International Cotton Advisory Committee

March 2019 Volume XXXVII, No. 1 The ISSN 1022-6303 ICAC Recorder International Cotton Advisory Committee Table of Contents • Editorial ..........................................................................................................................................................3 • Insecticide Management in Cotton: Progress and Prospects ......................................................................4 • Extension Methods Relevant to Africa .........................................................................................................13 • Potential Employment in the Textile-Apparel Industry in Sub-Saharan Africa .........................................22 The ICAC Recorder, March 2019 3 March 2018 Volume XXXVI, No. 1 The ICAC Editorial Recorder International Cotton Advisory Committee African cotton has tremendous scope to produce high yields in a sustainable manner with low input costs and fewer - nologies to farms, fair market practices, and establishment of textile value chains will eventually determine the future ofinputs African of water cotton. and Following agrochemicals. a July 2018Effective network farm welfaremeeting policies, in Harare, good Zimbabwe, agricultural three research, consecutive efficient special transfer volumes of tech of the ICAC RECORDER on the theme ‘This time for Africa’ were planned. This volume is the third in the special series on Africa. I realise that there is still more that remains to be said on the efforts made so far, and some new efforts that need to be initiated. Therefore, the June 2019 ICAC RECORDER specialTable of Contents series on ‘This Time for Africa’. • Editorial ..........................................................................................................................................................3 • Cotton Production Practices - Snippets from Global Data 2017 ..................................................................4 will carry the final set of articles to complete the four-volume • Proceedings and Recommendations of the 13th ICAC-Network Meeting on Cotton fo the Mediterranean This and volume Middle East Regions ...........................................................................................................................has three articles that address15 some core issues. At the ICAC Plenary Meeting held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, in • December 14th Network Meeting of Southern 2018, and Eastern Dr.African Cotton Joe Forum Kabissa (SEACF) ...................................... made27 an impressive and impactful presentation on ‘Insecticide Management: Prog- ress and Prospects in Africa’. His article in this volume documents his views. Dr. Kabissa examines the issues related to insecticide management in Africa and emphasises the need for stakeholders to have a clear understanding of the impli- cations related to the externalities associated with insecticide use, and how they should be minimised in the interest of sustainable cotton production. In their lucidly written article ‘Extension Methods Relevant to Africa’, Dr. Usha Rani and Dr. Prakash describe the state-of-the-art extension technologies that could be suitable for small-scale production sys- tems in remote regions of Africa. The third article, by ICAC Economist Ms. Lorena Ruiz and myself, explores the employment potential in the textile-apparel industry in sub-Saharan Africa, which could be a game-changer for the continent. double its cotton yields in the next few years. Needless to say, ‘Where there is a will, there will be a way’. With great natu- ralThe resources articles in of thesunlight, three adequateAfrica-focussed heat, good volumes soils ofand the good ICAC rains, RECORDER African cottoncreate hasconfidence all the factors that Africa required could for easily good - thangrowth for and the highproduction yields. ofGlobal low-value scientific plant research biomass. has These shown principles that for ofhigh ‘source yields, to thesink’ natural for a higher resource ‘harvest energies index’ — havesun beenlight, appliedwater, heat in Australia, and nutrients Brazil, — China, must beMexico, used moreTurkey for and the the production USA, and of the economically result is that important these countries fruiting harvest parts rather 1,000 to 2,500 kg lint per hectare (kg/ha), compared to 160-450 kg/ha in African countries. One of the arguments has been that cotton is grown in Africa under rainfed conditions, and therefore yields will not learnt from the six countries mentioned above show that high yields are not be necessarily due to irrigation, high agro- chemicalincrease. Butinputs, the cottonand complex yields inmanagement Brazil are high practices. — more A than combination 1500 kg/ha, of plant despite architecture, being completely planting rainfed. geometry, The lessonscanopy management, and synchronization of the crop’s water, nutrient and light requirements, helped many countries achieve high yields with or without biotech cotton and costly inputs. These simple technologies could help Africa go a long way toward achieving high yields and enhancing profitability. localAfrica agricultural needs self-confidence. socio-economic It needs dynamics good, localof small-scale cotton scientists producers. who With understand the existing the domesticlarge network terrain of andmobile challenges phones — and whose research can knit together simple strategies that are tailored to fit the local African context and suit the of good research, good agri-extension services, and a good value chain, Africa will be poised for a breakthrough in yields, and apps, technology transfer is no longer the nightmare that it used to be — as it was in prior years. With a combination talent; but Africa is a giant in slumber. The time has now arrived to arise, wake up, and show Africa’s mettle to the world. profitability and sustainability. To surmise, it would not be wrong to state that Africa has all the natural resources and The ICAC RECORDER (ISSN 1022-6303) is published four times a year by the Secretariat of the International Cotton Advisory Committee, 1629 K Street, NW, Suite 702, Washington, DC 20006-1636, USA. Editor: Keshav Kranthi <[email protected]>. Subscription rate: $220.00 hard copy. Copyright © ICAC 2019. No reproduction is permitted in whole or part without the express consent of the Secretariat. 4 The ICAC Recorder, March 2019 March 2018 Volume XXXVI, No. 1 The Insecticide Management in Cotton: ICAC Recorder Progress and Prospects International Cotton Advisory Committee Joe C.B. Kabissa, Former Director General of the Tanzania Cotton Board P.O. Box 9161, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania., Current Address: Soko Maziwa, Kigamboni; P.O. Box 36518 Kigamboni, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; [email protected] Abstract Chemical insecticides continue to be a necessary input for production has dropped from 68% in 1960 to just 26.5% inOn 2018the global(ICAC, 2019).fibre market, Due to risingcotton’s cost share of production, in textile the global insecticide market declined from 24% in 1994 cotton has been losing its market share to synthetic toprofitable 14.8% in cotton 2010. production.Such a decline Recently, did correspond cotton’s sharewith the of increased adoption of transgenic cotton during that period. driver for cotton’s rising production cost has been the Table of Contents Prior• Editorial to .......................................................................................................................................................... the introduction of Bt cotton in3 1996, bollworms worldwidefibres, whose upsurge share currentlyin the use stands of agrochemicals, at 66.1%. The mainly major • Cotton Production Practices - Snippets from Global Data 2017 ..................................................................4 had• Proceedingsaccounted and Recommendations for of the 13that ICAC-Network least Meeting 50% on Cotton offo the Mediterraneanall chemical insecticides insecticides. In 2006, crop protection accounted for up to and Middle East Regions ...........................................................................................................................15 used• 14th Networkon Meetingthe of Southerncrop and Easternannually. African Cotton Forum Bt (SEACF) cotton ...................................... is27 toxic to bollworms 45% of variable costs in cotton production in low-income and generally does not warrant any supplemental need for countries (Russell and Kranthi, 2006). Due to emerging insecticide use, except when bollworms develop resistance pest problems, the use of insecticides worldwide has risen, to Bt cotton. Estimates show that extensive cultivation of resulting in cotton’s market share climbing from 14.8% Bt cotton resulted in the reduction of insecticide usage by to 16.1% between 2010 and 2014 (Ferrigno et al., 2017; 268.6 million kilograms (kg) from 1996 to 2015 (Brookes Kranthi, 2018). Paradoxically, this is happening at a time and Barfoot, 2017). However, the recent increasing trends when average yields in low-income countries are still well in the use of insecticides have been necessitated by the below the global average yield of 772 kg lint/ha (Kranthi, need to suppress a global resurgence of sucking pests, as 2018). well as the pink bollworm, which has recently developed Because the bulk of cotton is grown in tropical and sub- resistance to Bt cotton in China, India and Pakistan. On conventional cotton, the rise in insecticide use has been in response to the growing need to deal with the increased tropical areas — where

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