TEXTILE industry players in the region have been challenged to start making garments that require low level technology and skills as the East African Community (EAC) countries prepare to phase-out imported used clothes.
“It is a high time that EAC countries embarked on manufacturing apparels such as inner garments, ties, scarfs that require low level technology and skills as the region works on a phase out approach of imported second hand clothes,” said Awinja.
In 2016, the five EAC members - Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania – agreed on phased plan and eventual ban on the importation of used clothes and leather products by 2018 to support industrialisation and job-creation in the region.
Awinja was speaking ahead of the second East African Business and Entrepreneurship Conference and Exhibition scheduled for November 14 to 16 in Dar es salaam, Tanzania. The event is meant to provide a platform to create synergies and linkages between the local cotton and textile industries with local suppliers and the fashion and design industry.
The meeting is also expected to devise an action plan outlining the policies and modalities to promote the sector performance, productivity and quality, according to a statement from organisers.
According to EABC, cotton production, processing and trade is highly influenced by policies of major producing countries through price support, tariff protection, production subsidies and stock piling that destabilise cotton prices.
The region’s cotton industry also faces huge challenges, including low yields, low ginning out-turn ratio and inefficient value addition, which affect its competitiveness, the apex body of private sector and corporate firms in bloc added.
Awinja said the textile industry needs to innovate and embrace value addition to produce aesthetic accessories, interior designs and fashion and hence create more job opportunities in the EAC.
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