010) with five (5) respondents of the Textiles Unit of MOTI revealed that Ghana imports assorted textile products mainly from China, India, Netherlands, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Korea, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, United Kingdom, Germany, and some African countries including Togo, Burkina-Faso, Senegal, Benin, Mali, South Africa, among others. This is confirmed by statistics on Textile Trade (MOTI, 2010) from 2005 to 2008 which show a variety of imported textiles including unbleached plain weave cotton (grey baft), corded cotton, handkerchiefs, men’s and boys’ singlets, T-shirts (knitted) and trousers, knitted fabrics of all kinds, sacks and bags, printed bed-linen of cotton, women’s and girls’ dresses, printed woven fabrics (polyester/cotton blends), dyed plain cotton, lint cotton, etc. This source also reveals that Ghana’s textiles export mainly comprises printed woven cotton fabrics; real and imitation wax and fancy prints, lint cotton, cotton linters, grey baft, men’s and boys’ cotton shirts, and Kente cloths. Table 4.14 presents the statistical figures of the imports and exports of textiles within a four year period from 2005 to 2008 whereas Figure 4.25 gives a graphical picture of the trend of imports and exports over the same period.

Table 4.14: Ghana’s Imports and Exports of Textiles (2005-2008) YEAR IMPORTS (GH¢) EXPORTS ( GH¢)

2005 131,078,447.96 6,580,067.40 2006 162,350,407 215,778,163 2007 201,155,605.78 28,723,831.30 2008 247,384,092.81 17,698,259.67 TOTAL 741,968,553.55 268,780,321.37 Source: Textile Trade-MOTI (2010)

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800,000,000.00 IMPORTS (GH¢) 700,000,000.00 EXPORTS ( GH¢) 600,000,000.00 500,000,000.00 400,000,000.00 300,000,000.00 200,000,000.00 100,000,000.00 0.00 2005 2006 2007 2008 TOTAL

Fig. 4.25: Ghana’s Imports and Exports levels of Textiles (2005-2008) Source: Textile Trade-MOTI (2010)

A clear indication from the Fig. 4.25 is that whereas importation of foreign textiles has increased consistently, exportation of locally made textiles has inversely decreased over the period. It is evident from Table 4.14 that, Ghana made a total revenue of GH¢215,778,163 in 2006 from exportation of assorted textile products but this figure reduced drastically to GH¢17,698,259.67 in 2008. Comparing the total revenue on exportation of local textiles of GH¢268,780,321.37 to the total value of GH¢741,968,553.55 spent on importation of textiles, it could be deduced that a difference of GH¢473,188,232.18 was lost in the country’s textiles export and import activities. With reference to African prints, the statistics of Ghana Statistical Service (2010) from 2002 to 2008 indicate that importation of wax prints increased drastically between 2005 and 2006 as shown Fig. 4.26 and the trend kept rising till 2008. The rate of increase in the importation of wax prints was gradual between 2002 and 2005 whereas exportation of local wax prints increased significantly in 2005 with a sharp decrease from 2006 and continued to dwindle till 2008 as presented in Figure 4.27.

Fig. 4.26: Importation of African prints (2002-2008) Source: Ghana Statistical Service (2010)

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1200000 1000000

800000 600000 y = -60385x + 1E+08 400000 R² = 0.0681

Net weight(Kg) 200000 0 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Year Fig.4.27: Exportation of local prints (2004-2008) Source: Ghana Statistical Service (2010)

These statistics of Ghana’s imports and exports of textiles clearly show that the import levels far outweigh that of exports. Whiles importation of foreign textiles keeps on increasing, exportation of local textiles is decreasing. This suggests that the country’s production level of textiles is low and consequently does not add much to its GDP in terms of foreign exchange. A graphical picture of Ghana’s local textile production within a 6- year period from 2002 to 2008 is shown in Fig. 4.28.

Figure 4.28: Trend in local textile production (2002-2008) Source: Ghana Statistical Service (2010)

A clear indication from Fig. 4.28 is that production of locally made textiles had experienced frequent fluctuations with low levels of production figures within the past years. Local textile manufacturers with specific reference to Administrative and Personnel Managers of ATL, Technical Director of VSTL and Health and Safety Manager of TGL interviewed in the study attributed this to the surge in the importation of cheap African textile prints usually from Asia which has dominated the local textile market with high

174 patronage and thereby compelling the few existing domestic textile factories to produce mainly to meet orders. Such scenario, from the perspective of the researcher, is not a good implication for the country which is still under developing and need to develop and sustain its domestic industries.

4.3.3 Competitive Range of Textile Products on the Market Observation made by the researcher through market survey (November, 2010) on the range of textile products on the Ghanaian market with specific reference to Makola market (Accra) and Kumasi Central market revealed lack of product variety of the locally made textiles which makes the foreign textiles with their wider range of product variety get a competitive edge over the them in terms of fabric utilization. As indicated by Spandex (2009), technological advancement in the global textile manufacturing has brought about development of high performance and technical fabrics to serve the need of wider consumers. Such textiles with their competitive advantage have brought dynamism in fabric utilization providing consumers with a wider range of textile items that meet almost every possible need. Despite the worldwide growing need for wider range of textiles, the products of the Ghana textile factories reveal limited range of textiles compared to their foreign counterparts as shown in Tables 4.15 and 4.16.

Table 4.15: Product range of the local textile factories on the Ghanaian market Yarns Fabric structure Prints Design Application cotton yarns plain weaves wax, fancy, Symbolic clothing metallic patterns, Colourful Source: Market Survey (2010)

Table 4.16: Range of foreign textiles on the Ghanaian market Yarns Fabric structure Prints Design Application cotton, silk plain weave, wax, java, floral, clothing, curtain, polyester, twill, sateen, fancy, geometric, bedspread, carpeting, nylon, rayon, satin, pile, lace, metallic, pictorial, upholstery, napkins. wool, blends. knitted, knotting, discharge, Abstract, braided, non- transfer. plain, dyed. wovens . Source: Market Survey (2010)

Table 4.15 clearly shows that, locally made textiles are only cotton yarns with plain weave grey, mercerized and printed cotton fabrics. The printed designs are oriented toward

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African cultural and aesthetic values. The foreign textiles however come with assorted range of natural and man-made fabrics and blends with varied structural and surface pattern designs for wider application. This goes to buttress the point made by Frings (2001) that natural and man-made fibre producers work together to research and develop fibre blends of which textile engineers find the best properties in combining them in satisfactory proportions to maximize their best characteristics; hence, broadening the scope of their utilization. This is evident in the findings made on foreign textiles in Ghanaian market which, to the researcher, makes the foreign textiles receive higher patronage in the local market compared to the locally made textiles.

4.3.4 Price Competitiveness of Imported Textiles The market survey conducted (Makola-Accra and Kumasi Central markets, November 2010) on price points also revealed significant differences in local and foreign textiles with the local prints costing about twice higher than the foreign types (Table 4.17).

Table 4.17: Price points of local and foreign African prints (November, 2010) Company Type of print Price per half piece TGL (Local) Nustyle GH¢35 Hand Block Wax GH¢42 Vlico Wax (Hollandaise) GH¢116

Woodin (Local) Plain GH¢39 Design GH¢45 Metalic GH¢51 Fancy GH¢22

ATL (Local) Excellence GH¢24 ABC Wax GH¢48 CTD ABC Local GH¢48 VIP Gold GH¢55 Osikani GH¢45

Da Viva (local) Treasurer GH¢46 Ultimate GH¢36 Plain GH¢30 Combination (Alphadi) GH¢44 Fancy GH¢35

Chinese–Hitarget (Foreign) Fancy GH¢12 Wax GH¢24 Source: Market Survey (November, 2010)

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Evidently, the least price among the local prints is ATL fancy which costs GH¢22 per half a piece. This figure is even twice higher than the Chinese fancy which is sold at GH¢12 per half a piece. Incidentally, the high price points of TGL, ABC, Woodin, Da Viva and ATL brands make them reserved for selected few consumers who are enthused for quality local prints irrespective of their price. The researcher observed that, most of the prints of ATL, TGL, ABC and Hollandaise are now niche products on Ghanaian market giving the Chinese and other cheap foreign prints a competitive price advantage over them. ATL Administrative Manager (Personal communication, June 14, 2010) noted that, the issue of price competitiveness of the foreign textiles as against locally made types has generated much public concerns on the future of the local textile industry. He therefore concluded that, Ghana being a developing country with majority of its citizenry with low per capital income levels coupled with high rate of unemployment, affordability becomes a major determining factor for purchasing textile prints. Concurrently, interactions with randomly selected consumers by the researcher on the spot of buying (November, 2010)from Makola and Kumasi Central markets of Accra and Kumasi respectively confirm that majority of consumers consider affordability as number one factor in buying local prints due to their low income levels. It is however logical to conclude that the cheap Asian prints stand a greater chance of higher patronage than the local prints.

4.3.5 Illicit Textile Trade/Smuggling of Textiles The study finds that, smuggling of textiles in the country is on the increase. It is estimated that the State loses about 300bn Ghana cedis annually through textile smuggling (Chronicles, Friday October 24, 2003). Statistics of CEPS shows that smuggling figures of African prints keep increasing at Aflao and Ho entry points where smuggled prints are frequently intercepted. As indicated in Figure 4.29, the rate of textile smuggling increased unprecedentedly between 2004 and 2006 with a gradual decrease from 2006 to 2007. However, smuggling of textiles shoots up in 2007.

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60000

50000 y = 8720.5x - 2E+07 R² = 0.78 40000

30000

20000 Quantities (pieces) Quantities 10000

0 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Year

Figure 4.29: Smuggling of African prints at Aflao and Ho entry points (2002 -2008) Source: CEPS (2010)

A focus group discussion (July 13, 2010) with five (5) staff of the Operations Department of CEPS in charge of examination of goods and assessing the amount of duty payable revealed that, the sharp increase in smuggling of African prints between 2004 and 2006 especially at Togo-Aflao border was due to the ban of importation of textiles through no entry point other than Takoradi port with the aim of monitoring the flood of foreign textiles and minimizing smuggling of textiles into the country. They argued that there were difficulties in enforcing this directive as most importers due to inconveniences of long transits and meeting deadlines could not pass their goods through Takoradi port as directed, and for that matter were compelled to use unapproved roots to get their goods through without paying the requisite taxes. This, consequently, has had an adverse effect on government revenue since the ban was enacted. The directive, according to Asare (2010) was detrimental to small-cross-border importers who only import a few tens or hundreds of pieces of products and for that matter it becomes practically impossible for them to procure their ware from across the border and ship such small quantities to the Port of Takoradi for clearance. Asare therefore proposes the customs principle of “canalization and concentration” as a means through which proper monitoring could be done to control smuggling of textiles. This will involve a selection of stations to be adequately staffed and resourced to carry out whatever controls a policy directive may seek to enforce at a greater efficiency. Contrary to this, the Administrative Manager of ATL thinks otherwise with the contention that CEPS officials are part of the upsurge in smuggling of textiles in the country with the justification that,

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CEPS officials make personal profits through the activities of the small-cross-border importers by taking bribes from them and allowing them to cross the borders with the smuggled goods and for that matter are against the ban.

4.3.6 Knock-off of Local Print Designs by Textile Importers and Merchandisers Copying of locally printed designs has become the habit of most textile importers and traders. The focus group discussion (July 13, 2010) with five (5) staff of the Operations Department of CEPS also revealed that the culprits for this illicit textile trade do not only smuggle their prints through unapproved roots to escape payment of right tariffs, but also engage in pirating and printing large quantities of local print designs to be sold in Ghanaian market on the detriment of the original local prints and their merchandisers. Samples of pirated local prints (Plate 4.6) intercepted at Togo-Aflao border which the researcher observed at ATL Design Studio, Storage Section in Accra (July 2, 2010) confirms this with evidence of complete knock-off of motifs, textures, and colour to the extent of, sometimes, copying the labels of the local firm together with the production codes and serial numbers of the prints. The Design Manager of ATL (Personal communication, July 2, 2010) attested to the fact that within a maximum of three months a new local design is printed and introduce into the market, knock-off of such design is seen on the market. He elaborated that the local print designs are usually sent to China and other Asian countries by Ghanaian textile merchandisers to be printed and smuggled into the country to be sold at a very cheap price to local consumers. This situation is very worrisome and creates unfair competition in the domestic textile market in the sense that the dealers of the imitation prints sell their products far below the domestic production cost as they manage to import these prints without paying the right taxes. This, as a result, leads to high patronage of the imitation prints due to the ignorance on the part of the local consumers who are unable to distinguish the original prints from the imitation (Plates 4.6 and 4.7).

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Plate 4.6: Original wax print (ATL) Plate 4.7: Pirated wax print (Hitarget) Source: Field Survey, ATL (2010)

Looking at the two prints above, it is obvious that a lay person will find it extremely difficult to make out the differences in terms of motifs, textures and colour as the design has been professionally copied without glaring defects. The copied print even exhibits excellent colour brilliance compared to the original. But technically, the wax effects in both prints can be distinguished by critical observation to identify the real from the imitation. Whereas the real wax reveals accidental and random placement of wax bubbles with blur edges and crackle effects, the imitation exhibits well calculated placement of wax bubble effects with very fine edges. The reason is that in real wax, the wax effect is achieved with wax application by duplex technology which creates accidental crackle effects and makes the resultant print assumes identical images on both sides of the cloth. But with imitation wax print the wax effect is replicated and consciously printed on only one side of the cloth with a rotary screen or roller printing machine. The ATL Administrative Manager (Personal communication, June 14, 2010) argued that the CEPS officials at the borders have little or no knowledge about the prints and thereby find it difficult in determining the differences when the prints are intercepted at the borders due to their close likeness. For this reason, they always have to depend on representatives of the various local textile factories who have to travel long distance to the borders to identify the prints. In most cases the factory representative are unable to visit the borders due to their tight schedules at the factory and smugglers manage to sail through. This has incidentally increased the rate of smuggled textiles in the country. The staff of the Operations Department of CEPS engaged in a focus group discussion (July 13,

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2010) called for training programmes for their staff by the textile factories to enlighten them on the prints for easy identification in order to help reduce copying and smuggling of local print designs. However, the Administrative Manager of ATL argued that detecting of imitation from original prints require technical expertise and professionalism and as such there is the need for CEPS to work closely with the factory representatives or employ textile professionals at the borders to do such job. He also established that, right from the onset when the textile factories wanted to collaborate with CEPS and Ghana Standard Board to assist check smuggling of textiles, CEPS rejected the idea. The rejection of such collaboration by CEPS made the factory representatives suspected that CEPS has a devious agenda in the smuggling of textiles.

4.3.7Absence of a National Policy Document on Textile Production in Ghana One of the major factors accounting for the inability of the Ghana textile industry to operate effectively is the absence of a national policy document for the sub-sector. This stems from the evidence that the textiles and garment sector was given no significant attention in the 2001 review policy (Ghana Trade Policy Review, 2001). Appallingly, while most textile producing countries like China, India, Kenya, Nigeria, etc., have developed and are implementing pragmatic national policy documents for sustainability of their textile industries (China's Textile Industry, 2009; Omolo, 2006; and Oyejide, 1975), the Ghana textile industry is operating in a vacuum with no sense of direction and vision. On the issue of policy document on textiles, the Administrative Manager of ATL (Personal communication, June 14, 2010) challenged the Ministry of Trade and Industry to prove if its outfit has a policy document for the textile industry. In respond to this, the five (5) selected staff of MOTI engaged in a focus group discussion (July 12, 2010) in a confirmation clarified that, a number of directives and policies have been put in place to develop and invigorate the textile industry since 1960s, but as to a complete policy document with regard to production and sales of locally made textiles that has been developed and implemented or yet to be implemented, there is no such document available. The researcher noted that, the industry has been dependent mainly on external policies and Acts to operate. These include; Import Substitution Industrialization policy, Trade liberalization policy, AGOA, among others, which were adopted generally to help the growth of the domestic industries (Quartey, 2006). These policies have rather imposed a number of challenges on the domestic textile factories making it difficult for them to survive. The obvious reason for this from the researcher’s point of view is that, these 181 policies were formulated based on the philosophies and developmental plans of the home countries, and therefore adopting them for another country may be a risk adventure.

4.3.8 Lack of Subsidy for the Textile Industry Amidst globalization with high product price competitiveness, most countries have devised ways and means to subsidize their domestic industrial production to reduce cost of production. The study reveals that whiles Ghanaian textile factories do not enjoy any form of subsidy on production and exportation, their Asian counterparts, with specific reference to China, get subsidies on production and tax rebates on textile export from the government (China's Textile Industry, 2009). Former Ghanaian President Kufuor, in his May Day speech (2005), stated that Ghana cannot subsidize textiles production as done in Nigeria, because the country does not have the resources to do so. Commenting on the issue of subsidy on textile production, the Administrative Manager of ATL noted that, Chinese textile firms power their machinery through steam energy which is supplied freely by the government indicating that such companies spend very less on energy. Besides, Chinese textile companies get 13% rebate on exportation of their products which is aimed at promoting domestic textile companies and encourage them to engage substantially in textile exportation. This implies that, when a company exports $100,000 worth of goods to say Ghana, the company is given $13,000 as rebate. This goes to buttress the point made in China’s Revitalization Plans for the Textile Industry (2009) that stresses on the move by the China government to give more export tax rebates to encourage textile enterprises and increase profits of the whole industry. The unfortunate situation in Ghana is that, despite the fact that the textile factories embark on exportation of locally made textiles to some ECOWAS countries, no tax rebates or incentives are given to encourage them increase their export activities. According to the ATL Administrative Manager, after exporting for one year, what Export Promotion Council does is to look at the company’s total export value and if it is beyond certain margin, an award in the form of a plaque or citation is given to honour the company. This is no incentive and does not encourage domestic industries to grow. A similar situation exists in the cotton industry where the Administrative Manager of GCCL (Personal communication, May 25, 2010) asserted that, as a very significant cash crop serving most of the fabric manufacturing companies worldwide, it is a common practice to see most governments of cotton production countries subsidizing cotton production to lessen the burden on both cotton growers and ginnery firms, making specific 182 reference to China, US, India, Pakistan, and in the sub-region Burkina Faso, Benin, Mali, and Cote d’Ivoire. The situation in Ghana, according to the GCCL Administrative Manager is different as cotton production is not subsidized in any form by the government. He however noted that, food crop production in the region is subsidized by the government to encourage farmers to produce more foodstuffs. Moreover, the General Secretary of Cotton Farmers Association (Personal communication, May 28, 2010)added that, a number of NGO’s have gone into sponsorship of food crop production in the region making it more attractive and for that matter causing most of the cotton farmers to divert into the production of food crops. This from observation has created a great vacuum in cotton production industry resulting in reduction in cotton yields.

4.3.9 Lack of Capital Investment in the Textiles Sub-Sector An apparent observation made by the researcher which was confirmed by the Acting Technical Director of VSTL and the Administrative Manager of GCCL was lack of capital investment in the sub-sector by government, financial institutions and stakeholders. As indicated in the chapter four of this dissertation, textile factories whose management control is by the government are confronted with serious financial constraints and are crying for the government to recapitalize the factories. Those with the private management control are calling for financial institutions and other stakeholders to invest or assist them to recapitalize their factories. In support of the assertion made by MOTI (1973), the Acting Technical Director of VSTL confirmed that running a textile factory is capital intensive and therefore requires the state or foreign investors to come in to ensure efficiency and sustainability. Taking sides with each other, both the Acting Technical Director of VSTL and the Administrative Manager of ATL contended that, successive governments have not been supportive due to high financial demand and lack of interest in the textile sub-sector. Political aspirants, according to them, make flimsy promises during their political campaigns and fail to deliver their promises after they have come to power. Very disturbing issue that the researcher noticed is the discontinuity of past governments’ policies or agenda which continues to cripple the industry as new governments always want to pursue their own manifesto agenda leaving the unfinished projects of previous government to die out. This trend affects the state owned companies the most as they usually rely on the government for recapitalization. The private owned companies on the other hand have no option than to depend on loans from some financial institutions with

183 high commercial interest rate to remain in business. The result of this is high indebtedness of most textile manufacturing companies.

4.3.10 Lack of Research and Development in the Textile Sub-Sector A survey of the various plants of the four selected textile factories; GCCL, VSTL, ATL and TGL indicate that the industry still sticks to the production of plain weave cotton fabrics with high dependency on obsolete machinery and technology for production. It was observed that the local textile industry employs only tappet looms which have limited design possibilities with limited application. A factory like TGL still utilizes cumbersome dyeing and printing technology such as pit dyeing and hand block printing. An obvious revelation from the survey is that, since the inception of the textile industry in the 1960s, not much significant research and development have been made in the sub-sector to position the industry at a competitive level so as to rub shoulders with its offshore counterparts who have advanced into research and development of fibre/fabric variance and functionality with much emphasis on production of fabrics for technical, industrial and high fashionable applications. This is affirmed by the observation made by Majory (1986) that, since 1960s, major changes in the production and manufacture of fibres, yarns, and fabrics have occurred where the development of fibre variance and modifications, and new methods for processing fibres into ultimate end-use products have affected finishing and colouring fabrics at the manufacturing level and behaviour in use and care at the consumer level. Contrary to this phenomenon that has become a trend in worldwide production of textiles, questionnaire responses of textile lecturers from the country’s high academic institutions with specific reference to KNUST, UEW, Kumasi and Takoradi polytechnics(Figure 4.30) revealed little research and development in the textiles sub- sector. Evidently, twelve (12) out of eighteen (18) respondents representing 66.6% indicated that there has been little research and development in the textiles subsector, with three (3) that is 16.6% going in for no research and development in the subsector, whereas two (2) representing 11.1% hold the view that there has been significant research and development in the subsector.

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11.1% Little research and 16.6% develoment 66.6% No research and development Signficant research and development

Fig. 4.30: Research and development in the textiles subsector Source: Field research (2010)

Very unfortunate observation made by the researcher at the country’s high academic institutions offering textiles is that research findings in the form of theses and dissertations by both lecturers and students usually end up in the shelves without any impetus for implementation of such findings in the industry as there is no form of action plan or programme that allows for such development to take place. It was also observed that the local cotton industry is faced with frequent shortage and poor quality of cotton seeds due to lack of research in cotton production by the research institutes in the country. According to the Administrative Manager of GCCL (Personal communication, May 25, 2010), Savannah Agriculture Research Institute (SARI) established with one of its core objectives to research into cotton for the sustainability of the cotton industry has directed its focus into other agricultural produce other than cotton, given cotton growers and ginneries no option than to import cotton seeds from the neighbouring cotton producing countries like Mali, Cote d’Ivoire, and Burkina Faso who, according to the General Secretary of the Cotton Farmers Association supply farmers with poor quality seeds leading to low yield each season. The Administrative Manager of GCCL further stated that, some attempts were made by Ministry of Trade and Industry in 2006 to support SARI in the development of an improved seeds for use by cotton farmers and as a result, SARI came out with three seed varieties of which the National Varietals Release Committee (NVRC) released two for cultivation. A lot more, to the researcher, is required in this direction as much more improved cotton varieties with less inputs requirement and high yield are increasingly being developed by cotton producing countries worldwide for economic reasons. For instance, with the introduction of Genetically Modified Policy (GM) in cotton production

185 which is aimed at reducing heavy reliance of pesticides, most cotton producing countries in both the developed and developing worlds such as US, India, and China have shifted to GM cotton production to reduce cost of inputs and for that matter production cost, and also to boost their output performance (Genetically Modified Cotton, 2010). The Administrative Manager of GCCL added that cotton producing countries in Africa like Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso, among others have as well moved in this direction to produce significant quantities of cotton for local consumption and for export. But due to the Ghana government’s unpreparedness to implement the Genetically Modified Policy (GM), the researcher finds that not much has been done in this area and the cotton industry suffers the most with a very blur future.

4.3.11 Recession in World Market Price of Cotton The former MD of GCCL (Personal communication, May 24, 2010) established that, the sustainability and growth of the cotton industry has been determined by the world market price; however, as the world markets price of cotton continues to experience acute recession, the local cotton industry struggles to survive the crisis. Overview of the world market price of cotton from 1994 to 2001 indicates a considerable decrease in price of cotton with an average price of lint cotton falling from 120 US Cents/lb to 40 Cents/lb representing about 200% decrease over a seven year period (Asante and Associates, 2010). The 2004 season recession in world market price of cotton, according to Administrative Manager of GCCL, devastated the local cotton industry to the extent that the industry has not been able to revitalize its production activities. He continued that GCCL was the most affected in that the company at this same period recapitalized its infrastructure with the aim of maximizing productivity. However, the depreciation in world market price caused many farmers to leave the cotton scene which created a great vacuum in cotton production leading to insufficient supply of seed cotton to meet the capacities of both the upgraded and newly installed ginneries. A graph of the trend in world market prices of cotton over a 7-year period is shown in Figure 4.31.

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140 120 100 80 60

US Cent/lb US 40 Price (US$ 20 Cents/lb.) 0

Year

Fig. 4.31: World market price of cotton-1994-2001 Source: Asante and Associates (2010)

Responding to questions on price depreciation in world market price of cotton, both the Administrative Manager and the former MD of GCCL noted that, the producer price of seed cotton paid to the out-growers does not follow the trend in the world market price. The few out-growers who are still in the cotton business enjoy relatively higher prices since the cotton companies are not able to pass the exact world market price to the out- grower at the negotiation table for the fear of farmers’ agitation, or completely losing them. It could be deduced from the discussion that Ghana, a member of WTO (Ghana Trade Policy Review, 2001), is obliged to trade its cotton in accordance with the world market price set at the onset of every cotton season. Although the researcher observed that there is considerably high demand for lint cotton, the problem of price instability and acute recession in the world market price of cotton within the last decade has caused the local cotton industry to decline tremendously to the extent that most of ginneries have folded up leaving many cotton farmers jobless in the region; a scenario that poses a serious threat to the local fabric manufacturing industries.

4.3.12 Global concern for Eco-friendly Production Practices The Health and Safety Manager of TGL (Personal communication, July 7, 2010) responding to questions on environmental friendly production asserted that, the global concerns for environmental protection, health, and safety issues have compelled most industries including domestic textiles manufacturers to engage in environmentally friendly production. He further noted that TGL has even won an award for judiciously use and recycling of water aimed at saving the environment from toxic chemicals. This buttresses 187 the point made by Frings (2001) that the American and European textile companies have made a move to maintain health, safety and clean air and water leading to the introduction of E3 (Encouraging Environmental Excellence) programme which urges producers to protect the environment. In order to break-even and have a fair share of patronage in the international markets, however, the researcher observed that some domestic textile companies like VSTL, ATL and TGL have made some attempts into environmental friendly production to make their products acceptable in the international markets. These include installation of water, wax, and other chemicals recycling systems, which ensure safe disposal of toxic production substances thereby reducing the risk of pollution these pose on the water bodies, air and the environment as a whole. Provision of nose and ear protective devices to employees for their safety with enforcement of safety precaution norms was apparent in the factories. This is in line with the assertion made by Majory (1978) that, employees are now provided with nose and ear protective devices to protect them from inhalation of fumes from boilers that in the past has been responsible for a variety of illness among employees, and high sound vibration that has an adverse effect on the hearing of workers. However, the researcher observed that, local textile factories have not been able to engage fully in E3 programme due to the high capital cost involved in eco-friendly textile production which according to Frings (2001) makes some textile producers, especially those from the less developed countries, kick against environmental friendly production. For the domestic textile industry to get fully into eco-friendly production in order to cope with global trends, a lot more has to be done in terms of capital and machinery infrastructure, production processes and material utilization, as well as enforcement of safety policies for personnel, among others. The following alternatives as suggested by Frings could be considered by the domestic textile manufacturers: a) The use of alternative methods of picking systems requiring water or air on modern looms to bring to the barest minimum the high sound vibration that characterized shuttle looms which has an adverse effect on the hearing of workers. b) Installation of water–purification equipment to reduce water and air pollution. That is alternative use of solvents and foam technology for the reduction of water pollution which requires less energy consumption for effective textile production. c) Cleaning and filtering air to reduce or eliminate interior pollution.

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Although the installation of various controls required in the reduction of noise, water and air pollution add to the cost of production and consequently affects the price of the finished textile products, manufacturers have no option as environmental friendly production has become mandatory in some developed worlds. This poses an unforeseen threat to the future of the local textile industry as environmental friendly production is increasingly becoming a global phenomenon in industrial processes.

4.3.13 Effects of Trade Liberalization The Administrative Manager of ATL (Personal communication, June 14, 2010) was emphatic that, trade liberalization is not a bad phenomenon in that it brings about competition and encourages improvement of quality of domestic products and consumer benefits. He however was in contention that, the untimely enforcement of liberal trade policy in Ghana in the 1980’s as part of the conditionality of World Bank and IMF for the country to access funds from them was a major cause for the near collapse of the textile industry. This confirms the argument by Egu (2009) that the collapsing of the textile industry in Ghana is attributed to the trade liberalization policy emphasizing that the liberalization in trade in Ghana led to the flood of textile products from China and other countries which due to their relatively cheaper prices compared to those produced in Ghana made it difficult for the local producers to cope with the competition. Stakeholders have proposed that, it is good to protect the textile industry from external factors since it forms part of the production sector of the economy. However, whiles the industrialists oppose the trade liberalization policy, economists have argued that trade protectionism flies against the theory of comparative advantage, which suggests that opening up world markets, and reducing trade barriers (Trade liberalization) would lead to gains from trade for all concerned (Globalization & Gender Brief Series, 2009). The ATL Administrative Manager was of the view that, government should have devised expedient measures to elevate the standards of those domestic factories which were sub-standard and vulnerable in terms of capital and physical infrastructure to an appreciable level, strong enough to produce quality products at reasonable affordable price which could compete keenly with products from the foreign countries before going ahead to implement the trade liberalization policy. This, according to him, was not done before the policy was introduced and within three years of its implementation, the textile factories, which were in the excess of about 300 comprising large and medium scale industries, reduced drastically to nine (9). This was because the products of those domestic 189 firms could not compete with the imported types in terms of quality and price. The unfortunate issue is that, some of the imported textiles come in not necessarily under the same competition as some foreign textile producers get subsidies from their government to cut down production cost which is not the case in Ghana; hence accounting for the collapse of many local textile factories with the existing ones struggling hard to survive. These opinions by the ATL Administrative Manager are proven by MOTI’s report (2004) which affirms that, most industries went out of business and the situation deteriorated under trade liberalization, which formed part of the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP) pursued in the 1980s and 1990s by the government. Hence, employment in textiles sub-sector declined from 7,000 in 1995 to 5,000 in 2000. The reforms led to increased importation of textiles and other used apparel, which facilitated the closure of many textile industries in Ghana. This, to the researcher, is a clear indication that the woes of the country’s textile industry is primarily as the result of the introduction of trade liberalization policy. It is therefore economically important for the government to put in place stringent measures that will serve as safeguards to the textile industry as other developing countries in the sub-region like Kenya and Nigeria have done to protect their domestic textile factories from collapsing. As indicated by Omolo (2006), between the time of Kenya’s independence and the end of 1990, the government systematically introduced controls in the sector to protect the local industry by imposing 100 percent duty on imported textiles. This ensured rapid growth of the local textile industry hitting an average production capacity of over 70 percent. However, by the mid-1980s, the textile and garment industry started to decline as a result of the implementation of trade liberalization which affected Kenya’s economy. As one of the key sectors targeted for employment creation and poverty reduction in the country, the Kenya government, according to Omolo, determined to revive the dwindling fortunes of the industry by outlining a number of policies to promote the growth and development of the textile sector. To increase trade and investment within the sector, the government made proposals to review trade licensing agreements to provide market information to Kenya textile manufacturers, support the private sector in identifying new markets, improve the quality of Kenyan goods and to reduce non- commercial risks. The government also pledged to improve the business climate by developing a new regulatory framework for financing and infrastructure, strengthening the rule of law, improving security and reducing the number of regulations and steps required for investing in the country. 190

Faced with fierce competition from outside, the Federal Republic of Nigeria, according to Oyejide (1975), introduced a number of restrictions on imports between 2001 and 2004 to encourage local production and consumption. For instance, the number of broad product groups under import ban rose from 27 in February 2003 to 35 in January 2004. In 1989, for example, close to 96% of the tariff lines for textiles and clothing were subjected to an import prohibition regime (GATT, 1991). This was done to ensure that domestic textile factories in Nigeria are protected by restricting products that are judged to be ‘not essential’ or compete with domestically produced goods that are available in adequate quantities. Ghana can learn from these experiences to protect and sustain its textile industry.

4.3.14 Effects of African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) enacted into law in 2000 aimed at offering tangible incentives for African countries to continue their efforts to open their economies and build free markets. It provides opportunities to eligible African countries to export about 64,000 products to United States without tariffs or quotas (Appiah, 2002). However, when asked about the benefits that local textile factories have derived from AGOA since its inception in 2000, the Personnel Manager of ATL (Personal communication, June 29, 2010) asserted that they have not been benefitting from AGOA in the sense that the Act does not make any provision for them since their products do not fall within the categories of AGOA products. He maintained that, AGOA mainly favours the small and medium scale enterprises whose cheap labour is being exploited to the benefit of US in the sense that AGOA imposes stringent rules and restrictions that make it difficult for most domestic industries to take advantage which has resulted in the decline of Ghana’s textile exports to US market on the ticket of AGOA in the recent times. Statistics show that, Ghana’s export of textiles and apparel to US reached $9.507 in 2006 but decreased drastically to $0.718 as at January, 2009 (AGOA Implementation Guide, 2000). The decrease in exportation of textiles to the US, from the researcher’s point of view, is due to the strict rules governing the Act. This is buttressed by Appiah (2002) who emphasizes that AGOA insists on specific categories of textiles and apparel products that are permissible to enter US on duty free and quota free treatments. The various categories are; apparel assembled in Sub-Saharan Africa from fabrics wholly formed and cut in the United States, from yarns wholly formed in the United States; apparel cut and assembled 191 in United States or Sub-Saharan Africa, using thread or fabrics wholly formed in the United States; sweaters knit to shape from cashmere or certain wool. The sweater must be in chief weight of cashmere, or 50% or more by weight of Merino wool measuring 18.5 microns in diameter; apparel cut or knit to shape and assembled in Sub-Saharan from third-country yarn or fabric in short supply. Yarns and fabrics currently deemed to be in short supply include; silk, linen, fire count cotton circular knit fabric for certain apparel, cotton vehement, fine count cotton corduroy, Harris tweed, batiste fabrics, and high thread count broadloom fabrics for men’s and boy’s shirts; and handloom, handmade and folklore articles. A clear indication from these categories of textiles which are acceptable to the US market through AGOA is that, apart from the handloom, handmade and folklore articles that the traditional kente industry can take advantage of, the rest give preference to US fibres, yarns and fabrics wholly assembled or otherwise cut in US which comprises silk, linen, merino wool, cashmere, cotton with specific reference to circular knit fabric, vehement, corduroy, etc. which are not in favour of the local textile factories whose production is confined to plain woven and printed cotton fabrics. The local textile factories could have taken advantage of the De Minimize Rule which makes room for apparel products assembled in Sub-Saharan Africa with some fibres or yarns not wholly formed in the United States or the beneficiary of Sub-Saharan African Country. The problem with the De Minimized Rule, however, is that the product will only be eligible as long as the total weight of all such fibres and yarns is not more than 7% of the total weight of the article (Appiah, 2002). This requires fibre/ yarn blend, a technology which is not practiced in Ghana. From the above discussion, it is evident that the offer of duty-free and quota-free access to the US does not apply to all African textiles and clothing exports. It does not apply to exports of African prints produced with locally processed fibres and yarns which indicate that AGOA does not support development of local resources. However, the restrictions in terms of product specifications and standards have made vulnerable African countries like Ghana not benefiting fully from AGOA as projected by Salinger (2001) that, the extent of benefits that African countries can tap from AGOA depends on how Africa's industries are learning to compete internationally. Salinger was of the view that AGOA may offer duty and quota advantages to African exporters, but potential suppliers will have to be commercially competitive if they are to realize any tangible gains for their industries and for their people from the bill. But the unfortunate scenario is that most of the African 192 countries are not able to compete with the international market, hence, unable to tap the benefits of AGOA. AGOA also requires that African countries eliminate barriers to US trade and investment which open doors to the US to export quantum of quality textiles and clothing into the member country to compete with the domestic types and as a result kill the market for the locally made textiles.

4.3.15 Effects of Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI) Making reference to Ghana’s past industrial policies, both the Technical Director of VSTL (Personal communication, June 7, 2010) and the Administrative Manager of ATL (Personal communication, June 14, 2010) admitted that Ghana initially engaged in Import Substitution Industrialization which made significant impact on the activities of the textile factories. The two managers established that, the ISI made the textile sub-sector to dominate the manufacturing sector and contributed significantly to livelihood. This goes to affirm the assertion made by Quartey (2006) that Ghana textile industry employed about 25,000 of the labour force which accounted for 27% of the total manufacturing employment and operated at about 60% of plant capacity and that the textile sub-sector was an important source of foreign exchange in Ghana in the 1960s and 1970s. Like many African countries, Quartey posits that Ghana’s industrial strategy was meant to provide economic dependence; hence, manufacturing industries were established to produce items that were previously imported. Despite the benefits that the country derived by the implementation of ISI, the Administrative of ATL noted that the textile industry suffered a setback in the 1980s due to shortage of foreign exchange for importation of raw materials which resulted in the sub- sector operating at extremely low capacity. Most industries, according to Quartey, went out of business and the situation deteriorated under implementation of trade liberalization policy. Ghana textile industry which was operating comfortably under the ISI encountered a strong competition from foreign textiles imported into the country during the SAP period on the ticket of trade liberalization. This was due to the fact that Ghana’s Import Substitution Industrialization was inward-looking in that it focused on production for domestic consumption and for that matter did not attach much priority to outward-looking principle which, according to Blouet and Blouet (2002), promotes exports and therefore aims at strengthening domestic industries to work efficiently to produce quality products to meet international standards to enable them compete fairly with their offshore counterparts. 193

Based on the views expressed by the ATL Administrative Manager in support of the assertions made by Quartey and Blouet and Blouet on ISI, it is palpable that the shortage of foreign exchange in the 1980s on importation of raw materials that crippled the textile industry was due to the fact that the industry did not attach much precedence to exportation of its products as it primarily targeted the domestic market during the era of ISI which resulted in lack of foreign exchange to import raw materials and other production essentials to sustain the industry. Moreover, because production was oriented towards local consumption, the probability of attaining economy of scale or efficient production by the local textile industry was less feasible considering the relatively small local market size as well as the low purchasing power of local textile consumers. This is exemplified by Blouet and Blouet that, the more units of anything manufactured a factory can sell, the better the chances of that factory to achieve economy of scale that is efficient production. Hence, larger and richer economies with high per capital incomes were more likely to make ISI succeed efficiently than smaller countries with low per capital incomes. This, from the researcher’s point of view, proves why Ghana has failed to succeed with ISI in a free market global economy which frowns on quantitative restrictions and allows the influx of varieties and quantities of products into member countries and therefore competition becomes a vital key to success. Taking sides with the Administrative Manager of ATL, the researcher opines that what Ghana should have done was to strengthen its domestic industries during the era of ISI to make them very efficient to produce to meet international standards, and also maximize their productivity for exports to obtain economy of scale which would have earn the country significant foreign exchange for sustainable development of the textile sub-sector.

4.4 Measures Implemented to Salvage the Textile Industry Ghana had been experiencing a virtually collapsing textile sub-sector; a decline in the manufacturing industry due to strikes that has led to limited access to credit, high interest rates, high cost of production, dumping and smuggling activities of foreign exporters. Local textile manufacturers unrelentingly complain about the influx of cheaper textiles made in China and huge stocks of used garments from the United States of America and Europe. As a means to mitigate or bring the rising challenges of the textile industry to the barest minimum, the study finds that a number of stringent measures have been put in place by the government since 2000 to sustain and develop the industry. According to the findings of the study the measures have, however, not yielded the expected results due to 194 the challenges that are associated with their implementation as discussed in the following sections.

4.4.1 Implementation of National Friday Wear Policy In June, 2006 a National Friday Wear initiative was launched by the to promote patronage of locally made textiles. This initiative was to transform Ghana’s economy by promoting the textiles and garments sector to create employment, generate income, to create a national identity and also to alleviate poverty (Asaam, 2010). In line with this directive, the study observed that many private and government institutions have made the attempt to adopt suitable textile prints for Friday wear which has boosted the patronage of locally manufactured textiles. The Design Manager of ATL (Personal communication, July 2, 2010) attested to this by saying that his team now works on institutional prints more than any other prints due to the National Friday Wear directive and was very optimistic that if Ghanaians are encouraged to wear local printed fabrics, the textile industry will be revived. He elaborated that, with the introduction of the National Friday Wear Policy, the banks and other financial institutions which are noted for the compulsory use of the suits and necktie as official dressing code in discharging their duties and were initially not ready to compromise its use for any alternatives as this fetches them some form of allowances now make use of local prints for Friday wear. From observation, a number of academic institutions have also taken to the use of local prints for outing dresses and even school uniforms. The general Ghanaian populace is not left out; they have been exhibiting in style every Friday the wearing of a variety of locally printed textiles all towards the agendum of promoting ‘made- in- Ghana’ textiles. Despite the positive impact that the Friday wear initiative is having on the locally printed textiles, the study observed that the imported textiles are competing keenly with the local textiles with regard to their use for Friday wear, although the Ghanaian government’s vision for the initiative was to promote only locally made textiles. Some consumers make use of imported fabrics for Friday wear on the bases of affordability thereby depriving the locally made textiles from benefiting fully from the initiative. This buttresses the assumption made by De Voest and Holtzman (2006) that, the campaign to wear locally made clothes on Fridays has had little impact on the patronage of locally made printed textiles as it possibly accounts for less than 5% of the locally produced African prints. From all indications, it can be foreseen that if nothing is done to check the 195 usage of imported textiles for Friday wear in Ghana, foreign textiles will eventually takeover locally made textiles to kill the vision of the initiative.

4.4.2 Restriction to allow textiles imports to pass through only Takoradi Port In July 2005, the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the President’s Special Initiative, through the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS), the implementing agency, issued a directive to prohibit importation of African Prints to Ghana through any Entry Point other than the Port of Takoradi (Asare, 2010). This, though not a complete ban, was to limit the unbridled importation of cheaper African textile prints. This was very crucial as it was necessary for the government of Ghana to protect the local textile industry from collapsing as a result of stiff and unfair competition of cheaper textiles from abroad and also, to make importers pay the right tariffs on their goods and also check the smuggling of textiles. A focus group discussion with five (5) staff of the Operations Department of CEPS, (July 13, 2010) revealed that, the directive remained in force until December 17, 2008 which according to them had negative impact on the businesses of small cross-border traders who dealt in the importation of African prints. Asare opines that there were difficulties in enforcing the directive and several allegations were made with the reason that the implementation of the directive was the cause of the increase in smuggling of African prints between 2005 and 2008 as previously indicated in the graph in Figure 4.29 (p 178).

4.4.3 Implementation of President’s Special Initiative (PSI) on Textiles and Garment As a catalyst to support the private sector investment in garment and textiles industry in Ghana, the Ex-President of Ghana, His Excellency John Agyekum Kufuor, in September 2002 lunched PSI (President’s Special Initiative) to develop new pillars for economic growth and lift the country up to a top agro-industrial nation (Asaam, 2010). Asaam adds that the initiative was also meant to promote healthy co-operation between public and private sectors, wherein Government helps the private sector to source resources. Government’s main vision for the initiative was to facilitate the realization of the president’s vision to create “Golden age of business”, and to show Ghana’s response to AGOA in order to take full advantage of it. Among the expectations of the initiative were; the creation of 70,000 jobs with targeted revenue of $3.4 million in four years, and to build a capacity of 100 enterprises to operate as SMEs (MOTI, 2002). But the PSI faced serious 196 obstacles, in spite of genuine interest shown by the Government for its implementation (Asaam, 2010). Findings from a survey of selected factories operating under PSI (November, 2010) show that, the operations of the PSI primarily focused on production of garments for exports through AGOA and therefore did not encourage the operations of large-scale textile factories as their products did not meet AGOA conditionalities. This confirms the earlier assertion made by the Personnel Manager of ATL (Personal communication, June 29, 2010) that, the textile factories have not been benefitting from AGOA in that the Act does not make any provision for them since their products do not fall within the standards set by AGOA. Evidence from the survey of the six (6) factories operating under PSI within Accra and Tema metropolis indicated that, the production of garments is their major concern though the PSI is supposed to capture garment and textiles. The factories; Dignity Industry-Accra, Oakbrook Limited-Tema, Manise Designs-Tema, Sleek Garments-Accra, Premier Quality Limited-Tema, and Decent Touch Clothing-Accra, are all garment SMEs. A focus group interviews with a section of MOTI staff in the Textiles Department (July 12, 2010) revealed that the operation of PSI has been dwindled in terms of the number of industries, personnel, and output capacity. This is in confirmation of the survey findings made by Quartey (2006) on 40 textiles and garments industries in 2005 within Accra and Tema industrial areas which projected that about 44 percent of industries have cut down on employment, adding that from the total number of firms that had shed staff, 59 percent have laid off up to 5 percent of their workforce, 24 percent have laid off up to 6-10 percent and 11 percent have cut down employment by over 70 percent between 2000 and 2005. Again, the study found lack of working capital as one of the major setback of the PSI. According to Asaam (2010), funds provided by the government to the PSI firms were only enough to acquire the needed machinery to commence production and therefore the firms rely exclusively on bank loans with high commercial interest for production. Asaam also notes that, hired garment construction experts mostly from Sri Lanka and India are paid from this same money which costs the companies a lot resulting in temporary closure of some of the factories. Assessing the achievement of the PSI, Assam indicates that the initiative has been quite a failure in the sense that after 8 years of its take off, the garment and textile industry under the PSI employs less than 10,000 workers which is apparently far less than the initial projection of 70,000 employments that the initiative was expected to provide. The researcher however opines that, considering the potentials of the PSI, its 197 capability of bringing in foreign exchange and creation of more jobs, it is prudent for the Government restructure, strengthen and expand the PSI factories to increase their competitiveness and functional efficiency in order to fully tap the benefits governing the initiative for economic development.

4.4.4 Reduction of Import Duties on Textile Essentials The Ghana textile industry, as previously indicated by the managers of ATL, TGL and VSTL, imports most of its production essentials including grey cloth, mercerized cotton, dyestuff, printing ink, wax, spare parts and other chemicals from abroad which takes the bulk of its working capital due to high tariffs it pays on the importation of those essentials. A focus group discussion with five (5) staff of the Operations Department of CEPS, (July 13, 2010) revealed that, in 2004 the Government of Ghana removed import duty of 5% on essential textile inputs in an attempt to develop the domestic industry as a form of relief to ease the burden in order to encourage the local textile industries to remain in operation,. The staff noted further that, plans are far advanced to remove import tariffs on textile essential inputs which form part of several tax rebates by CEPS to help local manufacturers reduce their cost of production. This affirms Quartey’s assertion that, tariffs on all imported textiles manufacturing raw materials are to attract zero percent (0%) tariffs in order to reduce cost of production for locally manufactured textiles. This initiative, according to the former Deputy Minister of Ministry of Trade and Industry, Mr Kofi Osei- Ameyaw (Myjoyonline-Business News, 2006), is among the strategic plans of the government to save the domestic textile industry from sinking into the doldrums. He noted further that tariffs on textile imports such as dyestuffs and colours have dropped down from 10% to 5% in 2004. The step was taken to reduce the cost of manufacturing of textiles as the Ministry has been in talks with the domestic textile producers possibly of helping them to re-organize their plants to enable them hike their production capacities. Moreover, the local cotton industry is being re-organized to take initiative in support of the textile industry, which would make the sector more competitive in the global cotton market. Contrary to these assertions, the Administrative Manager of ATL (Personal communication, June 14, 2010) argued that, the move by the government and the institutions concerned to make imports of textile production essentials such as raw materials and spare parts duty free is only a hoax as they still go through long procedures to pay high tariffs on their imported goods. He established that, imported textile raw 198 materials attract 41% of the total value but spare parts and machinery attract no tariffs. This increases production cost of locally made textiles considerably making it difficult for the factories concerned to break even which incidentally affects the price and patronage.

4.4.5 Increase in Import Duties and Taxes on Wax Prints One of the mitigation measures that the government has put in place to check high imports of foreign textiles into the country is the increase in tariffs and others taxes which forms part of the steps to save the domestic textile industry from total collapse (Personnel of Operations Department of CEPS, focus group discussion, July 13, 2010). Responding to the question regarding increase in import duties on wax prints, all the 20 importers of Chinese wax prints randomly selected and interviewed from Makola and Kumasi central markets (14 and 16 July, 2010) respectively, were strongly against the government for the sky-high rise in import duties and other taxes on importation of textiles, arguing that it has really affected their business. They blame the domestic textile factories for causing the government to take the decision of increasing import taxes as their products are threatened by the strong competition posed by the foreign textiles. The importers contended that if the local prints are affordable for ordinary Ghanaian consumer, they would not have engaged in the trading of foreign textiles; they argued also that the domestic textile firms also import textiles to be sold in Ghana. In reaction to this, the Administrative Manager of ATL (Personal communication, July 20, 2010) admitted that his company and other local textile firms in Ghana do import from their sister companies within and outside Africa, but however emphasized that they pay the requisite import taxes. He continued that, the prints they import are original and not knock-offs as the importers are fond of doing. Statistics on importation of wax prints (Table 4.18) shows that, the Free On Board (FOB) of a quantity of 198 bales of Chinese imitation wax print imported on May, 2005 before the increase of import tariffs was $62,964. The figure for the same quantity on June 9, 2005 after the increase was $365,528. The Cost Insurance Freight (CIF) for the same quantity in May was $65,532.43 as against $368,726.37 when the import duty went up from $13,106.49 to $73,745.27. With regard to Value Added Tax (VAT) and National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL), the figures rose from $9,829.86 and $1,965.97 to $55,308.96 and $11,061.79 respectively (Importation of Wax Prints, 2009).

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Table 4.18: Statistics before and after increment of import duties on 198 bales of Chinese prints Type of import duty Before After Percentage increment increment of increment Free On Board (FOB) $62,964 $365,528 82.77% Cost insurance freight (CIF) $65,532.43 $368,726.37 82.23% Value added tax (VAT) $9,829.86 $55,308.96 82.23% National Health Insurance Levy (NHIL) $1,965.97 $11,061.79 82.23%

Source: www.ghanaweb (29 June, 2009)

It is evident from Table 4.18 that, there was over 80% increase of import duties on the various tax components which according to the importers of foreign wax prints interviewed at Kumasi central market and Makola market in Accra is extremely high and had consequently put some of the traders in difficult situation, in terms of taking delivery of their containers due to lack of funds to clear the items. They therefore lamented for reduction in tariff rates on importation of African prints to help them remain in business. That notwithstanding, observable findings from the major textile merchandising outfits and open markets revealed that the rise in import duties had not deterred importers from trading in foreign textiles, though they claimed to have been affected greatly by the increase of import duties on foreign prints. It was obvious that the quantities of foreign textiles on Ghanaian market far outweigh that of the locally made ones despite the increase in import duties. This is confirmed by the graphical curve shown earlier in Fig. 4.26 which indicates a boost in African prints imports after the upward adjustment of import duties in 2005. It could however be established that, although the action was taken to avoid dumping of imported wax prints in the domestic market to protect domestic industries, the rise in import duties has rather resulted in the upsurge of textile smuggling in the country as the importers, with their inability to pay the high tariffs required, had to device dubious means of bringing in their goods without paying the right tariffs in order to remain in business.

4.4.6 Establishment of the African Textile Print Committee (ATPC) An interview with the Administrative Manager of ATL revealed that, as industrial policing strategy to monitor and check smuggling and pirating of local printed designs, the African Textile Print Committee (ATPC) was formed in 2006 by a collaborative effort of the local textile factories. The committee is made up of representatives of the Ghana 200

Standard Board, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Textile factories, and textile importers. He continued that the committee, among its major responsibilities, meticulously vet or screen any textile design that is to be imported into the country taking into account the country of origin, fabric composition, motif, colour and label, to ensure that the design is original and 100% free of knock-offs of local print designs. In addition, the committee is tasked to work closely with Ghana Standard Board which is responsible for assessing products before their entry into the country at the National Enquiry Point (NEP) based on standard technical regulations, trade regulations, and conformity assessment procedures which include; testing, inspection, certification, verification, accreditation, sampling, evaluation and registration. This joint collaborative effort was to help detect fraud in the activities of the parties involved to ensure fairness and equity. However, the work of the committee, according to the Administrative Manager of ATL (Personal communication, July 20, 2010), have not been fruitful due to the increasing rate of smuggling by importers through unapproved roots and ‘leaky’ borders (making reference to Aflao border) which due to the ineffectiveness of the operation of CEPS has caused huge increases in smuggling of textiles in the country. The researcher is of the view that, ideally CEPS should have partnered with the committee to champion the fight against smuggling and pirating of local textiles, in the sense that, their work is indispensable as far as importation of textiles into the country is concerned.

4.4.7 Registration of local textile designs In order to claim total ownership of a textile design, the textile factories patent their designs by registering them at the Registrar General Department under the Copyright Law of 1985 (PNDC Law 110). Copyright protection generally last or subsist for 50 years, although some countries have recently extended it to 70 years (Ghana Publishing Corporation, 1973 as cited in Krome, 2002). Contrary to this, the Design Manager of ATL (Personal communication, July 2, 2010) disclosed that, registration of each textile design costs GH¢500 with copyright validity of up to 15 years. This implies that, after 15 years, the design must be registered again, other than that, it loses its protection under the Copyright Law and for that matter could be adopted or replicated by any company or individual without seeking any permission from its right owner. According to the Design Manager of ATL, a design for registration must pass originality test in terms of motifs, colour-ways, and textures. Other information such as company’s name, brand name, 201 manufacturing date, and serial number are required for authentication of the design. It was observed that, despite the fact that the textile factories now make it compulsory to register their designs to protect them from piracy, copying of local textile print designs has not seized. The culprits of such practices do not get deterred by the sanctions that go with it, that is seizing and instantly burning of the pirated goods, as they continue to copy and smuggle textiles bearing local motifs into the country. See Plates 4.6 and 4.7.

4.4.8 Monitoring of Knock-off Textiles by a Taskforce To ensure that the activities of smugglers are brought to the barest minimum, Association of Ghanaian Industries (AGI) has formed a taskforce whose main duty is to frequently patrol local markets to check on knock-offs of local print designs and smuggled textiles and provide information for the police to arrest defaulters (Health and Safety Manager, TGL, personal communication, July 7, 2010). The Health and Safety Manager of TGL contended that, although the taskforce operation had led to some arrests, intensifying its operation will help in the reduction of smuggling and copying of local print designs in order to sustain the industry.

4.4.9 Cotton promotion Grant for Out-growers and Ginnery Companies In response to a question regarding government’s assistance to cotton production, five (5) personnel of the Textile Unit of MOTI (focus group discussion, July 12, 2010) reported that, http://www.fibre2fashion.com/textile-market-watch/textile-price- trends.aspin view of poor cotton seed quality and subsequently low yields of Ghana cotton production, in 2006 the Government made a frantic effort to support 10,000 cotton farmers to cultivate 10,000 hectares of land in the three northern regions by providing them with agro inputs worth 20 million Ghana cedis which was channelled through the Ghana Cotton Company Limited (GCCL); Nulux Plantation Limited, Plantation Development Limited and other reputable ginnery companies. The inputs included ploughing and procurement of 300 tons of certified cottonseeds from Burkina Faso for the farmers. The respondents added that, through the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) Government supported Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) to develop improved seeds for use by cotton farmers as a result of which SARI developed and released three seed varieties of cotton for cultivation. The Administrative Manager of GCCL in an interview (May 25, 2010) noted that, extra efforts were made by the Government in 2010 to secure a grant from EDIF to support cotton farmers in the form of inputs supply to encourage out- 202 growers to boost cotton production in the region. These efforts, to the researcher, show some form of Government’s commitment towards the rehabilitation of the cotton industry as the vehicle for reviving the textile industry in Ghana. A lot more of such developments, according to the General Secretary of Cotton Farmers Association (Personal communication, May 28, 2010), is expected to revive the cotton production which serves as the major source of income to the three northern regions and the main raw material base for the textile manufacturing companies in Ghana.

4.4.10 New Tracking System by CEPS to monitor Transit Operations The study finds that, the Ghana Customs and Excise Preventive Service (CEPS) has deployed a Satellite Tracking System to monitor transit operations in the country as part of its modernization service and reform programme. The system, according to the Staff of Satellite Tracking Units (STUs) of CEPS (Focus group discussion, July 13, 2010), commenced operation August 1st, 2007 and each transit vehicle was required to attach a tracking unit to its roof using a magnetic mountings and a wire security strop. Vehicles without a normal horizontal metal roof were required to have a horizontally welded metal plate of at least 25cm x 25cm to the top of the vehicles to help monitor their movement along the approved transit routes. This directive, to the staff of STUs, has indeed resulted in effective monitoring of transit vehicles which are now compelled to use the authorized routes and pay the requisite taxes at the entry points. It has also led to the discontinuity of escorts of transit vehicle which was the practice previously; hence, reducing and facilitating their work. Transistors are required to pay an Administrative Fee of GH¢ 50.00 per vehicle for the facility and any breach of the directive, according to the CEPS officials, constitutes an offence and punishable under Customs Laws. This development is hoped to curb smuggling of textiles into the country to the barest minimum as it involves computerized monitoring of vehicles with imported goods.

4.4.11 Instant Burning of Smuggled Textiles One of the mitigation measures put in place to fight smuggling of textiles in the country is the instant burning of seized foreign textiles bearing trademarks of local textile manufacturers in order to protect local textile businesses. This decision, as revealed in an interview with the Administrative Manager of ATL (July 20, 2010), was enforced through collective consensus and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by CEPS, MOTI, together with four local textile manufacturing firms i.e. ATL, TGL, PGL and 203

GTMC. This was to ensure co-operation and support from the parties involved to protect intellectual property of manufacturers. In order to ensure effectiveness of this directive, however, the ATL Administrative Manager further established that, CEPS was provided with copies of albums of trademarks of the local textile manufacturers’ registered designs from the Registrar General's Department. This was meant to educate them on the trademarks of local textile printed designs so as to seize imported textiles with trademarks of local manufacturers. With reference to the GNA (July 6, 2010), the burning of pirated and smuggled textiles, according to the Acting Director of Import/Export Division of MOTI, is in line with the World Trade Organization obligations that, pirated goods are not to be allowed to enter into the country and for that matter the country has no option but to burn them since there is no place to keep them. He therefore appeals to Ghanaians not to attach any emotional sentiments to the decision agreed on by the parties since it would go a long way to protect the local firms as well as the health needs of the people. These are but some of the mitigation measures put in place by successive governments of Ghana as part of the efforts towards sustainable development of the textile and garment sub-sector. These notwithstanding, the Design Manager of ATL and the Health and Safety Manager in a separate interviews (July 2 and 7, 2010 respectively) shared a common view that the government is paying lip service in promoting made in Ghana goods making reference to the government’s decision to outsource a mass of printing of the Ghana’s Golden Jubilee cloth to Chinese textile companies with the view that the local textile companies do not have the capacity to produce to meet the short deadline of the jubilee cerebrations considering the huge quantum of prints involved. The two managers argued further that the government actually ordered the cloths from China before submitting the designs to the local textile companies. This apparently shows that the government lacks confidence in the local textile factories. The General Secretary of the Ghana Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Union (Public Agenda, 2007) commenting on the jubilee cloth indicated that, for all these years Ghana has been preaching against dumping of cheap textiles from China; so the government’s decision to import the jubilee cloth from China is an endorsement of cheap imports. He emphasized further that GTP, GTMC, PGL and ATL together could have produced any quantity of cloth needed for the entire country if they had been given the designs ahead of time. This therefore debunks the view that the local textile industries lack the capacity to produce huge quantities as it is obvious that some people want to make 204 money by awarding the contracts to Chinese companies and for that matter do not bother the consequences thereof on the local companies. According to the General Secretary of the Ghana Textile, Garment and Leather Workers Union, the immediate consequences of the marginalization of local textile firms would be job losses adding that if we are celebrating 50 years, we must be able to print our anniversary cloths, otherwise what are we celebrating? (Public Agenda, 2007). Inferring from the foregoing discussion, it is apparent that the rise of import duties was initiated in June 2005. This was after when the government had come out publicly in May, 2005 to say that its outfit cannot subsidize production of textiles as other countries do because the country lacks the needed resources to do so. To sustain the domestic textile industry, however, a number of stringent measures were put in place which restricted textile imports to pass through only Takoradi port in July 2005. Faced with high financial demand to import their goods through the rightful roots, the importers of African prints sought dubious means to import their goods through unapproved roots which resulted in the upsurge of textile smuggling in 2005. Counter measures were put in place by the government to curb smuggling of textiles into the country but the industry still suffers the unbridled flow and competition of foreign textiles. Textile activists blame the government for lack of commitment and unfavourable policies in the sub-sector as major attributes for the collapsing local textile industry. However, the textile industry can boast of some prospects and opportunities to revamp its operations. These include; taking advantage of the oil industry for RFO, high demands for lint cotton and locally printed textiles, the Free School uniform and National Friday Wear policies, availability of land for cotton production, availability of human resource and technical expertise and political stability to attract investors.

4.5 Implications of the Challenges for Textiles Education in Ghana The study observed that, many textiles students experience the frustration of not getting the required preparation for their desired career before leaving school as a results of lack of partnership between the institutions of higher learning and the industries that are expected to team up to plan a competency-based curriculum and relevant linkage programmes that will help students acquire the needed industrial skills during their course of study. This situation per the findings of the study has been created as a result of myriad of challenges that confront the textile industry and for that matter are unable to admit expected number of students for attachments and internships which according to Ruiz 205

(2009) aim at helping students to gain industrial experience. The result is that the study of textiles in the institutions of higher learning in the country has become theoretically oriented which considerably affects the performance of their products in the job market. This, coupled with the limited available textile factories, has rendered many textile graduates unemployed with others diverting into banks, teaching, and trade and commerce other than the specific fields they were trained for. Traditionally, college education emphasizes on theoretical knowledge, but industry demands practical skills and practice. However, since one of the major expectations of the higher education is to prepare students for future careers (Accredited syllabus for HND Fashion Design and Textiles Technology, 2007), the researcher opines that with regard to textile education, more emphasis must be placed on practical skills by translating the theories into practice. In the light of this, the study assessed the kind of linkages that exist between the textile industry and academia with respect to attachment and internship programmes, relevance of qualification of lecturers in the academic institutions offering textiles related programmes, infrastructure and facilities available for training, curriculum/course content, which act as the main engine for effective impartation of knowledge and competency skills to students to fit into industry.

4.5.1 Linkage programmes of the textile educational institutions and industry The ATL Administrative Manager and the VSTL Technical Director (Personal communication, June 7 and 17, 2010) in response to questions regarding collaboration between the industry and academic institutions argued that, the academic institutions have not given them the platform to provide the necessary industrial inputs in their curriculum which to them is the surest way of ensuring training of graduates with high technical know-how who will fit well in the industry. They added that, as much as their inputs are of paramount importance in curriculum development of academia, their presence is of equal importance to serve as committee members in the development and revision of curriculum for both old and new programmes. According to the Health and Safety Manager of TGL (Personal communication, July 7, 2010) key players from the textile industry can serve as visiting industrialists, industrial project supervisors, or resource personnel to present seminars, lectures, give technical demonstrations to both students and lecturers, provide technical advice to the academic board on industrial issues in order to create a strong collaboration with the academic institutions offering textiles. To these top heads of textile factories, the academic institutions do not see the need for such linkages and have not 206 involved them in academic affairs. On the contrary, lecturers and instructors of the selected universities and the polytechnics interacted with, disputed the allegation with the view that, the textile factories rather have not been opening up to them adding that they go through a difficulties in getting students to embark on industrial attachments, field trips, and internships. This clearly shows that there is lack of collaboration between the industry and academia which affects the quality of graduates produced by the academic institutions. This confirms Mpairwe’s (2010) assertion that, several studies have concluded that a gap really exists between the quality of graduates produced and what the market demands and for that matter, training institutions and employers have accepted the need to bridge the gap in the form of attachments, internships, seminars, workshops and industrial visits in the degree and non-degree programmes. Partnership in this direction, to the researcher, is one of the surest ways of bridging the gap and improving the quality of graduates produced by the institutions for the benefit of the industry, since the academic institutions lack the requisite training facilities to produce the kind of graduates that the industry requires. As a major part of the Vocational and Technical Education aimed at training graduates to become middle and higher level personnel for the country’s needs (Accredited syllabus for HND Fashion Design and Textiles Technology, 2007), the polytechnic programmes, per the findings made on the Fashion and Textiles Studies programmes of Takoradi and Kumasi Polytechnics, make room for industrial experience. A whole semester is allotted for industrial attachment to equip students with the requisite practical skills for industry. Unlike the polytechnics, it was observed that the universities offering textiles related courses, with specific reference to KNUST and UEW, do not make provision in their programmes for attachment but occasionally embark on field trips or industrial visits and permit students to go on attachment during vacations voluntarily. It was however noted that, the greatest challenge facing the authorities of the academic institutions is the difficulty in getting students to go on attachment as the authorities of the textile factories have been very reluctant to admit students due to the fact that there is lack of collaboration between the industry and academia. A comparative analysis of the situations at the textile factories and the academic institutions based on the observable findings of the study revealed that, whereas the intake of students in the academic institutions keeps increasing considerably, the local textile industry, inversely, is fast dwindling in terms of numbers, sizes, output capacities and 207 infrastructural developments amidst operational and external challenges. It is however practically impossible to allow more than 20 students to be admitted in one factory to do industrial attachment since their presence in the factory requires that managers and technicians of specific departments who have to play a double role by attending to the students and as well as carrying out their daily duties satisfactorily. This, according to the Personnel Manager of ATL (Personal communication, June 29, 2010), affects the operations of the factories in terms of productivity since there is no well-structured programme developed to ensure smooth linkage between the industry and academia. It is apparent that, instead of tapping the benefits that linkage programmes offer academia and industry in training students, the situation is rather the opposite and for that matter, stakeholders do not value the graduates that pass out the academic institutions. The benefits that linkage programmes offer include evaluation of students for full-time employment upon graduation, providing employers with access to quality candidates, students’ contributions of new ideas to industry, increase in productivity, helping businesses to promote their line of work, helping students to develop their communication and interpersonal skills in context of work, job experience, among others (Ruiz, 2009; Astin et al., 2000). These are key to sustainable developments of both the industry and academia. The need to restructure and strengthen the link between the industry and academia is therefore paramount in the quest for revitalization of the textile sub-sector. In doing so other internship programmes such as externship, service learning, practicum, cooperative education and field experience (Tanner, 2012) could be considered alongside attachment and industrial visits which the study found as the most commonly used linkage programmes by industries and academic institutions in most developed or successful economies.

4.5.2 Relevance of curriculum/course content of programmes of the educational institutions to industry The study revealed that the textiles programmes offered at the tertiary level in theory are generally relevant to the industry which go to buttress the assertion that, special emphasis are being put on the study of Technical and Vocational Education at the tertiary level with the hope that, relevant skills would be acquired to enable graduates from such institutions contribute to the socio-economic development of the nation (Amankwah, 2007). However, with the exception of Takoradi Polytechnic B-Tech programme where 208 students have options for specialization, the study identified that the course contents of the other programmes such as KNUST and UEW are too general to produce graduates with specific expertise to satisfy specific needs of the industry. Table 4.19 gives a summary of programmes and courses of the various academic institutions that study textiles.

Table 4.19: Textiles programmes and courses in the country’s higher institutions Institution Programme Relevant courses/subjects Kumasi HND Fashion and Pattern Technology, Garment Technology, Fashion Polytechnic Textiles Studies Drawing and Illustration, Textiles, Creative Design and Working Drawings, Millinery and Dress Accessories, Clothing Production Technology, History of Fashion, Beauty Care and Culture, Fashion Marketing and Merchandizing, Industrial Attachment, Business Law and Projects.

Takoradi HND Textiles Fibres and yarns, fabric construction, chemical Polytechnic processing, fabric decoration, fabric finishing, CAD. Option 1-Fibre and Yarn Spinning Technology. B-Tech in Textiles Option 2- Weaving and Maintenance Processes Option 3- Dyeing and Printing Technology Option 4-Garment Manufacture and Fabric Decoration

UEW Bachelor of Textile design, weaving, textile printing Education in Textiles technology, fibre production, yarn manufacture, CAD, alongside educational courses.

M-Tech in Fashion Textile design, fashion, garment construction, and Textiles research methodology, computer education, quality control.

KNUST Bachelor of Industrial Textile design, textile printing, textile testing, non- Art (Textiles) wovens, synthetic fibres, regenerated fibres, fabric structure, dyes and dyeing processes, weaving calculation, management and entrepreneurial skills, seminar, knitting technology, weaving mechanism, cotton spinning, computer aided design (CAD).

Master of Fine Art textile design, fabric studies, textile printing (Textile Design) technology, study tour, independent study, research and thesis writing, research methodology, computer aided design (CAD), seminar Source: Field Survey (2010)

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At the polytechnic level, it is evident that programmes like Higher National Diploma in Fashion and Textiles Studies (Kumasi Polytechnic), Higher National Diploma in Textiles and Bachelor of Technology in Textiles (Takoradi Polytechnic) are offered. At the university level, programmes offered include Bachelor of Education in Textiles, and MTech in Fashion and Textiles (UEW), Bachelor of Industrial Art (Textiles), and Master of Fine Art in Textile Design (KNUST). It is evident from Table 4.19 that all the programmes of study in these academic institutions make provision for Computer Aided Design (CAD) to equip students in computer in designing which has become indispensable in the global design industry. With specific reference to KNUST, programmes of study make room for other relevant courses to be offered which go beyond the scope of the domestic textile industry whose operation is limited to conventional power loom weaving. Courses like knitting technology, non-wovens, synthetic fibres, regenerated fibres, and advance weaving mechanisms with much emphasis on shuttleless loom systems that have become very instrumental and economical in the global fabric manufacturing processes are dealt with. This is in connection with global trends of textile manufacturing which have seen tremendous developments with innovations. According to Lord and Mohammed (1982), conventional power looms that work on crank shaft and cam shedding mechanisms with limited design capabilities as well as the traditional method of weft insertion that employs shuttle, have almost been replaced by newer methods that are based on the principle of shuttleless loom mechanisms. Evidently, the programmes of the academic institutions are not job specific to meet specific needs of the industry, but rather, the courses studied under each of them are too many and make students do a lot of work but master none at the end of their study. This buttresses the assumption (IAD, 2010) that specialised areas have not been designed for the textiles programme of the university which make students overburdened in an attempt to cover all courses for a degree certificate in Textile Design. This leads to a situation where graduates leave school knowing bits of everything but mastering none, making it difficult to market themselves on the job market which has become very competitive more than ever although the current needs of the country and trends in the global textile and fashion industry demand training of specialized manpower to handle the design and technology of production of textile and fashion goods. Again, no priority is made in the programme for traditional or indigenous textiles production, rather emphasis is placed on factory textile production. To this end, per the number of challenges confronting the large- 210 scale textile factories with their focus on factory-made textiles and for that matter unable to absorb appreciable number of graduates that pass out every year from the country’s textile institutions, it becomes prudent to review of the curriculum of the various textile programmes to make room for specializations to address specific textile production needs. There should be specializations in traditional textile production, factory textile production, textile merchandising and textile entrepreneurship, among others, for students to select options. This will allow students with interest in entrepreneurship to go in for specializations other than factory textile production which have limited job vacancies. Such curriculum approach will encourage students to partner and go into textiles SMEs right after school without wasting time to look for seemingly non-existing and so called white colour jobs. They may even employ few unskilled labourers which will help to reduce the high rate of unemployment situation in the textile sub-sector. The approach will also help in sustainable development and promotion of traditional textiles since some students will also opt for a specialization in traditional textile production.

4.5.3 Relevance of qualifications/quality of academic staff of the textile educational institutions One major set-back that the study identified with the country’s institutions of higher learning where textiles is offered is that, most lecturers teaching textiles do not have relevant masters degree in Textiles. In the Kumasi and Takoradi polytechnics, all the lecturers teaching textiles hold Bachelor of Arts (Textiles) but have masters’ degrees in other fields of study. The same was apparent in UEW (Winneba) where one out of the four textile lecturers holds Master of Fine Art in Textile Design. It is only in the KNUST that the study found 6 out of the 8 lecturers holding relevant masters’ degrees in their subject areas. Although all the lecturers have the masters’ degree which is the requisite qualification for the appointment as lecturers in tertiary educational institutions in Ghana; the current policy is that lecturers should have masters and preferably a doctorate in the subject they teach. This means that the qualifications of the aforementioned lecturers are not ideal for effective teaching of textiles at the tertiary level. It was noticed also that, this has happened because it is difficult for the institutions to get lecturers who have specialized in textiles to handle textile courses effectively; hence, the institutions have no option but to appoint lecturers who have equivalent qualifications in those areas of study. This situation, according to Arkhurst (2011), is the biggest challenge that hinders effective teaching of textiles at both the bachelor and masters’ degree levels. This implies that, even 211 if the textiles curriculum is relevant to industry, the mastery of lecturers in their courses may be limited which could drastically affect their delivery of facts as Entwistle (1996) contends. He says, the assumption that anyone with a good degree will automatically be able to impart knowledge to others is completely incorrect and that instructors of any programme are required to have a complete knowledge and understanding of what to teach and the ability to teach it well to elicit their effectiveness. Aside lecturers not having relevant masters degrees in their areas of instruction, it was observed that some lecturers use the same lecture notes they obtained during their Bachelor degree at the universities in teaching at the polytechnic level. This creates similarities in the programmes of the universities and the polytechnics though the two academic institutions have different and specific aims and objectives. Not only was this phenomenon found to be lack of clearly defined scope of curricula of both the university and the polytechnics, but the fact that most of the lecturers teaching HND and B-Tech Textiles in the Kumasi and Takoradi Polytechnics are products from KNUST with their masters degrees in Art Education; hence, they turn to rely mainly on the knowledge and teaching materials acquired from the university for teaching. This trend is not only making the polytechnics to gradually lose focus from their core objective of developing the middle and higher level manpower, but also defeating the acceleration development plan for education by government which places high importance on Technical/Vocational education which are practical oriented training and has served as the basis for the introduction of Secondary/Technical schools, polytechnics and universities to produce the needed technical scholars for national development (Baffour, 2000). This situation, to the researcher, could also be attributed to lack of qualified lecturers which have relevant qualifications in the line of HND, B-Tech and M-Tech to teach at the polytechnics. To this end, the authorities of the academic institutions are expected to hire experienced lecturers who have relevant qualifications or train and develop their staff through further studies in order to impart positively to their students so as to ensure that they meet the polytechnic’s core vision and also perform creditably in industry after graduation to help in the realization of the general philosophy of Ghanaian education which aims at poverty alleviation and wealth creation (Mensah, 2006).

4.5.4 Availability of infrastructure and facilities for training at the textile educational institutions

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A survey of the selected academic institutions revealed lack of the requisite facilities to help students acquire in-depth industrial knowledge and skills to fit well into the textile industry. Textile manufacture is undoubtedly a technological process which necessitates high technical expertise and experience in industrial practice. In view of this, it is very essential for students studying textiles to acquire in-depth industrial knowledge and skills for the job market. In view of this, infrastructure and facilities for training become very vital. Observation made at the selected academic institutions with specific reference to Kumasi and Takoradi polytechnics, KNUST and UEW, Winneba clearly shows lack of infrastructure, industrial and other relevant training facilities and so the institutions rely on the local textile factories for attachments and field trips to provide students with industrial experience. Ideally, per the content of the courses offered in each of the programmes of study of the selected academic institutions (Table 4.19), certain facilities are indispensable for effective training of students. The courses cover, among others, fibres and fibre production, yarn and fabric manufacture, fabric decoration, finishing. These require industrial textile facilities such as ginning and spinning facilities, automatic weaving and knitting machines, printing and dyeing facilities, pre-treatment and after treatment facilities and a well equipped textile laboratory since the programmes prioritize industrial textile production. However, of all the four academic institutions that the researcher visited, it was observed that, none of the aforementioned industrial facilities was available. At the KNUST, 1 industrial Jacquard, 1 Dobby, and 1 Tappet looms were seen but were all beyond repairs though they are still in place for demonstrational lessons. However, there were 2 weaving sheds with 10 manually operated broadlooms and 6 table looms which students use for their semester weaving project works. In addition to these were 2 manual printing tables, 2 semi-automated developing tables housed in 2 separate dark rooms with dyeing and printing studios, which serve about 180 students every academic year. With reference to the Takoradi Polytechnic, the study found 8 broadlooms, 3 traditional looms, 3 manual printing tables, 2 screen developing tables, a dyeing and printing studio which serve an average students’ population of 120. At UEW, the Textiles Section has only 1 weaving studio with 10 broadlooms and 2 traditional looms, a printing studio and a darkroom which serve about 200 students every academic year. Kumasi Poly on the other hand has only 1 broadloom with printing and dyeing studios. Evidently, no industrial facility is available in all the institutions to embark on any effective training; even the manually operated facilities are woefully inadequate using the students’ 213 population at each institution as basis for justification. The implication is that students from these institutions of higher learning may be vulnerable as far as industrial experience is concerned and for that matter they will not find their feet in the industry when given the opportunity. Arguing on the non-performance of the university and polytechnic graduates, the Personnel Manager of ATL (Personal communication, June 29, 2010) emphasized that, ATL prefers recruiting SHS graduates and training them for the job and pay them average salaries than employing university and polytechnic graduates who will otherwise be retrained on the job but take huge salaries. This notion of the industry has made most textile students and graduates disappointed and helpless since their chances to get job after school are uncertain. Evidence of the study has shown the extent to which the challenges confronting the textile factories have crippled their operations leading to low productivity, redundancy of workers, increase in unemployment rate in the textile sub-sector and closure of most of the factories. The situation is having adverse implications on the institutions of higher learning that are entrusted with the responsibility to train students to acquire requisite knowledge and skills to help in the operation and management of the textile industry with the priority of practical exposure and experience of the working environment (Proposal for Upgrading the KNUST Textiles Section to Department, 2010). Contrary to this vision, the study found that textiles graduates from the academic institutions pass out with little or no industrial experience as a result of lack of collaboration between the industry and academia. Industrial and academic collaboration is expected to create the needed platform for collaborative research to solve industrial problems, increase students’ access to industrial experience through internship and attachment programmes, staff development programmes, infrastructure developments, stakeholders’ inputs and participation in academic curriculum development to reflect industrial processes. These indicators, to the researcher, are very crucial for holistic restructuring and improvement of the textiles education in Ghana to produce qualified and quality textile professionals to meet the needs of the industry for sustainable development. To achieve this will necessitate collaboration of both the textile industry and the academic institutions to develop and implement a competency-based or an industry-oriented curriculum that will satisfy both establishments with the focus on stakeholders’ requirements and needs. Figure 4.32 exhibits a proposed model which prioritized stakeholder’s requirements and needs with the justification that whether a company is high tech or low tech, operating in an age-old industry or one of the

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newer service or knowledge, its success will depend, more than anything else, on the satisfaction of the needs and desires of each unique stakeholder (Hickman, & Silva, 2009).

Requirements of Stakeholders

Programme Content of Organization of Didactic Student Specification programme programme concept assessment Achievement Expected

Quality of Quality of Profile of Students Facilities & Outcomes Learning academic staff support staff students advice support infrastructure

Graduates Outcome Student Curriculum Staff development Benchmarking Evaluation design activities

Satisfaction of Stakeholders

Fig. 4.32: Industry-oriented cu

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CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Summary The study sought to unearth the operational challenges and prospects of selected large-scale textile factories with specific reference to production and sales, and based on the findings propose feasible projections toward the invigoration of the Ghana textile industry and institutions of higher learning that offer textiles to create more jobs to reduce the unemployment situation in the country. Four major textile factories were purposefully selected for the study with the aim of collecting data that could be used to make generalizations for the industry. In order to get a fair representation of the entire Ghana textile industry to make generalizations, the factories were selected based on their main production operations from processing of basic raw material (Lint cotton) to the finished printed fabric. Ghana Cotton Company Limited was chosen for being the largest cotton ginnery company in Ghana. Volta Star Textiles Limited, the only surviving spinning and weaving company was also selected. The other two major Ghanaian textiles factories selected for the study were Akosombo Textiles Limited whose production is vertically integrated from spinning to printing, and Texstyles Ghana Limited (formally GTP) whose production now focuses only on printing. A thorough library search was embarked upon to collect relevant data for the review of related literature to establish theoretical and empirical framework of the study. The multiple case study method based on the qualitative research approach was employed with descriptive analysis. The instrumentations used were mainly interview and observation with critical factory and market surveys of the selected factories. The production lines of the selected factories were critically observed and findings recorded on observational check list. Top ranked personnel of the factories were engaged in one-on- one personal interviews. Focus group interview approach was employed for selected respondents involving primarily cotton farmers, market women who trade in textiles, as well as personnel of CEPS and MOTI. All these were done to collect factual primary and secondary data aimed at finding out the challenges of the Ghana Textile Industry and making feasible projections toward its invigoration to maximize productivity for maximum returns. The study revealed a number of internal challenges that cut across acquisition and processing of raw material to finishing amidst some critical external 216 challenges which have crippled the operation of the factories to maximize productivity. These are summarized in the following sections vis-a-vis the major prospects of the respective factories.

Challenges and prospects of GCCL From the Cotton Industry with special reference to Ghana Cotton Company Limited, the study identified low production performance as the major challenge of the industry’s production output as at 2008/2009 season. This was only 4000mt as against the total installed capacity of 70,000mt. Factors that attributed to this as evident from the findings of the study include: a) Lack of incentives for small scale cotton companies to boost their production. b) Ineffective utilization of land by cotton out-growers. c) Inconsistent technical supervision by extension officers. d) Inconsistent rainfall pattern as a result of global climate change. e) High labour intensiveness of cotton production. f) Diversion of inputs and seed cotton by out-growers. g) Poor pest control habit among out-growers. h) High cost of inputs. i) Low priced seed cotton. j) Poor grade of cotton seed for production. k) Non availability of cotton seed in Ghana. l) Accumulation of high debts by ginnery companies. m) Tribal disputes among out-growers. n) Rampant fire out-breaks within the cotton growing areas. o) High cost of production. p) Absence of substantive Management and Board of Directors (GCCL)

These notwithstanding, the study identified some significant prospects that can serve as catalysts for the cotton industry to make amends. These, among others, include: a) Availability of land for cotton farming. b) Favourable soil and climatic conditions for cotton cultivation. c) Available human resource for cotton production. d) High demand and readily available market for Ghana cotton. e) High ginnery capacity for cotton processing (70,000mt).

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f) Technical expertise for cotton production.

Challenges and prospects of VSTL With reference to Volta Star Textiles Limited which is the only yarn and fabric manufacture company in Ghana, the study finds the following as the major challenges confronting the factory’s operation. a) Lack of working capital. b) Low capacity utilization. c) Inability to meet demand. d) Absence of substantive Management and Board of Directors. e) Lack of spare parts for repairs and maintenance of machinery. f) The use of obsolete machinery. g) Inadequate supply of cotton raw materials. h) High cost of production. i) High cost of importation of raw material, spare parts and machinery. j) Poor remuneration of staff. k) Lack of product competiveness.

The factory, in spite of the above challenges, can boast of some notable prospects to revitalize its operations. These, among others, include: a) Readily available market for its products. b) High technical expertise. c) Largest spinning and weaving capacity in the country. d) Opportunity to take advantage of the Ghana’s School Uniform Policy. e) World class grey cloth quality. f) Capacity to diversify and expand product range. g) Proximity to the Volta Lake for free access to water.

Challenges and prospects of ATL As the only textile industry operating on a vertical integration system with multiples of production lines, ATL is not devoid of problems as it is confronted with a number of operational challenges. Major challenges of the company as revealed in the study are: a) Competition from other local textile companies.

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b) Inadequate supply of cotton lint. c) Accessibility and high cost of RFO. d) High energy consumption. e) Obsolete machinery. f) Underutilization of plant capacity. g) Inability to meet demands and late delivery of orders.

However, ATL can count on the following prospects: a) High plant capacity. b) High demands of the company’s products. c) Accessibility to free water supply from Volta Lake. d) Transfer of ABC assets to ATL. e) High level-headed technical expertise.

Challenges and prospects of TGL Texstyles Ghana Limited was the last company studied. With its production line confined to only printing of African prints, the company, like the others, has some crucial challenges despite the great name it has made for its products as far as quality in African prints is concerned. The following are the major challenges facing the factory: a) High cost and reliability of water supply. b) High consumption/cost of energy. c) Electricity supply fluctuation. d) RFO quality and availability. e) Under capitalization and high interest rates. f) Low productivity and underutilization of plant capacity. g) Instability in management control.

However, evidence of the study shows, among others, the following prospects of the company: a) Quality brand name in African prints. b) Introduction of machine wax printing technology. c) Capacity to increase productivity to maximize returns. d) High level-headed technical expertise. e) High product demand. 219

f) Automation and upgrading of some machinery. g) Environmentally friendly production. h) New management control. i) Water recycling plant. j) Power plant.

External challenges of the Ghana Textile Industry Concurrently, a holistic perspective of the Ghana textile industry in the study uncovered a number of external challenges that threaten the operations of the industry. These include: a) Influx of cheap foreign textiles. b) High imports and low exports. c) Competitive range of products on the local market. d) Price competitiveness of foreign textiles. e) Illicit trade/smuggling of textiles. f) Lack of subsidy for the local textile industry. g) Lack of capital investment in the sub-sector. h) Lack of research and development in the sub-sector. i) Recession in world market price of cotton. j) Lack of collaboration between the industry and the academic institutions. k) Relevance of courses of the academic institutions to the industry. l) Global concerns for eco-friendly production. m) Effects of Trade Liberalization. n) Effect of AGOA. o) Effects of ISI.

Measures implemented to salvage the textile industry As stringent measures to combat the numerous external challenges that confront the textiles sub-sector, attempts have been made by the government to put in place certain directives within the last five years to save the industry from total collapse. These measures include: a) National Friday Wear initiative. b) Restriction of textiles imports through only Takoradi Port. 220

c) Presidential Special Initiative (PSI). d) Reduction of import duties on textiles essentials. e) Increment in import duties and taxes on wax prints. f) Establishment of African Textile Print Committee. g) Intensifying the registration of local textile print designs. h) Enforcement of Textile Taskforce operation. i) Establishment of Cotton Promotion Grant. j) New Satellite Tracking System by CEPS to monitor transit operation. k) Instant burning of smuggled textiles.

Despite all the efforts made by the government and stakeholders to redeem the textile industry from its seemingly insurmountable crisis, the situation continues to worsen as competition from the foreign textiles becomes greater and greater. The study finds lack of commitment and unfavourable government policies in the sub-sector as major attributes for the collapsing of the local textile industry. The situation is having adverse implications on the institutions of higher learning where lack of industrial experience as a result of the inability of the industry to admit textile students for attachments and internships has rendered most textiles graduates jobless.

5.2 Conclusions The production and sales operations of the Ghana textile industry could be described on the principle of symbiosis system, in that, the factories operate interdependently from the production of raw material through the processing of fibres, yarns, and fabric production to the finishing. Only ATL can be described as operating independently with its vertically integrated system of production; it also relies on other companies for raw material supply. In view of this, challenges faced by one factory directly affect the others and this explains why all the textile factories are experiencing a common crisis. The major set-backs of the local textile industry have been the lack of policy document, commitment and unfavourable policies by the government in the sub-sector. The study shows that, the move in the 1960s and 1970s by the government to promote Import Substitution Industrialization has led to the establishment of light industries to produce goods locally and operated behind tariff barriers which initially made the textile sub-sector to dominate the manufacturing sector and contributed significantly to livelihood. However, the shortage of foreign exchange for the importation of raw materials

221 in the 1980s resulted in the sub-sector operating at extremely low capacity with most of its factories going out of business. The situation deteriorated under trade liberalization policy which formed part of the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP) pursued in the 1980s and 1990s by the government that frowns on quantitative restriction of trade barriers. It can therefore be concluded that, the influx of cheap foreign textiles into the country, dumping of second-hand clothing and textiles, increase in smuggling of textile goods, low patronage of locally made textiles, are all consequences of the trade liberalization policy which has led to the collapse of most local textile factories leaving thousands of Ghanaians jobless. From all indications, the findings of the study show that, the Asian textile industries with specific reference to the Chinese textile firms have become serious threats to most giant world economies like US and EU, but the vulnerable developing countries in Africa suffer the most. In view of this, some countries in the ECOWAS sub-region such as Nigeria and Kenya have formulated strategies to restrict excessive flow of foreign textiles into their countries on the ticket of trade liberalization to protect their domestic firms from total collapse. This include; the prevalent use of import prohibition as an instrument of trade policy to promote domestic industry, employment and balance-of-payments objectives in the context of import substitution-industrialization strategy, and reducing the country’s imports judged as ‘not essential’ or when they compete with domestically produced goods that are available in adequate quantities (Oyejide, 1975 as cited in Asare, 2010), while at the same time ensuring the availability of raw materials and capital goods which cannot be obtained from domestic sources. Moreover, evidence from the study reveals fast technological advancement in the world of textiles. Global overview of the industry shows significant developments and innovations emanating from Asia and Europe, through development of efficient shuttleless looms with high production capacity and speed, development of fibre variants and modifications, as well as new methods of processing fibres into ultimate end-use products, which have affected finishing and colouring fabrics at the manufacturing level and behaviour in use and care at the consumer level (Majory, 1986). Findings from the field survey, however, indicates that the local textile industry has not been moving in this direction as it still sticks to the use of obsolete technology with inefficient less productive shuttle looms with high energy consumption. The textile industry, as the study indicates, plays enormous contribution to the national development providing employment opportunities to many people in the society, 222 reducing unemployment and ensuring better living conditions of the people. It is considered as one of the largest industry worldwide; if all facets of the vast economic giants are taken into account, it will probably be found to involve more people with high economic value than any other industry in the world. Even if we take only the growth, production, manufacturing and processing of fibre to fabric, the textile industry is still very near the top industries of the world in terms of labour force and economic value, not to talk about marketing and use aspects. In view of this, most of the economic giant producers such as China, US, EU, India and Pakistan in the world largely depend on textile production for sustainability and development of other sectors (WTO, 2004). The Ghana textile industry, as the study reveals, contributed significantly to the country’s economy in the 1970s employing about 25,000 of the labour force which accounted for 27% of total manufacturing employment of the country and operated at about 60% of plant capacity. The operation of the textile industry was strongly felt in the country’s economy. Currently, employment rates of the four major textile companies studied (out of the six surviving textile firms in Ghana) stand at only 3,020 which represents 87% reduction of the 1970s workforce of 25,000 which concludes that employment level in the subsector has reduced drastically since 1970. There has been an abysmal reduction in utilization of plant capacity leading to low productivity at all levels from raw material to finishing with workers suffering high redundancy in the subsector. Conclusively, the economic benefits that the country enjoyed in the 1970s through the operations of the textile industry have dwindled abysmally as the industry struggles to survive the turbulent times. The study concludes that, despite the numerous challenges facing the industry, the country has the requisite capacities and resources to revitalize the collapsing state of the textile industry considering the availability of prospects and opportunities in terms of human resources, technical expertise and physical infrastructure. What the industry needs most is a holistic and strategic policy document with good and favourable policies to champion the course of textile production and sales, exports and imports of textiles and textiles essentials in the country. As one of the surest and key industrial sectors for national development with its commercially viable production, employment creation for poverty reduction, coupled with its socio-economic and cultural significance, it is very imperative that government, stakeholders, textile industrialists, textile institutions, merchandisers, fashion designers, consumers, and other textile activists come together to make collaborative and frantic efforts to initiate policies ostensibly to promote its growth

223 and development of the Ghana Textile industry and the academic institutions for the benefit of all.

5.3 Recommendations Based on the findings and the conclusions of the study, the following recommendations have been made for consideration toward the invigoration of the Ghana textile industry.

The need for the government of Ghana to look at the trade liberalization policy Considering the negative impact that the influx of foreign textiles have on the local textile industry because of liberal trade, it is recommended that the government puts in place stringent measures to safeguard the textile industry as other developing countries in the sub-region such as Kenya and Nigeria have done to protect their domestic textile factories from collapsing. Among such measures may include; introduction of systematic controls in the sector by imposing 100% duty on imported textiles, as Kenyan government has done amidst trade liberalization that has ensured rapid growth of the local textile industry to hit an average production capacity of over 70 percent. The government can as well increase trade and investment within the sector, establish trade licensing agreement to provide market information to local textile manufacturers, support the private sector in identifying new markets, assist local textile manufacturers to improve the quality of their products to compete keenly with imported textiles. Taking clues from the experience of the Federal Republic of Nigeria when faced with fierce competition of imported textiles, some kind of restrictions on imports can be enforced to encourage local production and consumption. That is, importation of textile products that are considered as ‘not essential’ or those that compete with domestically produced types which are available in adequate quantities could be restricted from entering the country to protect the industry. Again, the government can implement anti-dumping law to check excessive flow of seconds, used and rejected offshore clothing and textiles into the country which do not only affect the sale of locally made textiles but have very serious health risks on local consumers.

Eco-friendly textile production for sustainable development of the textile industry It is obvious that, Ghana has a long way to go if it should compete keenly with offshore countries in terms of technological advancement in textile manufacture. It 224 therefore becomes economically prudent for the country to move into other textile production areas other than what the foreign competitors are engaged in. One such area that is increasingly gaining popularity due to its eco-friendliness but stands unique with limited quantities worldwide of which Ghana has resource to pursue is organic cotton production. The advocacy for organic cotton as the study has highlighted is based on the premise that, it reduces premature death and suffering associated with pesticide control which include; health risks in cancer and skin irritation, preservation of water bodies, reduction of air pollution, preservation of nature’s insect predators, fisheries protection, and building of healthy soil for safety food, among others. Again, organic cotton unlike inorganic cotton production requires natural farm maintenance practices without the use of pesticides, fertilizers and other chemicals which in the long run reduces the cost of inputs and for that matter the cost of production at the advantage of the producer. Most significantly, the product is highly endorsed in the international market and highly priced with readily available market. In view of this, it is recommended that, as Ghana struggles to compete with the masses of inorganic cotton products from the foreign countries, a better option to sustain the cotton and textile industry is to divert into the production of organic cotton for domestic use and export to earn substantial foreign exchange for the country. Alternatively, the cotton industry can move into GM (Genetically Modified cotton) production which has been developed primarily to reduce heavy reliance on pesticides and thereby reduce cost of production. Moreover, the demand for more environmentally friendly products has generated a new awareness and ingenuity at each level of the textile industry. The establishment of Encouraging Environmental Excellence (E3) programme by the American Textile Manufacturers Institute was to urge producers to protect the environment (Frings, 2001). It is therefore recommended that the domestic textile manufacturers fully embark in environmentally efficient manufacturing and finishing processes. In doing so, the theory of Ecology of production must be considered, i.e., the flow of materials during production, usage and discarding the various products, and developing methods for minimizing the negative effects to the environment, such as the use of materials, pollution and production of waste. This should include development and utilization of effective recycling and replenishing technologies for waxes, water and other chemicals for reuse to cut down cost of production for sustainable development.

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Focusing on the ECOWAS sub-region textiles market The ECOWAS sub-region offers a wider market for the domestic textile and clothing industry. The fact that the so called African prints (Mummy prints) gained popularity in Africa with special reference to West African designate the sub-region as the major consumers of the prints. It is also proven that, some bench-marked textile printing firms in the world such as Vlisco and ABC target the sub-region as their major market. This indicates that, there is no better market for the local industry anywhere than within the sub-region. Evidence of the study has also proven that the foreign or international market requires meeting certain standards which sometimes restricts entry of most domestic products. It is however recommended that, in the short and medium term projections, the industry should focus on the West Africa market, applying the inward looking principle of ISI which in the 1970s helped the textile sub-sector to dominate the manufacturing sector and contributed significantly to livelihood, and in the long term consider the outward- looking principle of ISI which places emphasis on production for export. This will help to develop the domestic textile industries to take control of the local textile market and by doing so device means to make progress into the international market.

Recapitalization and modernization of the textile industry The study has shown the continuous use of obsolete machinery and technology by the local textile factories which result in inefficiency and high cost of production. Low speed shuttle looms installed over four decades ago still dominate the operation of the Ghana textile industry. This shows clearly that there is the lack of capital investment in the subsector by the government. The industry therefore needs capital injection to refurbish its machinery and technologies with modern system with high speed of production coupled with less noise systems such as projectile, rapier, water and air jets looms to expand and maximize productivity for maximum returns. The expansion of the industry will lead to creation of more jobs to improve the lives of Ghanaians. Another alternative solution is to encourage private and foreign investors to take up the mantle to develop the local textile firms to compete keenly with similar products from abroad. In doing this, the government must improve the business climate by developing a new regulatory framework for financing and infrastructure, strengthening the rule of law, improving security and reducing the number of regulations and steps required for investing in the country.

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Development and implementation of a holistic national policy on textiles One of the surest ways for the country to develop and sustain its textile industry is to formulate and implement strategic policies to serve as a blue-print or action plan to guide and accelerate smooth production and sales operations of the local textile industries. This is very crucial as the study finds no policy document on the subsector which has been one of the woes of the industry’s progress. Developing a holistic national policy document for the textiles sub-sector will necessitate collaborative effort of government and government agencies which are directly and indirectly involved in the operations of the textile industry, stakeholders, management of the textile industries and textile institutions to discuss and formulate pragmatic strategies in short, medium and long terms towards the invigoration of the industry. This will essentially require a thorough study of the industry from the raw material base to finishing and marketing by experts in the field and a paper of the true picture of the industry presented to serve as a basis for the development of the national policy.

Need to strengthen the institutions whose operations have direct and indirect influence on the Ghana textile industry It is apparent from the study that, the collapsing state of the textile industry is not only attributed to internal factors of the factories but also external factors involving the institutions whose operations have direct or indirect influence on the industry. These institutions include; CEPS, MOTI, AGI, Fashion industries, Research centres, and the Universities and Polytechnics offering textiles programme. There is the need therefore to strengthen the operations of these institutions to be efficient to help provide the necessary contributions toward the revival of the textile industry. The unbridled upsurge of smuggling of textiles and excessive flood of all sorts of textiles into the country and knock-off have been directly linked with the inefficiency, lack of technical know-how in textile print design identification and dubious operations of the CEPS officials at the borders. For effective operation of CEPS, it is recommended that the principle of “canalization and concentration” be employed as one of the means to control smuggling of textiles in the country by adequately staffing and resourcing the various entry points and CEPS checking stations to enforce all policy directives at a greater efficiency for proper monitoring of the operations of the small-cross-border importers who have been identified as the major culprits of textile smuggling in the country. CEPS must in this regard employ textile experts or involve representatives of the local textile firms in 227 their work at the borders and stations to help identify pirated and smuggled textiles as they enter the country so that they can be intercepted for immediate action to ensure effective control of smuggling of textiles goods in the country. As revealed in the study, the textile and clothing industry is managed by a small unit under the Ministry of Trade and Industry with inadequate technical expertise and facilities to champion the huge course of the sub-sector. Considering the significantly large size of the textile industry, its indispensable products for society, and the high rate of employment it offers which makes it a viable industrial base for socio-economic development, it is recommended that a whole Ministry be created for the Textile and Clothing Industry to manage and address the concerns. It is also recommended that the operation of the Ghana Standard Board be strengthened and extended to cover all categories of textile goods that enter the country to ensure that they pass the requisite standard test and regulations before their entry. This will ensure control of the influx of second hand clothing and textiles into the country as most of the textiles and clothes imported into the country do not pass through any standard test. Also, the operations of the local textile taskforce under the auspices of AGI must be revitalized to check smuggled textiles on the market and institute appropriate sanctions to culprits to deter others from such practices.

Collaboration between the academic institutions and the textile industry Effective collaboration between the academic institutions and the textile industry is strongly recommended to ensure that textiles taught in the academic institution are relevant to the industry. Establishing such linkages will lead to effective industrial attachment and training practices, collaborative research between industrialists and academics to identify feasible solutions to the challenges of both parties. The knowledge will also develop cost effective technologies and innovative products with diverse design possibilities to meet consumer needs and current trends, among others, purposely to give the sub-sector a face lift. Moreover, it is recommended that the existing research centres such as SARI (Savannah Agriculture Research Institute) be supported with the necessary resources and expertise to enable them research and develop new varieties of cotton seeds that will be economically significant to the cotton industry. Ideally, the establishment of exclusively Cotton Research and Development Centre (CRDC) is proposed in any or if possible, all of the three northern regions where cotton production evolves to ensure intensive research and development of cotton which is considered as the major cash crop 228 in the region for sustainable development of the cotton industry as is the case for the cocoa industry in Ghana. The growing fashion industry is fond of using foreign textile materials with the justification that such fabrics offer wider application with regard to structure and design possibilities that meet the current trends of fashion than the local textiles. Collaboration between the textile industry and the fashion industry is therefore recommended as the fashion industry directly relies on the products of the textile industry to operate. This will enable the textile industry develop and create appropriate designs and products that are commercially viable to meet the demands of the fashion industry to increase patronage of locally made textiles to sustain the two industries.

Expanding the scope of the Ghana’s National Friday Wear Policy The fact that the Ghana’s National Friday Wear Policy has increased significantly the patronage of locally made printed textiles in the last five years cannot be overemphasized. More efforts have to be made to encourage the use of locally made prints throughout the week for both formal and casual dresses. One area that can make a significant impact on the patronage of locally made prints is using them as uniforms for all academic institutions of first, second and even third cycle institutions. A policy by the government to make it compulsory for all academic institutions to use locally printed fabrics bearing the school’s name, logo, colour and philosophy as school uniforms will not only have positive economic impact on the textile industry but bring sanity in the schools through easy identification; and also promote the Ghanaian identity. It has been observed that, although some government institutions have made some efforts to patronized locally printed textiles for Friday wear, the Judiciary, Military, Police, and security and other law enforcement institutions have not made much move in this direction. Perhaps, the nature of their jobs restricts them in this regard. The question is, are the personnel of such institutions not tired and uncomfortable in their heavy nylon, stiff Khaki and gabardine uniforms which are less absorbent and poor in air circulation under hot climatic conditions in discharging their duties? The researcher being a fabric expert pities them a lot and think that they get alternatives, knowing very well that such fabrics are not meant for hot climate but for the cold temperate climate which have been copied blindly for the security and law enforcement agencies without considering the health implications associated with their usage. It is therefore recommended that the security and law enforcement institutions adopt local prints as alternative fabrics for uniforms. The 229 designs can be engineered to reflect the functional and aesthetic needs of the various institutions using light weight cotton fabric for comfort. Such move will increase patronage of local prints substantially.

Zero percent (0%) tariff on importation of textile essentials The textile industry as the study indicates imports most of its production essentials from abroad with the payment of 41% import duty on the total value which abysmally increases the cost of textile production. In order to encourage the local textile industry to remain in production, it is recommended that the government makes importation of all textiles manufacturing essentials such as raw materials, machinery and spare parts tariff free in order to reduce cost of production of locally manufactured textiles. This will eventually make locally printed fabric affordable to receive high patronage.

Government to subsidize production of locally-made textiles The study reveals that most textiles producing firms now receive subsidies in the form of imports and exports tax rebates and free energy supply to motivate them remain in operation. However, faced with strong price competition by cheap foreign textiles, the Ghana textile industry struggles to compete as it receives no form of subsidy from the government. It is therefore economically prudent that a form of subsidy be given to the local textile manufacturers by the government to enable them cut down production cost, increase productivity and exports to keep them in business. This could be rebates in water and electricity bills as the sub-sector consumes great energy and water for production. Again, input supply to the cotton out-growers must be subsidized to serve as incentive package to attract more farmers into cotton production in order to increase productivity to sustain the industry.

Need for the domestic textile industry to build a competitive edge through adoption of competitive operational strategies Evidence of the study shows a high competition in both domestic and international textiles market as a result of liberal trade. The offshore companies have managed to dominate the subsector with their perceived quality but low priced products making it extremely difficult for the domestic textile industry to compete. There is the need therefore for the textile industry to adopt effective competitive operational strategies to build a competitive edge over their competitors in the local market and beyond. The study 230 therefore recommends competitive advantage strategies such as Just in Time (JIT) or Time-Based Competition which provides the customer with quick response and flexibility and helps the company to manage operations with little or no delay time or idle inventories between one process and the next, with the aim of reducing cycle times, improving quality, flexibility and various cost (Flynn et al., 1995). It is observed that the textile factories in order to breakeven and remain in production have resorted to “We Win You Lose” strategy (takeover) which has led to redundancy of many worker as it is based on the principle of taking over a weak business with other people’s money and making it strong by mass shutdowns and layoffs of its weakest elements. The researcher opines that this strategy is not the best as it increases unemployment and raises a lot of ethical questions. The study however recommends the “win-win” strategy instead which invests not just mainly money but also training and helping in implementation of customer-centred quality, efficiency, and continuous improvement (Schonberger and Knod, 1997). The continuous strategy in this sense accounts for the needs of customers and competencies of competitors and must build on the organisation’s internal capacities and capabilities. Value chain which focuses on product quality and usefulness at low cost is one of the best competitive approaches that the domestic textile industry could adopt as the study found that most of the domestic textile customers quest for quality but low cost products. This, together with Total Quality Management (TQM) approach which epitomizes high quality, flexibility, service, low cost, minimal variability, would be the best combined antidote for customer satisfaction. The industry can also consider benchmarking techniques to build a competitive edge by searching for best practices from whatever source to be used in improving a company’s own process (Schonberger and Knod, 1997). Finally, it is recommended that the industries combine defensive and offensive strategies (Fornell, 1992) to maintain existing customers and attract new ones. This is the only way the textile industries could take their fair share of the porous and competitive textiles market to remain operational.

5.4 Suggestions for Further Studies The study in the course of unearthing the challenges and prospects of the Ghana Textile Industry identified two major research gaps which require a further investigation to help address the numerous challenges of the sub-sector. These areas are: 1. The link between the Ghana textile industry and the academic institutions. 2. Development of a holistic national policy for the Ghana textile industry. 231

Other researchers are therefore urged to take up the mantle to investigate the aforementioned gaps to help find a lasting solution to the numerous challenges of the Ghana textile industry and the academic institutions for national development.

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APPENDICES

APPENDIX A: OBSERVATIONAL GUIDE/CHECK LISTS

A.1: COTTON FARMS IN THE NORTHERN REGION 1. Cotton farms: In operation Out of operation Divested into other farm products 2. Magnitudes/ dimensions of the cotton farms: Small-scale medium-scale large-scale 3. Types of cotton: Organic Inorganic Local varieties-Sonko Deti Je Kadeanyigha Nigerian variety- Ishan 4. Quality/Grade of cotton grown: High Average Low 5. Method of farming: Manual Mechanical 6. Production capacity: High Average Low Nil 7. Class of people who are into cotton farming...... 8. Availability of land for cotton farming...... 9. Geographical locations of the cotton farms...... 10. Observable challenges facing cotton farmers...... 11. Observable prospects for cotton farmers......

A.2: GHANA COTTON COMPANY LIMITED 1. Geographical location of the mill:...... 2. Stages in processing of cotton fibres:...... 3. Proximity to the textile factories: Far How far?......

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Near How near?...... 4. Employees: Skilled Unskilled Both 5. Technical expertise: ...... 6. Machinery capacity: ...... 7. Production capacity: High Average Low 8. Source of raw material: Local Foreign Both 9. Target market: Local Foreign Both 10. Demand of processed cotton: High Average Low 11. Observable challenges and prospects of the cotton mill...... 12. The state of the company: Fully operational Partly operational Closed down 13. General observation: Challenges...... Prospects......

A.3: LOCALLY MADE TEXTILES ON GHANAIAN MARKET 1. Types: Wax Java Fancy 2. Quantity: Wax- High Average Few Java-High Average Few Fancy-High Average Few 3. Prints from Texstyles Ghana Limited: Types: Wax Java Fancy Other types...... Quantity: Wax...... Java...... Fancy...... Cost per yard: Wax...... Java...... Fancy...... 4. Prints from ATL: Types: Wax Java Fancy Other types...... Quantity: Wax...... Java...... Fancy...... Cost per yard: Wax...... Java...... Fancy...... 5. Products from VSTL: 242

Grey baft Mercerized cotton fabrics Yarns Quantity: Grey baft...... Cost per yard...... Mercerized cotton...... Cost per yard...... Yarns...... Cost per hank/cone...... 6. Location: Open market Quantity: High Average Few Super market Quantity: High Average Few Woodin shops Quantity: High Average Few Sales Outlets Quantity: High Average Few 7. Patronage: GTP- High Average Low ATL-High Average Low 8. Target market: Mass Niche Both Local International Both 9. Design quality and originality...... 10. Fabric types...... 11. Colour quality and fastness...... 12. Competitiveness: High Average Low Other comments......

A.4: FOREIGN TEXTILES ON GHANAIAN MARKET 1. Types of prints: Wax Java Fancy Others...... 2. Fabric types: Cotton Polyester Blends Different variety 3. Originality in design: Original Adaptation Knock-off 4. Colour fastness: Excellent Good Average Poor 5. Imitation of Ghanaian designs: High Average Low Non 6. Patronage: High Average Low 7. Competitiveness: Design quality: Excellent Good Average Poor Print quality: Excellent Good Average Poor Application: Wide Average Less 8. Available market: Mass Niche Both 9. Location: Open market Quantity: High Average Few Super market Quantity: High Average Few Woodin shops Quantity: High Average Few 243

10. General observation: Challenges...... Prospects......

A.5: SALES AND DISTRIBUTION OUTLETS OF THE SELECTED FACTORIES PREMIUM TEXTILES- TEXSTYLES GHANA LIMITED WOODIN SHOPS CHAR TEXTILES DISTRIBUTORS (CTD) AKOSOMBO TEXTILES LIMITED 1. Location...... 2. Proximity to the target market: Close Far 3. Types of prints on display: Wax Java Fancy Others 4. Quantities: Wax: High Average Few Java: High Average Few Fancy: High Average Few Others: High Average Few 5. Patronage: Wax: High Average Low Java: High Average Low Fancy: High Average Low Others: High Average Low 6. Competitiveness: Design quality: Excellent Good Average poor Print quality: Excellent Good Average Poor Application: Wide Average Less 7. Advertising strategies: TV Radio Billboard Others...... 8. Promotions: Exhibition Grand Sales Beauty Pageant 9. General observation: Challenges...... Prospects......

A.6: SELECTED TEXTILE FACTORIES Texstyles Ghana Limited (Formally GTP) Akosombo Textiles Limited (ATL) 244

Volta Star Textiles Limited (VSTL) 1. Geographical location...... 2. Proximity to the raw materials: Close Average Far 3. Proximity to the target market: Close Average Far 4. Source of energy: Paid electricity Generators Others...... 5. Source of water: GWC Internal generated water Other source 6. Labour force:...... 7. Skilled labour: High Average Low 8. Unskilled labour: High Average Low 9. Technical expertise: High Average Low 10. Departments: Spinning Weaving Inspection Design studio Dyeing Printing Make-up Others...... 11. Machine capacity: High Average Low 12. Machine type: Modern Old Both 13. Source of machinery: Imported Locally built Both 14. Machine efficiency: High Average Low 15. Factory layout: Vertically oriented Horizontally oriented 16. Recycling systems: Water Cotton waste Chemicals 17. Raw material base: Cotton fibres Cotton yarns Cotton fabrics Dyes and dyeing auxiliaries Printing ink Bleaching agent Scouring agent Mercerizing agent Size liquor Others...... 18. Source of raw materials: Cotton: Imported Local Both Dyes and dyeing auxiliaries: Imported Local: Print paste: Imported Local Pre-treatment finishes: Imported Local Size liquor: Imported Local 19. Country of importation of raw materials:...... 20. Production lines: • Blow room processes and systems...... • Spinning processes systems......

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...... • Warp preparation and systems...... • Pirn winding processes and system...... • Weaving processes and systems...... • Inspection processes and systems...... • Pre-treatment processes and systems...... • Dyeing processes and systems...... • Engraving processes and systems...... • Printing methods and systems...... • Finishing treatments and systems...... • Make-up processes and systems...... 21. Workers attitude towards work: • Time consciousness: Punctual Lateness Regular Irregular • Responds to safety precautions: High Average Poor • Approach to work: Proactive Lackadaisical Others...... Supervision: Strict Affable Loose Others......

A.7: DAILY USAGE OF LOCALLY MADE PRINTS 1. Types of prints: Wax: Local: High Average Low Imported: High Average Low Java: Local: High Average Low Imported: High Average Low Fancy: Local: High Average Low Imported: High Average Low Other prints...... 2. Users: Adult: High Average Low Youth: High Average Low Children: High Average Low Educated: High Average Low Illiterates: High Average Low 3. Application: Formal wear: High Average Low Casual wear: High Average Low

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Specific occasion: Evening wear: High Average Low Wedding/bridal wear: High Average Low Institutional wear: High Average Low Church service: High Average Low Friday wear: High Average Low Other festivities...... 4. Prints used in Friday wear: Local: High Average Low Imported: High Average Low 5. General observation......

APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW GUIDE

B.1: INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR COTTON FARMERS IN THE NORTHERN REGION

1. Name and age of the farmer 2. Tribe/Nativity 3. Educational background 4. How long have been into cotton farming? 5. Are you still into cotton farming? 6. If no, give reasons for quitting cotton farming business? 7. If yes, why are you still into cotton farming? 8. What is the size of your cotton farm? 9. What is your yearly production capacity? 10. Which type(s) of cotton do cultivate and why? 11. How do you grade the quality of cotton you produce? 12. Which method of farming do you employ? 13. Is there ready market for the cotton that you produce? 14. Whom do you produce the cotton for? 15. Apart from textile production, what other use do you produce the cotton for? 16. Do you receive any kind of assistance from the government or any other sources? 17. If no, how do you fund your farming? 18. Will you continue farming in cotton if government assist you financially? 19. What about Bank loans?

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20. Are you able to supply enough cotton to meet the demand of the cotton mills? 21. What is your level of income per month or annum? 22. Is the production of local cotton cost effective? 23. Give reasons to your answer in 21. 24. Is there enough available land for cotton farming? 25. If yes, how do you get access to the land for cotton farming? 26. Are there available human resources (Agric extension officers) for cotton farming? 27. What are your challenges regarding cotton farming? 28. What do you think must be done to sustain the cotton farming industry in the region?

B.2: INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR TEXTILE INDUSTRIALISTS (ATL, VSTL, GTP, GCCL)

B.2.1 Administrative Managers/Technical Directors 1. Name...... 2. Factory/Specific Location...... 3. Speciality/Position...... 4. Year of establishment...... 5. Brief historical overview of the factory 6. Do you have adequate building infrastructure? 7. What is the total machinery capacity of your factory? 8. State in percentages those that are in operation and those out of operation. 9. Are your machinery old or modern types? 10. Are the machines locally built or imported? 11. What is the output capacity or efficiency of your machinery? 12. How do you finance your production? 13. What is the raw material base of your production? 14. What is the current total workforce or employment level of the factory? 15. How will you compare the current workforce to the previous-1970s? 16. Do you have appreciable technical expertise in the factory? 17. Do you organise periodic workshops and in-service training for your staff? 18. What printing technologies do you employ? 248

19. Are your production technologies cost effective? 20. What is the current production capacity per day, month and annum? 21. How do you source for water and energy/electricity for production? 22. What is the total consumption of electricity and water per day, month and annum? 23. Does the factory have standby generators to support production? 24. What textile product(s) do you produce and why? 25. What is the demand for your products? 26. What is your target market? 27. What are your major challenges and prospects regarding production and sales of your products? 28. Do you receive any form of assistance from the government? 29. How favourable are government policies to the production and sales of locally made textiles 30. What are the exports and imports levels of the factory? 31. Who are your keen competitors and why? 32. How will you describe the current state of the Ghana’s textile industry? 33. What do you think must be done to invigorate the industry? The role of the government...... Textile industrialists...... Textile institutions...... Textile merchandisers...... Ghanaians...... 34. What are your future plans toward the sustainability and the development of the factory? 35. How do you envisage the future of the Ghana’s textile industry?

B.2.2: Design Managers 1. Name...... 2. Factory/Specific Location...... 3. Speciality/Position...... 4. Do you have adequate building and machine infrastructure? 5. Which types of machines or equipment do you employ in your design process? 6. Do you design manually or with computers?

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7. Which computer software do you use in generating your designs and why? 8. What types of designs do you produce? 9. From which sources do you develop your designs and why? 10. How many designs do you produce per day or month? 11. How many designs are printed within a month? 12. What are your range of colours and why? 13. What is your target market and why? 14. Do you design for international market? 15. Which of your designs sells best in the market and why? 16. Who are your main competitors? 17. Are your designs able to compete with the foreign types? 18. If yes, how competitive are your designs? 19. Do you have qualified design experts? 20. What are their qualifications? 21. Are your designs really copied by foreign textile firms? 22. Why do you think the foreign companies copy your designs? 23. Do you have any idea of how they copy and smuggle the deign into Ghanaian market? 24. What are you doing to curb copying and smuggling of Ghanaian textile designs? 25. What are your major challenges and prospects as textile designers?

B.2.3: Production Managers 1. Name...... 2. Factory/Specific Location...... 3. Speciality/Position...... 4. Do you have adequate building and machine infrastructure? 5. What is the total machinery capacity of your factory? 6. State in percentages those that are in operation and those out of operation. 7. Are your machinery old or modern types? 8. Are the machines locally built or imported? 9. What is the output capacity or efficiency of your machinery? 10. How do you finance your production? 11. What is the raw material base of your production?

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12. What is the current total workforce or employment level of the factory? 13. How will you compare the current workforce to the previous-1970s? 14. Do you have appreciable technical expertise in the factory? 15. Do you organise periodic workshops and in-service training for your staff? 16. What printing technologies do you employ and why? 17. Are your production technologies cost effective? 18. What is the current production capacity per day, month and annum? 19. How do you source for water and energy for production? 20. What is the total consumption of electricity and water per day, month and annum? 21. Does the factory have standby generators to support production? 22. What textile product(s) do you produce and why? 23. What is the demand for your products? 24. What are your major challenges and prospects regarding production? 25. Do you receive any form of assistance from the government? 26. How favourable are government policies to the production of locally made textiles? 27. What are the exports and imports levels of the factory? 28. Who are your keen competitors? 29. How will you describe the current state of the Ghana’s textile industry? 30. What do you think must be done to invigorate the textile industry? The role of the government...... Textile industrialists...... Textile institutions...... Textile merchandisers...... Ghanaians...... 31. What are your future plans toward the sustainability and the development of the factory? 32. How do you envisage the future of the Ghana’s textile industry and why?

B.2.4: Personnel Managers 1. Name...... 2. Factory/Specific Location...... 3. Speciality/Position......

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4. What is the current total workforce of the factory? 5. How will you compare the current workforce to the previous-1970s? 6. Do you have appreciable technical expertise in the factory? 7. Do you seek technical expertise from foreign textile firms? If yes, why? If no, why? 8. How do you assess the performance and attitude of workers towards work? 9. Do you organise periodic workshops and in-service training for your staff? 10. How lucrative is the remuneration of staff? 11. Does the factory have an insurance policy and risk allowances for workers? 12. What safety precaution measures do you have for workers? 13. Have provided adequate safety gadgets for workers? 14. What are the workers attitudes toward safety rules? 15. How do you employ personnel in your factory? 16. What is the level of education for your staff? 17. Where do you recruit most of your staff and why? 18. Are there any challenges or prospects with regards to personnel management? 19. How will you describe the current state of the Ghana’s textile industry? 20. What do you think must be done to invigorate the textile industry? The role of the government...... Textile industrialists...... Textile institutions...... Textile merchandisers...... Ghanaians...... 21. What are your future plans toward the sustainability and the development of the factory with reference to personnel? 22. How do you envisage the future of the Ghana’s textile industry and why?

B.2.5: Marketing Managers 1. Name...... 2. Factory/Specific Location...... 3. Speciality/Position...... 4. What is your main duty as a marketing manager? 5. How do you distribute and sell the products of the factory?

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6. What is your target market and why? 7. Do target international market to sell your products? 8. Give reasons for your answer in 6. 9. Where are your sales and distribution outlets located and why? 10. What are your sales/marketing strategies and how effective are they? 11. Who are your competitors? 12. What are your total sales per day, month, or annum? 13. How do you compare the current sales rate to the previous years? 14. Do you have qualified personnel for your sales and distribution operations? 15. Which people mainly patronise your products and why? 16. Are your products affordable to all Ghanaians? 17. What do the customers mostly consider in buying your products? 18. Do you think copying and smuggling of local textile designs have adverse effects on the sales of locally printed textiles? If yes why? 19. What other major challenges or factors inhibit patronage of locally printed textiles? 20. Are there any prospects for sales of the locally printed textiles? 21. How will you describe the current state of the Ghana’s textile industry? 22. What do you think must be done to invigorate and sustain the textile industry? The role of the government...... Textile industrialists...... Textile institutions...... Textile merchandisers...... Ghanaians...... 23. What are your future plans toward the sustainability and the development of the factory with reference to personnel? 24. How do you envisage the future of the Ghana’s textile industry and why?

B.3: INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR SELECTED STAFF OF MOTI-TEXTILES DEPT.

1. Name...... 2. Position...... 3. Can you give a brief historical account of the Ghana’s textile industry since 1960? 4. Briefly comment on the current state of the textile industry? 253

5. How many textile factories are currently in operation? 6. Do you testify to the fact that the industry has declined tremendously? 7. If yes, what do you think might have accounted for the decline? 8. What has the government done or is doing to revamp the textile subsector? 9. What is the total production capacity the textile subsector?

10. Can you quantify the total raw material base for the textile industry? 11. Is the infrastructural base for the industry in terms of building and machinery substantial? 12. Does the textile industry have enough qualified technical expertise? 13. What is the statistics on imports of foreign textiles from 2000 to 2010? 14. What is the statistics of exportation of locally made textiles from 2000 to 2010? 15. What is the total value of importation of raw material and spare parts for textile production from 2000 to 2010? 16. What benefits are derived from the textile subsector? 17. Does the textile industry have a strong financial/capital base? 18. Does the government subsidize textile production? 19. Are government policies regarding the textile industry favourable? 20. What major challenges confront the textile industry? 21. Are there any prospects for the textile industry? 22. What is the MOTI doing towards sustainable development of the textile industry? 23. What is the fate of the future of the Ghana’s textile industry?

B.4: INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR SELECTED STAFF OF CEPS

1. Name...... 2. Position...... 3. Do you testify to the fact that there is an alarming rate of smuggling of textiles in the country? 4. If yes, what is the rate of smuggling of textiles in the recent years? 5. Have you made any arrest of textile smugglers? 6. If yes, who are involved in the smuggling activity? 7. What measures have you put in place to combat smuggling of textiles? 8. Do you involve the police in your activities in checking smuggling of textiles? 1. What types of textiles are the smuggled goods made of? 254

2. Are the smuggled textiles of good quality? 3. From which countries are the textiles smuggled into the country? 4. Are there any sanctions for the culprits/smugglers? If yes, what are they? 5. Do you confiscate the textile goods on the arrest of the smugglers? 6. If yes, how are the confiscated smuggled goods treated? 7. What is the government doing to curb smuggling textiles? 8. What impact does the smuggling activities has on the textile industry? 9. What do you think must be done to control smuggling of textiles?

B.5: INTERVIEW GUIDE FOR TEXTILES MERCHANDISERS

1. Name...... 2. Location...... 3. How long have you dealt in textile merchandising? 4. What types of textiles do you sell? 5. Where do you get them from? 6. Which of the prints sell best and why? 7. How do you compare the foreign and local prints in terms of quality? 8. Which of the prints are affordable and why? 9. Which type receives high patronage and why? 10. What is the value of duties/tariffs on imported textiles? 11. Do the duties/tariffs affect the selling price of the textile? 12. Can you testify to the fact that some of your colleagues indulge in smuggle of textiles? 13. If yes, which countries and roots do they embark their smuggling operation? 14. How do you justify the cost of local textiles as against the foreign types? 15. What strategies do you employ to attract more customers and why? 16. What are your challenges in the sale of textile prints? 17. What are you doing to address the challenges? 18. How lucrative is textile merchandising? 19. What do you think must be done to invigorate and sustain the textile industry? The role of the government...... Textile industrialists...... Textile institutions...... Textile merchandisers...... 255

Ghanaians...... 20. How do envisage the future of the locally made textile merchandising?

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APPENDICX C: QUESTIONNAIRE

C.1: Questionnaire for Textile Industrialists

KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE OF ART AND SOCIAL SCIENCES, FACULTY OF FINE ARTS DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL ARTS STUDIES

Questionnaire for Textile Industrialists This questionnaire is designed to solicit data on the challenges and prospects of the Ghana’s Textile Industry with special reference to production and sales. The vision of the study is to help make pragmatic projections toward the invigoration of the textile sub- sector. As a multiple case study, the research focuses on ATL, GTP and VSTL but also quest for relevant data from other companies and institutions whose operations may have direct or indirect influence on the subject. Data collected will be treated with the necessary confidentiality and purely for academic purpose. It will therefore not be used outside its intended purpose. Thank you.

Instruction: Please thick (√) what you think is the right answer from the alternatives given and provide written answers where necessary.

Section A: General Background of the respondent 1. Factory: ATL [ ] GTP [ ] VSTL [ ] GCC [ ] 2. Specific Location of the Factory:……………………………………………………………. 3. Year of Establishment:…………………………… 4. Sex: a. Male [ ] b. Female [ ] 3. Age a. 15 -25 [ ] b. 26-35[ ] c. 36-45 [ ] d. 46-55[ ] Above 56 [ ] 3. Level of education: a. Primary [ ] b. JHS [ ] c. SHS [ ] e. Tertiary [ ] Other...... 4. Position: a. Technician [ ] b. Supervisor [ ] c. Manager [ ] Other…………… 6. How long have you been working with factory? a. less than a year [ ] b. 1 -5years[ ] c. 6 -10 [ ] d. 11-20 years [ ] Above 20 years [ ] Specify……………………… 7. Please state your area of specialization?...... 257

8. Were you trained on the job? Yes [ ] No [ ] 9. If no, how did you obtain your training? Apprenticeship [ ] Technical school [ ] Polytechnic [ ] University [ ] Other…………………………………………

Section B: The factory’s operations 1. How equipped is the factory in terms of building infrastructure? a. Well-equipped [ ] b. Fairly-equipped [ ] c. Poorly equipped [ ] Other ...... 2. How do you rate machinery capacity of your factory? a. Adequate [ ] Fairly adequate [ ] inadequate [ ] Other...... 3. State in percentages the machines that are in full operation. a. 1-25% [ ] b. 25-50% [ ] c. 50-75% [ ] d. 75-100% [ ] 4. Are your machinery old or modern types? a. Modern [ ] b. Old [] Other...... 5. Are the machines locally built or imported? a. Locally built [ ] b. Imported [ ] Other...... 6. What is the output capacity or efficiency of your machinery? a. Very efficient [ ] b. Fairly efficient [ ] c. Inefficient [ ] Other...... 7. How do you finance your production? a. Internal generated funds [ ] b. Government [ ] c. Bank loans [ ] other sources [ ] Specify...... 8. What are the main raw material base for your production:...... 9. Are the raw materials locally available or imported? a. Local available [] b. Imported [ ] c. Both [ ] Specify the quantities in percentages...... 10. What is the current total workforce of the factory? ...... 11. How will you compare the current workforce to the previous years?...... 12. Do you have appreciable technical expertise in the factory? a. Yes [ ] b. No [ ] 13. How do you assess the strength of the technical expertise of your factory? a. High [ ] b. Average [ ] c. Low [ ] d. Other...... 14. Do you organise periodic workshops and in-service training for your staff? a. Yes [ ] b. No [ ] 15. If yes, how frequent does this happen? a. Monthly [ ] b. Quarterly [ ] 258

c. Half a year [ ] d. Yearly [ ] e. Other...... 15. What are your production processes?......

16. Are your production technologies cost effective? a. Yes [ ] b. No [ ] 17. Justify your answer in 16...... 18. What is the current production capacity per day, month or annum?...... 19. How do you source for water and energy/electricity for production? ...... 20. What is the total consumption of electricity and water per day, month or annum?...... 21. Does the factory own standby generators to support production? a. Yes [ ] b. [ ] If yes, at what time do you use them?...... 22. What type of textile product(s) do you produce and why? ...... 23. What is the demand for your products? a. High [ ] b. Average [ ] c. Low [ ] 24. Give reasons to support your answer in 23...... 25. Are your products affordable? a. Yes [ ] b. No [ ] 26. Justify your answer in 25...... 27. What is your target market?...... 28. What are your major challenges with regard to production and sales of your products? ......

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29. What are your prospects regarding production and sales of your products? ......

Section C: External Factors that influence the factory’s operations 1. Do you receive any form of assistance from the government? a. Yes [ ] b. No [ ] 2. If yes, what kind of assistance do you receive from the government? ...... 3. How do you assess government’s policies with regard to production and sales of locally made textiles? a. Very favourable [ ] b. Less favourable [ ] c. Not favourable [ ] 4. What are the exports and imports levels of the factory in terms of following? • Raw materials:...... • Products:...... • Machinery and spare parts:...... 5. Do you pay tariffs on imported textiles raw materials and equipment? 6. If yes, how reasonable is the tariff? a. Very reasonable [ ] b. Quite reasonable [ ] c. Not reasonable [ ] d. Other comment...... 7. Who are your major competitors and why?...... 8. How will you describe the current state of the Ghana’s textile industry?...... 9. What do you think must be done to invigorate the industry? a. The role of the government...... b. Textile industrialists...... c. Textile institutions...... d. Textile merchandisers...... e. Ghanaian textile consumers ......

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10. What are your future plans toward the sustainability and the development of the factory?...... 11. How do you envisage the future of the Ghana’s textile industry in general? ...... 12. Please provide any other suggestion(s) you think can help in revitalizing the textile industry and why you think so......

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C.2: Questionnaire for Textile Lecturers KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE OF ART AND SOCIAL SCIENCES, FACULTY OF FINE ARTS DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL ARTS STUDIES

Questionnaire for Textile Lecturers This questionnaire is designed to solicit data on the challenges and prospects of the Ghana’s Textile Industry with special reference to production and sales. The vision of the study is to help make pragmatic projections toward the invigoration of the textile sub- sector. As a multiple case study, the research focuses on ATL, GTP and VSTL but also quest for relevant data from other companies and institutions whose operations may have direct or indirect influence on the subject. Data collected will be treated with the necessary confidentiality and purely for academic purpose. It will therefore not be used outside its intended purpose. Thank you.

Instruction: Please thick (√) what you think is the right answer from the alternatives given and provide written answers where necessary.

Section A: General Background of the respondent 1. Status: Assistant Lecturer [ ] Lecturer [ ] Senior Lecturer [ ] Other [ ] (Specify)….. 2. Age: Below 30 [ ] 31-40 [ ] 41-50 [ ] 51-60 [ ] Other [ ] (Specify)…………….. 3. Sex: Male [ ] Female [ ] 4. Institution: KNUST [ ] UEW [ ] Kumasi Poly [ ] Takoradi Poly [ ] 5. Highest Education: Bachelor [ ] Masters[ ] Doctorate [ ] Other……………… 6. Specialization: Textile Design [ ] Textile Science [ ] Textile Technology [ ] Textile Management [ ] Fashion Design [ ] Other [ ] (Specify)……………… 7. Subject Area: Textile Design [ ] Textile Science [ ] Textile Technology [ ] Textile Management [ ] Fashion Design [ ] Other [ ] (Specify)……………… 8. For how long have you taught in textiles? Less than 5 years [ ] 6 -10 [ ] 11-20 years [ ] Above 20 years [ ] (Specify)……………………………..

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Section B: The relevance of the textile institutions to the local textile industry 9. What is the enrolment level of your institution? Very high [ ] Average [ ] Low [ ] 10. Justify your answer in question9. 11. Which textile programmes do you run in your institution? Please list them:...... 12. Which major courses do you offer under each respective programme you have listed in question11?...... 13. How relevant are the courses to the local textile industry? ......

14. Do you have qualified instructors and technicians? Yes [ ] No [ ] 15. If yes, how qualified are they?...... 16. Is there any form of collaboration between your institution and the textile industries? Yes [ ] No [ ] 17. If yes, specify the kind of collaboration you have with the factories?...... 18. Do you organise periodic industrial tour and attachment programmes for your students? Yes [ ] No [ ] 19. If yes, how frequent are these done? Once every month [ ] Once every semester [ ] Once every two semesters [ ] Other [ ] Specify...... 20. Do you have adequate relevant facilities at your institution to acquaint students on industrial processes and mechanisms? Yes [ ] No [ ] 21. Assign reason(s) to your answer in question 18......

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22. What is the level of employment of textile graduates in the textile industries? High [ ] Average [ ] Low [ ] 23. Are there appreciable job prospects for textile graduates you train? Yes [ ] No [ ] 24. Justify your answer in question 23...... 25. In your opinion what do you perceive as the major challenge(s) facing textile graduates after school?...... 26. How do you assess the performance of your graduates at the industries? Excellent [ ] Very good [ ] Good [ ] Average [ ] Poor [ ] 27. What do you think might account for the assessment you have given in question 25? ...... Section C: Challenges and prospects of the textile industry 30. What are the major challenges of the textile industry in Ghana? ...... 31. What are the major prospects for the textile industry in Ghana? ...... 32. How will you describe the current state of the Ghana’s textile industry?...... 33. What do you think must be done to invigorate the textile industry? a. The role of the government...... b. Textile industrialists...... c. Textile institutions...... d. Textile merchandisers...... e. Ghanaian textile consumers...... 264

34. How do you envisage the future of the Ghana’s textile industry? ...... 35. Please provide any other suggestion(s) you think can help in revitalizing the textile industry and why you think so?......

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