Cotton is a cash crop that generates income and welfare for over 250 million farmers across the
globe. In Tanzania, cotton is a strategic crop, as it contributes substantially to export revenues and
employment in the country,as well asa farmer's incomes in the two cotton-growing zones, namely;
the Western Cotton Growing Area (WCGA) and the Eastern Cotton Growing Area (ECGA).
,
The WCGA consists of the
administrative regions of Shinyanga, Simiyu, Mwanza, Mara, Geita, Tabora, Kigoma and Singida and
accounts for 97-99% of the total cotton production in the country. The ECGA includes Manyara,
Morogoro, Coast, Kilimanjaro, Tanga and Iringa regions and accounts for the remaining 1-3% of
cotton production. Shinyanga and Mwanza are the two largest cotton-growing regions in Tanzania.
Geita Co-operative Union have unlimited derivatives to produce solutions for cotton farming in transporting , market search to farmers and provision of education to farmers in geita. In order to increase efficiency in Agricultural sector.
Cotton plant Varieties
Cotton farming processes
Farmers produce seed cotton in which the resulting by-products are stalks, which are left in the field
for other use or cleared cum burnt to prepare for the subsequent season. Those are common technologies
used in land tilling.
Geita Co-operative Union Helps farmers in:-
- Provide farmers with well suitable seeds which will grow regardless in any environmental change
- Provide AMCOS farmers with education regarding the suitable time to plant their seeds.
- Making sure that all AMCOS are provided with adequate amount of seeds in planting season.
- Provide AMCOSwith affordable Organic compounds which will help farmers with all living standards afford
- Keep follow -ups to AMCOS which prodided need to cultivate cotton in their area
- Ensure that all farmers are reached and helped in finding major suitable method in weeding process
Farmers are provided with a numerous number of weeding methods in their farms, some prefer using local methods i.e using hoes, this is due to the standards of life, others use organic compound whose work is to kill cockle , these compound are expensive thus farmers with high living standards are able to afford and those with low living standards afford local methods
Geita Co-operative union ensures that:-
- Farmers in all AMCOS are given education on when to harvest and how for harvesting best quality cotton which will result to high bid in market.
- Farmers in all AMCOS are provided with financial support which will help them increase labour power in their harvest.
Harvesting must be performed carefully, because the cleaner the cotton is, the higher the prices paid for it will be. Mechanical harvesting produces only inferior cotton, because many dirt particles find there way into the cotton during the process. The quality of handpicked cotton rests in the careful of the picker.
Knowing this GCU ensures that:-
- All of the AMCOS are provided with financial help which will help them build their own ginneries.
- Bulid many ginneries which will charge least fee in keeping cotton for farmers.
- Provide farmers with vehicles which will help farmers transport their crops to ginneries.
- For those farmers who will wish not to transfer their crops instead sell them GCU makes sure it buys the crops and later on grant is rewarded to the farmer.
Transport of cotton to ginneries require financial muscle, thus some farmers tend to sell their crops from farmer to potential buyers, this sometimes tend to bring loss to farmers, also Ginneries they use to store are either public or private owned , thus they tend to have high amount of storing fee.
Knowing this GCU has doe the following..
