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Cotton in demand
8/31/2012
There is a demand for West Indian Sea Island Cotton.
In light of this, Exclusive Cottons of the Caribbean Incorporated (ECCI), is working hard to get into some of the larger markets, revealed General Manager Adlai Stevenson.
Speaking to participants of the Grow More Cotton seminar at the Eastern Caribbean Fertiliser Company (ECFCO) offices at the Uplands Fertilizer factory, St. John yesterday, he indicated that there is a big demand for the cotton in Italy.
“However, we want to go beyond Italy and we want to do more than simply sell to them. We are currently producing a number of products and selling those locally, but we need to get into the international market.
“Clearly the Italians and Swiss have made a lot of money off West Indian Sea Island Cotton, and it is time for us in the Caribbean, who are growing the product, to be selling wholesale in the first instance. Because as much as we dream of doing retail, to establish a retail outlet on some of the high streets will call for millions of dollars in investment,” acknowledged Stevenson.
He went on to indicate that the ECCI takes the view that there is a need to increase the use of science in the cotton industry.
“Clearly the information coming out of the soil samples and the analysis suggest that we need to work assiduously to solve some of the problem that we are seeing. At EECI clearly we are trying to go down the value chain and to earn significant profits in Barbados,” he added.
According to him, such seminars are important since there is a need to start at the farm.
“We need to ensure that we are getting good quality, and make sure the yield is adequate. In the past the yield, in my view, has been inadequate. We are reaping too little of the cotton that is produced at the farm. Therefore we need to work on harvesting, productivity of the plant itself, among other aspects. We need to involve more of the growers and begin to revamp the industry in general.” (TL)
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