The National Cotton Council Thursday called on Zimbabwe's cotton industry to add value to cotton lint so as to earn the country more foreign currency and create jobs.

There is great need to move away from exporting cotton in the form of lint so as to add value and increase beneficiation from the produce, an official has said.

Chairman of the National Cotton Council, Phineas Chingono said it was time the country started exporting processed products from cotton lint.

"At the moment, about 70 percent of the produce is being exported as lint, hence the need to create a conducive environment for it to be processed into finished products," he said.

Chingono noted the need to set up appropriate infrastructure to intensify the spinning and weaving of the produce, adding that this would also contribute to economic growth by creating employment for the people.

Chingono urged cotton farmers to increase yields per hectare from an average of 800 kg to 3000 kg to boost the country's cotton production and foreign exchange earnings.

To realize this goal, he said, there was need for adequate provision of inputs and training as an ad hoc approach to farming and lack of preparedness by farmers resulted in poor production.

Cotton is one of the country's largest foreign currency earners. In the 2004/5 season, the crop earned the country 150 million U.S. dollars, surpassing the country's largest foreign exchange earner, tobacco, which brought in 140 million dollars.

Source: Xinhua