Textiles and clothing are an essential part of everyday life and an important sector in the global economy, and more so Textile in Africa.

According to a report titled Circular economy in Africa: Fashion and textiles, in sub-Saharan Africa, the combined apparel and footwear market is estimated at $31 billion. The textile industry in Africa is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of approximately 5 percent between 2019 and 2024. In addition, the production of cotton accounts for almost 7 percent of all employment in some low-income countries.

African countries boasted thriving textile industries in the 1970s and early 1980s. That was until the African market was flooded by what Kenyans call Mitumba (second-hand clothes), also called chagua in Rwanda, and salaula in Zambia, dealing the textile industry a blow leading to its deterioration.

Textiles in Kenya

In Kenya, the former President Uhuru Kenyatta sought to revive the country’s textile industry with the aim of boosting the manufacturing sector thus promoting local production, reducing overreliance on Mitumba (second-hand clothes), and creating more job opportunities, for Textile in Africa.

This was to be done under the campaign dubbed ‘Buy Kenya, Build Kenya’, spearheaded by Kitui County Textile Centre (Kicotec), NYS apparels factory, and Eldoret-based Rivatex.

Issues with Kenya’s textile industry

However, the initiative was hit by slow revival with the first setback being a lack of raw materials.

For instance, when the National Police Service unveiled its Persian blue uniform in 2018, all police officers were expected to be in the new uniform within a year. This was not to be as the new uniform designers chose that particular shade of blue, assuming the textile would be imported. Following a government directive that all materials to be used in making the new police uniforms be sourced locally, the production hit a standstill in Kenya.

Even after the factories got their hands on it, the production rate was low citing capacity issues. The production deadline for the police uniforms has since been pushed to 2023.

Rivatex has also cited inadequate raw materials, and high labour and electricity costs, which have led to the slow revival of the once-vibrant textile firm.

For instance, the company management has in the past admitted to operating below capacity due to a serious shortage of cotton, producing an average of 40,000 bales against a capacity of 70,000 bales annually.

These are but some of the issues plaguing the Kenya textile industry and textile in Africa as a whole.

The Remedies to Kenya’s textile industry

However, remedies to these ailments have been put in place, among them distribution of free seeds and pesticides by Rivatex to 43,000 smallholder cotton farmers in about 22 counties to fight bollworms and improve yield. The seeds being distributed can produce more than 1,000 kilogrammes of cotton per acre compared to the traditional variety which produces about 600 kilogrammes.

To further boost the sector, the government has since 2014 invested Sh6 billion in Rivatex to modernise the facility and expand its production capacity. The company has so far created over 3,000 jobs and provides fabrics to over 30,000 tailors across the country.

Further, the government is keen on engaging textile companies in the Export Processing Zones Authority to source their raw materials locally.

Textiles in Nigeria

Nigeria was home to Africa’s largest textile industry, with more than 180 textile mills employing over 450,000 people.

In the 70s, the cotton, textile and garment (CTG) subsector of the economy was then the largest employer after the public sector, comprising over 25 percent of the manufacturing workforce. The production of cotton supported this industry by some 600,000 local farmers across the country.

The Issues with Nigeria’s textile industry

Among the unique issues plaguing Nigeria’s textile industry is insufficient cotton seeds for production, high cost of operations, smuggling and counterfeiting, high influx of cheap textile and garment products into the country.

Other issues include lack of enabling infrastructure, especially a steady power supply, limited access to funds and poor production standards.

Remedies to improve textile industry in Nigeria

In a bid to revive the collapsed textile industry, Nigeria’s federal government in 2019 took drastic measures to address one of those issues, with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announcing an end to textile imports, adding all forms of textile materials to the list of items ineligible for foreign exchange.

In an interview with Alliance for Science, Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor, then said that although the bank will initially support the importation of cotton lint for use in textile factories, importers must begin to source all their cotton needs locally beginning in 2020.

Former national chairman of the Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association (NTMA), Ibrahim Igomu, said the ban does not mean Nigeria will automatically stop buying textiles or clothing from other countries. He described the policy as a way to discourage importers from sourcing textile needs abroad by forcing them to seek foreign exchange on the black market at a more expensive rate.

This, in turn, will make it more attractive to buy domestically, which means that the Nigerian companies would produce more and would need more cotton to do that. This means they will get more cotton from the ginners, who will now buy more from the farmers. Thus affecting the value chain positively.

In addition, the government approved two homegrown Bt cotton varieties genetically modified to resist the bollworm, which causes a cotton yield loss of about 60 percent.

Dr Rose Maxwell Gidado, country coordinator for the Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) Nigeria chapter, also lauded the move, saying it really came at a very critical time when Nigeria had commercially released two varieties of cotton that are high yielding, with other advantages like resistance to bollworm. This pest has kept farmers from cultivating this crop. “Not just bollworm, but many other insects are responsible for a high rate of loss to the extent that farmers and breeders alike get frustrated with cultivating this crop unless you use excessive chemicals to control these insects. But we now have a high-yielding variety which gives you 4.1 – 4.4 tonnes per hectare and it is early maturing and resistant to other sucking insects, apart from bollworm.” she said.

By growing GM Bt cotton, farmers will be able to control pests with just two applications of insecticides rather than the eight-to-10 required now.

Building textiles in South Africa

South Africa is no stranger to the dumping of cheaper second-hand imported clothes that is just as rampant in Kenya and Nigeria as in other parts of Africa.

The Remedies to build a sustainable textile industry in South Africa

South Africa formed the Sustainable Cotton Cluster Programme to bring together the entire cotton value chain and related players, including the public sector, organised labour, consumer organisations, service providers and dedicated cluster management.

Through this programme, a call for local sourcing and production across the value chain was made. This resulted in the production of cotton increasing to 50,000 tonnes from 5,200 tonnes in just five years, and is projected to reach 80,000 tonnes by 2022.

The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, further launched the Clothing and Textiles Competitiveness Programme, and allocated R7.1 billion to the clothing industry for one financial year, which was meant to revitalise the clothing and textiles industry.

The initiative even had the buy-in from major retailers, which committed to stock more locally produced clothing. There has now been a boom in people starting up their clothing companies from home; but without the backing of skilled sewers or a marketing team.

As a whole, Africa have made substantial gains especially in the production of cotton where out of the many African countries growing and selling cotton, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Côte D’ivoire, Cameroon, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia do so under the label Cotton made in Africa (CmiA), one of the largest job producers.

CmiA has made a commitment not to allow the cultivation of genetically modified cotton under the initiative, thus the use of genetically modified seeds is part of the exclusion criteria of CmiA standard. They also ensure that the cotton is grown under rain-fed conditions, cultivated using pesticides and fertilisers in an effective and responsible way, and harvested by hand thus ensuring a certain standard is upheld. Countries that fail to meet this criteria like South Africa and Sudan are not part of CmiA.

The local textile industry is gaining traction with many brands moving their production from Asian to African countries, with Ethiopia positioning itself as a leader in developing a textile industry in East Africa.