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areas are mainly located in Limpopo, Northern industry value chain as it provides a quality-
Cape, North West, KwaZulu-Natal and grading certificate for each bale of cotton
Mpumalanga. During the 2017–2018 season, lint produced in South Africa. It also plays
five smallholder cotton projects were funded an important role in supporting transparency,
in three provinces. A total of about 3 800 ha traceability and global benchmarking for the
was planted to cotton by the 1 250 small farmers industry, and became the first in the world to
supported. receive ICA Bremen certification. It remains the
Based on the estimated calculation by the only facility in Africa with this status.
Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP), Through the Cluster programme there has
the labour multiplier at farm level is one worker been huge traction on farm and ginnery level.
per hectare, while the downstream linkages However, more work is required to address the
multiplier is 0,3. This means that on plantings challenge on spinning capacity. As the cluster
of 34 000 ha, 34 000 jobs were created or is close to reaching the end of its five-year
maintained at farm level while a further 10 200 funding cycle, the new focus of SASTAC will
downstream jobs were maintained or created. be to reposition the Cluster as a closed cluster
This includes seasonal workers. with a direct financial membership contribution.
Another success that resulted from this The new five-year framework aims to develop
cotton programme is the independent grading a sustainable and dynamic cotton value chain
facilities at Cotton SA that were upgraded that provides its customers with compelling
to a world-class high-volume instrument products, and is invested in growing local
(HVI) laboratory, with the third HVI machine capabilities and employment by improving
installed last year. This laboratory is a key efficiency and competitiveness of the full
contributor to the competitiveness of the cotton South African value chain.
14 | Katoen SA \\ Cotton SA