Marketing policies and economic interests in the cotton sector of Kenya

This report, which is based on field research carried out in 1988, examines the marketing arrangements for raw cotton, cotton lint and cotton seed in Kenya, as well as the relationships and conflicts between the actors involved. The report starts with the history of cotton production and marketing in Kenya. Next, the different participants in the cotton marketing system are introduced, i.e. the cotton farmers, the cooperative and private buying and ginning agents, the CLSMB (Cotton Lint and Seed Marketing Board), the textile factories and the cottonseed crushing mills. Existing problems at each marketing stage are looked at, and possible solutions discussed. In the last section, the large-scale reorganization of the present marketing system, as proposed by the Kenyan Government and outlined by the 1988 Cotton Act, is discussed. The reorganization is designed to solve the current problems and to reverse the declining cotton production trend