68 CHAPTER 3


ginning potential and most companies work with excess capacity, most machines are rather old, and the quality of the turnout is low. An increase in overall cot- ton production can favor individual actors (producers, ginners, and government) and thus the economy in general. If the introduction of GM cotton boosted cot- ton yields, as expected, ginnery operations would therefore increase. The challenging part from the standpoint of marketing channels will be


devising ways to keep GM cotton from mixing with conventional varieties, or even worse, with organic cotton. However, in Uganda organic lint is already separated from conventional lint by using different ginneries for the two types. After separation of cotton seed from cotton lint, organic and conventional seeds are pooled together. The recycled seeds go back to ginneries, which deliver them to the farmers (see Figure 3.2). Under the current organization of the seed value chain, this might not be a problem, as both the organic produc- ers and the biotech companies have clear incentives to separate GM seed from other seeds. For producers and ginneries, it would be important to keep seeds used for organic production from mixing with GM seeds, and biotech compa- nies would avoid free recycling of the seed.


Cotton Production Systems


TRADITIONAL SYSTEM Cotton in Uganda is grown under rainfed conditions largely by smallhold- ers (Gordon and Goodland 2000). As a rainfed system, cotton production is dependent on rainfall patterns. Climatic events, especially variability in pre- cipitation, can severely affect cotton yields. The timeliness of the precipita- tion can determine a good or bad year for the crop. Production therefore varies considerably among the years. In the 2006/07 season for instance, rains were not timely, some areas were hit by hailstorms during crucial stages, and in other regions there was not enough moisture in the soil for boll formation. During that season, Uganda produced 75,000 metric tons5 of seed cotton, recording an average yield of just 483 kilograms/hectare (FAO 2010). This production resulted in a total of 24,790 tons of lint (Cotton Development Organisation 2008). Even though the area cultivated increased from 100,000 hectares in 2005/06 to 150,000 hectares in 2006/07, yields declined in the same period. In the 2007/08 season there was a sharp decline in total cotton production. Total lint produced was only 12,303 tons, merely 65 percent of the total pro- duced in the previous season.


5 All tons are metric tons in the chapter.


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