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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.









































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