Why State is in rush to push job creation in cotton value chain

AFA Chairman Cornelly Serem during a stakeholders' forum in Lamu County. [@kenya_afa, X]

The Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) has singled out the cotton sector as key to the economy, saying its value chain has the potential to create more jobs for youth in the country.

Public sector workers and schools are some of the easy-to-reach markets that can help promote the uptake of locally manufactured garments.

AFA Chairman Cornelly Serem challenged Kenyans to support locally manufactured fabrics by purchasing clothes made within the country instead of relying on imports.

“When you are asking the government to create jobs for your children while you are wearing clothes imported from Turkey, China or the UK, are you really serious?” he posed.

He said the government policy requires public officials to promote locally made fabrics by wearing Kenyan-manufactured garments.

Serem was speaking during a stakeholders’ forum organised by AFA in Lamu.

The Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (Kippra) notes that cotton farming employs about 140,000 smallholder farmers, yielding an average of 0.53 tonnes per hectare and representing only 10 per cent of the sector’s full potential.

 This is while ginneries employ 800 to 1,600 workers but operate at only 17 to 31 per cent capacity due to limited operations and seed cotton shortages.

Additionally, yarn mills employ 178-370 workers, while the textile factories employ 3,000 workers, processing 48,000 of their 100,000-bale capacity.

“Design and sewing enterprises, including 170 garment companies and 75,000 Small and Micro Enterprises (SMEs), operate at full capacity, providing tailoring, sewing and quality control jobs. Distribution involves 29 Export Processing Zones (EPZs) units, employing 37,750 people in packaging, logistics, and marketing,” explains Kippra in the 2025 research.

 The cotton industry is said to provide 21,000 jobs in the formal sector and 31,000 in the informal sector, according to Kippra.

Thika Cloth Mills Chief Executive Tejal Dhodhia said schools can help grow the cotton value chain in the country.

 “Schools across the country should stop importing materials for school uniforms and instead source locally manufactured fabrics,” she said. “Doing so would create employment opportunities for students after graduation and strengthen Kenya’s textile industry.”

She urged the politicians to support local manufacturers by ordering campaign materials from Kenyan textile firms, even as she acknowledged the government for awarding tenders to local industries.

“Many uniforms worn by Kenya’s disciplined forces are produced by Thika Cloth Mills,” she said.

Value addition

Some of the challenges highlighted in the Kippra paper that limit the cotton sector include import of used clothes locally known as mitumba.

“Importing used clothes limits the value addition potential. While it creates jobs and meets apparel demand, it undermines the domestic textile sector by flooding the market with cheaper alternatives,” the report says.

Other challenges are low and fluctuating cotton prices, limited backward linkages and technological and costs constraints.

Data from AFA shows the area under cotton rose to 12,152 hactares (ha) in 2023 from 8,585 ha in 2022, a 42 per cent increase.

“The increase was attributed to prompt disbursement of planting materials (cotton seed) and pesticides to farmers and the concerted efforts by the government to revitalise cotton, as a strategy to reduce importation of seed cake and lint,” says AFA in its 2025 report.