What have been some of the biggest changes in the industry over the past 40 years?
Hennie Bruwer (HB): Since the late 1980s, there has been a definite downward trend in cotton production. The deregulation of agriculture during the 1990s had a major impact on cotton production, as support services to producers were terminated overnight. The industry never recovered from the setback.
The industry has set a target that 20% of national production should come from smallholder farmers by 2030. Current estimated production is about 15% of the national crop.
One thing I very much hope for the industry is that production will stabilise at a minimum of 250 000 bales of cotton lint, with the goal of growing this to one million bales. I'd also like to see producers owning more of the value chain. Forward integration into the value chain is of