Despite many efforts to enhance local value addition, integrated cotton-to-textile value chains in Africa are currently inactive or absent. As a result, of the 1,272 million metric tonnes of lint produced in French-speaking Africa in 2018, only 19,000 tonnes, or 1.5%, was consumed (i.e. processed) locally, for example.
Given the continued difficulty in reviving textile and apparel industries in Africa, cotton by-products represent potential additional income streams that can improve resilience.
Cotton by-products can be divided into two broad categories: those derived from residues from the ginning and oil milling processes such as linters, hulls, oil and cake; and the products processed from the stalks of the plant, such as briquettes, pellets, mushrooms and particle boards.
According to the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) at a June 2019 workshop on cotton by-products held at the World Trade Organization (WTO), "cottonseed by-products have growing markets and are potentially an important complementary source of revenue for the cotton sector in Africa."
Ginning seed cotton yields roughly 55% cottonseed and 40% lint. By crushing and processing cottonseed, an edible oil is obtained. Cottonseed oil is the most valuable cotton by-product in price-to-weight terms, hence it has the greatest commercial and income potential. Cottonseed oil represents approximately 5.2% of world edible oil production.
According to the International Trade Centre (ITC) at the 2019 workshop, "The co-product of lint, cottonseed and the other cotton by-products are underutilized, or even neglected, in Africa, despite their numerous and diverse potential uses."
Indeed, Africa produces about 2.5 million tonnes of cottonseed, which is 5.8% of global production. Only 75% of the seed is crushed for oil and seed-meal, and that means that 25% of cottonseed produced in Africa goes unused. The estimated value of that unused seed is about US$237 million, most of which is in West Africa. Mali is an exception in the region, processing all of its cottonseed, as shown in the graph below, presented by the ICAC at the cotton by-products workshop.
Accordingly, processing a greater proportion of cottonseed into oil could generate additional income, substitute for imported edible oil and increase food security.
In Africa, after farmers harvest seed cotton, they uproot and destroy the remaining stalks and leaves, often by burning them, to comply with pest management regulations. Stalks represent 80% or more of the cotton plant’s total mass, which is almost entirely wasted in Africa. In other countries, such as India, cotton stalks are compressed into fuel pellets or briquettes, replacing dirtier solid fuels such as charcoal, firewood or coal. Stalks also have other agricultural uses, such as fertilizer or culture substrate for mushrooms.
Farmers can benefit directly from utilizing the stalks they would otherwise burn in their fields, either by selling them to a processor or engaging in small-scale processing themselves.
As well as belonging to the farmers, stalks have the added advantage of being relatively abundant. The following chart, presented by experts from Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali (the so-called “Cotton 4” countries) at the June 2019 cotton by-products workshop, illustrates the potential raw material supply for cotton by-products, with stalks being the most abundant.
A Guest Editorial