Concerted effort takes cotton from strength to strength

Cotton farming in South Africa has been a success story over the past decade, with prices paid to farmers rising and increasing hectares planted to the crop. Lindi Botha spoke to Hennie Bruwer, CEO of Cotton South Africa, about how this once flailing industry has been turned around.

- Lindi Botha

To what do you attribute the local cotton industry’s recent success?

It has been a combination of factors. Cotton’s profitability has improved compared with that of competing crops, and confidence in the industry has been rebuilt due to the introduction of the Cotton Cluster Programme (CCP) in 2014. Improved technologies in seed variety development and harvesting equipment have also facilitated growth.

Over the past decade, the area planted to cotton has increased more than 40 000ha, or 68%. While the weighted average yield for irrigated and dryland cotton was slightly lower in 2018/2019 than 10 years ago, the number of dryland hectares increased, and now makeup 42% of all hectares planted to cotton. This is the main reason for the contraction in overall yield. However, irrespective of the lateral movement in yield, South Africa remains among the top six highest-yielding countries, as reported during the 78th International Cotton Advisory Committee [ICAC] Plenary Meeting held in December 2019 in Australia.

Profitability is driven by price, yield and quality-related factors. Seed cotton prices have increased 88% or almost 9% year-on-year since the 2010/2011 marketing season.

Which programmes have been implemented to benefit more farmers?

The CCP was implemented over a five-year period, which gave effect to a number of long-term benefits. It promoted small farmer development through supplier development programmes and created a platform for new harvesting technology demonstrations aimed specifically at increasing the efficiency of dryland cotton. It also saw the implementation of the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) to promote better cultivation practices and reduce the use of crop protection products during the growing cycle. Some 39% of the local cotton crop is currently BCI-compliant, and we’re striving towards 100% over the next three to five years.