MoZaZiMa presentation to 19 th COS-coton Meeting and 2 nd Steering Committee Meeting of the Support Programme for the consolidation of the Action Framework under the EU- Africa Partnership on Cotton ACP House 2 – 3 July 2014 Brussels

1.Introduction MoZaZiMa is a Cotton regional cooperation among four countries; Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi. With the help of ITC through funding provided under the EC – ALL ACP Agriculture Commodities Programme (AAACP), the stakeholders have agreed to cooperate on the regional cotton to clothing strategy as elaborated by COMESA and ACTIF. MoZaZiMa is based on the following 6 priority areas: –Increasing cotton production and productivity –Improving cotton quality and classification –Improving trade and marketing of cotton –Institutional capacity building along the value chain –Promote value addition of cotton –Develop policy advocacy and partnerships

2.Activities Implemented  Meeting held on 27 th February, 2014 in Malawi to discuss the MoZaZiMa activity plan for 2014, its role and visibility in the forthcoming significant regional events.  Hosted a Cotton and Textile Investment Conference in Maputo on 26 th May, 2014 to attract and retain investors to the value chain both as a sourcing and consuming market.

2.Activities Implemented  Under the EU-ACP Partnership on Cotton, the FAO facilitated the training of trainers course on cotton Integrated Production and Pest Management Farmer Field Schools in Zambia from 3 rd February to 28 th March,  The training workshop drew 30 participants from the Cotton Board of Zambia, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, Cargill Cotton Zambia Limited, Grafax Cotton Limited, Cotton Association of Zambia, Mumbwa Farmers’ Ginning and Pressing Company Limited and Alliance Ginning Limited.  The follow up training will be conducted in September, 2014.

2.Activities Implemented  Hosted the 12 th SEACF meeting in Maputo from 17 th to 18 th June, 2014 under the Theme “Making cotton a profitable and sustainable business”. Research results and efforts were shared on achievements and developments relating to the theme.

2.Activities Implemented Member countries met to consolidate the MoZaZiMa structure and cooperation role within the region.  Annual MoZaZiMa meeting – 19 th June, 2014

2.Activities Implemented  Handloom development project in Zambia As a result of training events facilitated by ITC under funding from EDF 9, a farmer owned Ginnery was established in Zambia % of the lint from the Ginnery will be span into yarn by Mukuba Textiles Factory and used in the Handloom clusters that will be established as a pilot in Zambia and replicated in the MoZaZiMa region under EDF 10 funding. The introduction of intensive low cost fiber transformation technologies such as the Handloom will foster cotton value addition in the region.

2.Activities Implemented  Women in Trade project Aimed at empowering women cotton farmers in Zambia by increasing business opportunities for them by improving their management and sales skills through capacity building in entrepreneurship. Lessons learned in Zambia from this project will be shared at the sub-regional level with other MoZaZiMa members including Tanzania. This project is under EDF 10 funding facilitated by ITC

3. MAJOR PERSPECTIVES  Development of a strategic plan to be used among other things to mobilise resources especially for strengthening the MoZaZiMa secretariat based in Lusaka, Zambia.  Hosting of a Southern and East African seed production study in Zimbabwe to expose the SEA cotton sectors to the practical conditions of seed production in Zimbabwe.  Considerable efforts are being made to harmonise seed systems and regulatory systems within the region.

3. MAJOR PERSPECTIVES  Plans are underway to exchange germplasm for varietal breeding research in the 4 countries and for seed purity maintenance research among the members.  Harmonization of extension services in the region to implement a uniform extension methodology under the farmer field schools system or study circle system.  Advance harmonization of Biotechnology and biosafety policies by in country research institutions or a regional research in order to introduce Bt Cotton in the region.

Merci !