Busia’s Muluanda Ginnery receives Cotton Seed Milling Equipment from AFA

The Agriculture and Food Authority (AFA) has launched a cotton seed milling equipment at Luanda cotton ginnery in Samia Sub County in Busia.

Speaking during the launch Director General of AFA Dr Bruno Linyiru said the milling equipment will help in value addition as a way of boosting cotton farming and profit to the farmers in the region.

Linyiru said the initiative is part of efforts to promote value addition in line with the government’s strategy for agricultural sector growth and the Authority’s mandate.

The Ksh500, 000 machine will enhance the value of cotton through value addition by processing of cotton seeds to cotton oil and seed cake.

Linyiru said the increase in value addition activities will enhance the farm gate price of seed cotton by an estimated 8-11%.

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“There will be three products derived from processing of seed cotton; lint, oil and seed cake. The products will be sold out to textile mills, animal feed manufacturers and paint industries, respectively,” said Linyiru.

The machine which is locally made has been designed to be able to mill other oil crops such as sunflower.

According Dr Linyiru, the government targets to increase area under cotton production and productivity from 40,000 acres and 153 Kg/acre (in 2024) to 160,000 acres and 900 Kg/acre respectively by 2027.

The government has been supporting cotton production by supporting the value chain with quality inputs especially seeds and pesticides.

In the year 2025 the Government provided 1000 MT of Open Pollinated Varieties (OPV) and BT cotton seeds for both long rains and short rains. Busia County has so far received 125 MT (OPV) and 750 Kg (BT) seeds.

By Our Reporter

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