By Eneojo Herbert Idakwo
For decades, Nigeria’s cotton sector languished as a shadow of its former self. Once the pride of the North, sustaining textile factories and rural livelihoods, the industry all but collapsed under years of neglect, smuggling, and policy inconsistency. Yet, in recent years, cotton has staged an unexpected comeback—powered by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) and the organizing muscle of the National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN).
The numbers tell a remarkable story. Cotton output, which stood at just about 80,000 MT in 2018, leapt to over 136,000 MT by 2020. NACOTAN President, Chief Anibe Achimugu, attributes the surge to ABP’s holistic support—providing farmers with quality inputs, extension services, guaranteed prices, and assured offtake He calls the intervention “a breath of fresh air.” Membership of NACOTAN expanded sharply too: from 67,000 farmers in 2019 to more than 200,000 by 2022. Ginneries that had fallen silent began to hum again; from just seven operational mills, 26 are now active, processing seed cotton across the North.
For smallholder farmers, the impact has been life-changing. An Adamawa grower recalls how planting pest-resistant Bt cotton on 10 acres doubled his harvest from 1 ton per acre to 3–5 tons. With the proceeds, he built a new home, drilled boreholes for his village, and sent his children to university. Similar testimonies abound across Katsina, Zamfara, Gombe, and Bauchi.
ABP’s Driving Role
Launched in 2015, the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme was designed to link smallholder farmers with large-scale processors. Cotton was added to the scheme in 2019, and the results were immediate. National output jumped to 120,000 tons in the 2019/20 season and to 136,000 tons in 2020/21—reversing decades of decline.
Yields rose dramatically as ABP-financed farmers, equipped with improved seeds and subsidized fertilizer, harvested 700kg–1 MT per hectare—nearly doubling the 2010s average. “For the first time in a very long time, farmers got the recommended inputs and a minimum guaranteed price,” Achimugu said in an interview.
In Bauchi, cotton farmers harvested 8,347 tons in 2020 alone. In Zamfara, massive pyramids of cotton bales reappeared outside ginneries—echoes of a bygone era. In Gombe, local farmer leaders credited ABP with “improving cotton business in the country” and energizing growers to expand acreage.
But the programme’s gains proved fragile. When ABP funding was abruptly halted in 2021, output plummeted. By 2022/23 season, production collapsed to under 27,000 MT, and by 2024/25, it fell further to 15,000 MT. NACOTAN’s annual summit urged the federal government to extend ABP to a minimum of five years, describing the short-lived intervention as “a good idea cut short.”
NACOTAN at the Helm
If ABP provided the fuel, NACOTAN provided the engine. Under Achimugu’s leadership, the Association digitized its operations, captured farmers across 33 states, and rolled out improved seed varieties such as the Mycho hybrid, which raised average yields from 0.5 to 1.5 MT per hectare.
It also secured a 100 per cent offtake guarantee for farmers under ABP, coordinated distribution of inputs, and invested in mechanization by procuring 93 tractors to support its smallholder farmer members.
Backed by NALDA and Plateau State, NACOTAN cultivated 6,000 hectares in Wase LGA, which was adjudged to be the largest single cotton farm in Nigeria and arguably in West Africa. Further partnerships with the National Bureau of Statistics improved cotton data collection, while international linkages—from India to Mali—brought training and best-practice sharing. NACOTAN ‘s achievements under Chief Achimugu caught the eye of CNN through its renowned Market Place Africa, which did a story on NACOTAN’s ABP impact.
Crucially, NACOTAN has been a policy advocate. It has lobbied for reduced taxes on cotton processors, stricter anti-smuggling enforcement, and implementation of Executive Order 003 mandating local procurement of textiles for security agencies. The Association has also worked to recover ABP loans and pressed for quicker disbursements to farmers and input suppliers for overall success.
Rural Transformations
The ripple effects of cotton’s revival have been felt in Nigeria’s rural heartlands. COPMAN (Cotton Producers and Merchants Association) estimates that more than 12,000 farmers in Bauchi alone returned to cotton in 2020, with 5,000 more recruited in 2021. Across the North, the expanded acreage has meant hundreds of thousands of new jobs in farming and processing.
At the factory end, ginneries, once shut down, now employ full workforces. NACOTAN reports that 26 ginneries are currently operational—up from just 7 in 2019—offering livelihoods to thousands. Cottonseed oil mills and allied industries have likewise absorbed semi-urban labour.
Farmers recall cotton’s historic role as a revenue earner before independence. Its partial revival, they say, has restored life to village economies. One Zamfara grower described the sight of tractor convoys ferrying seed cotton bags to ginneries as “a sign that cotton is back.”
Youth and women engagements are a particular priority. By making cotton farming profitable and mechanized, NACOTAN hopes to attract a new generation and demographic of farmers. The potential is vast: in Ogun State, a new $2 billion textile plant by Arise Integrated Industrial Platforms is banking on locally sourced cotton to sustain tens of thousands of jobs in spinning, garment-making, and logistics.
The Road Ahead
The cotton revival underscores the importance of sustained public-private partnership, hence a major advocacy push by Chief Achimugu as
President of NACOTAN is the establishment of a private sector driven Cotton, Textile and Garment Development Board (CTGDB), which after his presentation at the 149th meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC), was unanimously approved for implementation. This recognition and approval, according to Achimugu, is the game changer needed to create the required synergies in the sector to begin the journey of revival. Yet, stakeholders agree that the sector’s future hinges on policy continuity.
Nigeria must decide whether to nurture this renaissance or allow it to wither. Sustained funding for cotton farmers, enforcement of anti-smuggling measures, and tax incentives for processors are critical success factors for a sector that deserves to be classified as a “national asset” as reactivating idle textile mills to absorb local cotton will engage thousands of smallholder farmers, create millions of decent jobs for our teeming youths and women, attract foreign exchange and investors, reduce the over $5 billion annual import bill on textile products, and contribute significantly to our GDP as it did in the past, just to mention a few.
As an example, one farmer stated, “Bt cotton lifted me from poverty.” For the tens of thousands of rural households now depending on cotton, the stakes are existential. If government and industry sustain the momentum, Nigeria could once again wear cotton as the fabric of its national development as well as return to not only the position of the number one producer in Africa, but become the textile hub of the continent.
Anibe Achimugu, NACOTAN National President
The epileptic nature of our several Agricultural policies retards growth and development of the Agricultural secure which discourages your persons from engaging in Agribusiness that the NIRSAL they hear of is not accessible leaving them to bear the risks all alone thereby running into debt and depression.
Until Government is sincere with its Agro policies to run 5-15-25 years no meaningful program can record significant progress in the rural areas where Security, Power and Water supply and other ancillary essential services remain a mirage on empty government promises while road network to encourage private investors is non existent or in a terrible state of disregard/disrepair.
Another factor to ensure visibility and sustenability is URBAN -RURAL Migration of the youth population with necessary incentives to redirect their energies into Agribusinessprenuership and it’s several products value chain.