‘White gold’: GMO cotton renews hope for Nigeria’s troubled textile industry
Nigeria’s textile industry was once a thriving part of the nation’s economy. The industry was once the country’s second-leading employer, with mills spread throughout various states supported by local cotton farmers. But the industry today is shambles, resulting from a variety of factors, including internal strife, an influx of cheap Chinese fabrics and pests that plague cotton growers. At its peak, just two decades ago, the industry employed 600,000 workers. Today that number is closer to 20,000.
There are no easy ways to fix complex problems. But farmers in Nigeria are hoping the recent approval of two GMO cotton seeds will fuel a resurgence in the troubled sector.
‘White Gold’
Our basic understanding of life, matter and energy has improved significantly in the past decades, due to the tremendous advances made in science. As a result, today we experience intensive technological changes and advancements, stimulating a new era of development in many parts of the world. One the technological advancements we have today is biotechnology, which can be defined as any technological application that involves the use of a whole biological system or parts of living organisms to produce useful products for medical, agricultural or industrial use.
Agricultural biotechnology through a fusion of biochemistry, microbiology, genetic engineering and gene editing, allows the production of crops resistant to a range of stressors, including pests and insects, diseases and environmental challenges such as drought and soil salinity. Nations such as the USA, China, India, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso and South Africa have adopted science and technological innovations to boost agricultural production and drive economic growth. However, in Nigeria lack of government commitment and the “recalcitrant status quo” has long slowed the pace in the adoption of biotechnology.
Cotton is a major cash crop, nicknamed “white gold” by farmers because of financial and economic benefits. The major cotton producing states in Nigeria are Zamfara, Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi, Ogun, Ondo and Oyo. Cotton is uniquely versatile with a large and diverse agricultural value chain that creates many jobs and financial opportunities, particularly in the textile industry. However, the textile industry in Nigeria is seemingly dead due to a decline in cotton production. This has led to the closure of cotton mills and other businesses that support the textile industry, which has been ravaged by a range of problems, including pests and insects attacks.
Pests such as aphids, jassids and thrips attack cotton plants and suck their sap. Bollworms from the Lepidopteran species attack cotton plants at different growth stages, causing considerable yield damage of about 60 percent if nothing is done to mitigate them in time.
BT Cotton
Recently, Bt Cotton became the first genetically engineered crop to be adopted in Nigeria. Two Bt Cotton varieties MRC7377 BG ll and MRC7361 BG ll were released and officially registered by the National Committee on Naming, Registration and Release of Crop Materials at its 26th meeting in Ibadan. This is a landmark in the history of Nigerian modern biotechnology. The newly released Bt Cotton varieties have the potential to revamp the comatose textile industry by boosting cotton production in Nigeria. Some of the potential benefits of Bt Cotton to Nigerian farmers include:
- The use of Bt cotton will lead to a significant reduction in the use of pesticides/agrochemicals by farmers, reducing the cost of cultivation and hazards on human, animal health and environment during application.
- Farmers will only plant the Bt cotton seedlings and the resulting plant will have the capacity to grow in areas that are infested by bollworms.
- Bt cotton will improve profit for farmers. Taking into considerations the cost of purchasing cotton seedlings, pesticides/agro-chemicals, and the average cost of cotton production on 1 hectare of land, the new seeds are expected to increase yields by 37 percent and improve profit by 50 percent.
When considering adoption of GM cotton, Nigeria needs to know what happened in Burkina faso. Lint quality was poor as there was insufficient consideration given to the need to insert Bt technology in a variety suited to Africa. Bt cotton only controls bollworms so the plants need to be as resistant to jassids and other sucking pests and crop monitored in case a spray is needed.
In Australia the cotton has several Bt genes as the earliest Bt cotton did not give adequate control of bollworms late in the season.
Many years ago I visited Samaru and have seen cotton in Nigeria.