Cotton farmers in Iwoye, Ogun State will soon enjoy a positive turn in their yields and profits when a proposed public-private partnership initiative in long staple cotton production takes off.

This was made known by the project managers of the Lagos based Malibu Solutions Company during a recent visit to the Iwoye cotton farmers.

The project managers told the farmers of their intention to site a cotton ginnery near the farms if they could be assured of sufficient production of cotton.

According to the arrangement, the company will organise the farmers under an umbrella body, and provide quality seed cotton, pest control services and fertilisers. Management services will enable the farmers to utilise space more efficiently and sell the harvested cotton at a reasonable price.

In a year, the tripartite arrangement of the farmers, the state government and the Malibu Solutions Company is expected to produce 12 000 tonnes of long staple cotton by at least 1 200 farmers.