Kenya is rebuilding its cotton industry, but the country’s bigger ambition is to turn the crop’s recovery into a broader industrial revival by linking farmers with ginneries, textile mills and garment manufacturers.
The renewed push comes as cotton production begins to recover in several growing regions, including Busia and Lamu, after decades of decline weakened the connection between farms and textile factories. The government is now combining improved seed distribution, ginnery modernisation and support for textile manufacturing as it seeks to rebuild the cotton-to-clothing value chain.
Kenya’s cotton industry once produced about 70,000 bales annually at its peak in the 1980s. Production subsequently fell sharply as farmers faced poor prices, delayed payments, weak extension services, pest pressures and poorly functioning ginneries. The decline also reduced the supply of locally produced cotton to textile manufacturers, creating a cycle in which farmers abandoned the crop while factories struggled to secure raw material.
The current strategy is intended to break that cycle. Kenya has been distributing improved cotton seed, including Bt and open-pollinated varieties, while upgrading processing facilities and encouraging private-sector investment. The government’s cotton, textile and apparel policy also seeks to increase production, strengthen value addition, develop industrial skills and create employment across the sector.
Lamu has emerged as one example of the renewed interest. Cotton farmers in the county sold more than 3.5 million kilogrammes of cotton valued at about KSh335 million (approximately US$ 2.6 million) in 2025. A new ginning facility being developed in Mpeketoni, with an investment of about KSh1.2billion (approximately US$ 9.3 million), is designed to process up to 20 million kilogrammes annually and could support more than 10,000 farmers through contract farming.
But increasing farm output is only the first step. Kenya’s textile manufacturers still require reliable volumes and consistent-quality cotton. The industry is therefore looking beyond ginning towards spinning, weaving, dyeing and garment production.
That distinction is important. A garment can be manufactured in Kenya while the yarn or fabric used to make it originates elsewhere. Keeping more stages of the cotton value chain inside the country would allow a single crop to generate economic activity across farming, transport, processing, manufacturing, engineering, packaging and retail.
The opportunity also extends beyond cotton lint. Cottonseed can be processed into animal feed and oil, creating additional markets and reducing waste. More local processing could therefore turn cotton from a farm commodity into an industrial input supporting several interconnected businesses.
However, the revival still faces structural challenges. Farmers need timely access to seed, machinery, finance, extension services and dependable markets. Processors need predictable supplies, while textile manufacturers require modern machinery, competitive energy costs, skilled workers and access to consumers.
Kenya is also competing with imported fabrics and garments, including second-hand clothing, which have historically put pressure on domestic textile manufacturers. Building a competitive local industry will therefore require not only more cotton production but sustained investment across the entire value chain.
NBF Insight
Kenya’s cotton comeback illustrates the difference between agricultural recovery and agricultural industrialisation. Producing more cotton is important, but the larger economic opportunity comes from what happens after harvest.
If Kenya can consistently move cotton from farms to ginneries, from ginneries to yarn and fabric, and from fabric to finished garments and other products, the crop can support far more than farm incomes. It can create demand for logistics, machinery, technical skills, manufacturing and retail while keeping a greater share of the value generated by cotton inside the country.
The real measure of Kenya’s cotton revival, therefore, will not be the amount of cotton harvested alone. It will be how much of that cotton can be transformed into Kenyan-made fibre, fabric and finished products.
