WT/CFMC/W/74  
 
18 May 2018  
(18-2961) Page: 1/113 
  Original: English/French  
 
DIRECTOR GENERAL'S C ONSULTATIVE FRAMEWOR K 
MECHANISM ON COTTON  
PAN-AFRICAN COTTON INVESTMEN T PROGRAMME:  
THE VALUE CHAIN, A D RIVING FORCE FOR RES ILIENCE IN COTTON -PRODUCING REGIONS  
Communication from the ACP Group  
  WT/CFMC/W/74  
 
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  PAN-AFRICAN COTTON INVES TMENT PROGRAMME:  
THE VALUE CHAIN, A D RIVING FORCE FOR RES ILIENCE IN COTTON -PRODUCING REGIONS  
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY  
Historical background: the EU -Africa Partnership on cotton  
 
The EU -Africa Partnership on Cotton, born out of a desire to overcome the challenges the sector 
faces essentially as a result of falling prices, has assisted the efforts of African countries and their 
regional economic communities to develop the cotton sector. Indeed, this cotton partnership was 
approved during the European Union -Africa Cotton Forum organi sed in 2004 by the 
European  Commission, with the support of France, the ACP Group and CTA. There the foundations 
for this new sectoral cooperation were laid around two pillars: (i) the 'Trade ' component, through 
the establishment of fair trade relations wi thin the framework of the WTO thro ugh the Doha 
Development Agenda;  and (ii) the 'Development ' component, aiming to improve cotton sector 
competitiveness and added value. To ensure proper monitoring of the development component, a 
Partnership Orientation an d Monitoring Committee (COS -cotton) has been in place since  2004, 
composed of major private sector stakeholders, State representatives and regional organisations.  
 
The EU -Africa Partnership's action framework is structured into six (6) key focus areas, na mely: 
(a) improving  capacities for the development, monitoring, assessment and updating of national 
and regional strategies on cotton; (b) improving the institutional environment of cotton sectors, 
their internal organisation and their efficiency; (c) improving the competitiveness of African cotton 
sectors; (d) reducing the vulnerability of cotton sectors; (e) increasing the added value generated 
by cotton sectors; and (f) enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of coordination at the 
international, regional and national levels.  
 
Cotton in the African economy  
 
Cotton lies at the heart of a of a 'system ' essential to the food and nutrition security, development 
and public investment of arid and semi -arid regions on the continent, some of which face rec urring 
crises regarding, inter alia, the management of scarce natural resources when faced with climate 
change and its adverse effects.  
 
An analysis of the cotton system in Africa reveals both challenges and opportunities. Among the 
key challenges, it appe ars that current strategies give priority to the international market over the 
continental market, thus disconnected from a target of local consumption, notably because of the 
weak integration by the African states' trade. The cotton system is a stabilizin g factor at the 
regional and global level. Imbalances in the system caused by exogenous shocks, such as an 
unexpected drop in global prices or insufficient processing, which stops stakeholders from 
benefiting from profits made along the value chain, result s in negative repercussions in terms of 
poverty, a dearth of employment opportunities, and urban migration, which itself causes greater 
unemployment and insecurity in cities.  
 
Cotton does however offer a wide range of socio -economic opportunities which co uld help address 
the challenges in these regions. Thus, its diverse cultivation system makes it possible to associate 
it with food crops, thereby increasing the food security of small producers and affected countries. 
In this context, the value chain helps  to strengthen resilience through investment via public -
private partnerships with redistributive effects throughout the value chain.  
 
The Pan -African Investment Programme on Cotton  
 
As the EU -Africa Partnership's Intra ACP cotton programme  drew to a close, the ACP Secretariat, 
the European Union and the African Union, represented by its Commission, and the 
NEPAD  Agency, agreed to develop a follow -up programme, based on the Pan -African Cotton Road 
Map (PACRM) and focusing on investments to i ncrease its impact. Thus, in order to align all efforts 
supporting the development of the cotton sector in Africa with the Malabo Agenda, these partners 
agreed to develop the Pan -African Investment Programme on Cotton (PACIP), in order to respond 
to the cu rrent challenges facing the development of the cotton sector in Africa. PACIP stands as 
the new cotton agenda for sustainable, inclusive and ambitious development. It focuses on key WT/CFMC/W/74  
 
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  issues in the value chain, such as processing and its funding and the prom otion of public -private 
partnerships, two important elements which have not lived up to stakeholder ambitions.  
 
This African agricultural investment programme's overall objective is to promote the sustainable, 
inclusive and ambitious development of the co tton sector, in keeping with Malabo agenda. This 
programme will aim to develop competitive value chains to in crease the resilience of 
cotton -producing regions.  
 
Specifically, PACIP focuses on: (i) optimising the achievements of the two previous intra -ACP 
programmes implemented under the EU-Africa Partnership on Cotton;  (ii) reinforcing the role of 
African institutions in c oordination and implementation;  (iii) facilitating the mobilisation of 
additional resources through formal mechanisms to promote public/ private partnerships ; and 
(iv) aligning the cotton strategy with the CAADP and other continental and regional action plans.1  
 
PACIP intervention approach  
 
The intervention approach chosen for PACIP to ensure the achievement of the aforementioned 
global an d specific objectives (see above 2 paragraphs) is based on five strategic focus areas:  
 
i. Increasing producer income and cotton productivity - helps improve both cotton productivity 
and cotton producer income;  
ii. Increasing investment in cotton and cotton by -product processing - expected results pertain to 
the creation of added value from industrial and small -scale (entrepreneurial) processing of 
cotton fibre and cotton by -products, increasing investment for the pr ocessing of the sector's 
products in Africa, improving businesses, including craftsmanship, in order to increase their 
managerial and technical capacity, and setting up a support fund for project development and 
funding for processing;  
iii. Improving the market ing of cotton and cotton by -products – by developing and implementing a 
strategy to promote quality, reputation, as well as the "African cotton" labels, on global 
markets, and promoting regional trade of cotton and cotton by -products;  
iv. Developing the capaci ties of institutions and profe ssional organisations in cotton -textile - by 
aiming to focus first on capitalising on good practices through knowledge management. 
Thereafter, the focus will be on establishing regional training centres aimed at the sector's 
stakeholders as well as institutions. Finally, developing innovative funding programmes 
(blending, private funding, PPP, CSR…) ; 
v. Improve the resilience and contribution of cotton -producing regions to the achievement of 
SDGs - In order to improve the resilien ce of cotton -producing regions and increase cotton's 
contributions to the achievement of SDGs, PACIP intends to implement programmes and 
actions to combat extreme poverty, food insecurity, malnutrition, climate change, job creation 
and in particular youth employment, as well as conflict prevention and post -conflict 
reconstruction.  
Comparative advantages of PACIP  
 
With regard to the comparative advantages of the investment programme, these concern:  
 
i. The optimization of the last two programmes' achievements,  by maintaining pilot structuring 
actions and strengthening the coordination of existing cotton partnerships.  
ii. Strengthening the role of African institutions in coordination and implementation by placing 
governments and RECs at the heart of coordination act ivities, and stakeholder and professional 
organisations in operational structures.  
iii. Facilitating the mobilisation of supplementary resources through formal frameworks for the 
promotion of public/private partnerships and the establishment of a business forum  and a 
policy and technical and financial partner forum.  
                                                
1 There are (1) the cotton component of the AAll ACP Agricultural Commodities Programme (2007 -2012, 
9th EDF, 15.8 Million  EUR and (2) the Support Programme for the Consolidation of the Action Framework of the 
EU-Africa Partnership on Cotton (2013 -2017, 10th EDF, 11 Million  EUR). WT/CFMC/W/74  
 
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  iv. The alignment of the cotton strategy with the CAADP in the context of Malabo and of the other 
action plans by strengthening advocacy for cotton as a "pioneering and strategic" value chain 
and develop ing cotton's role in food and nutrition security, the fight against poverty and post -
conflict reconstru ction.  
v. Taking into account local dynamics as well as the development of the continental cotton and 
cotton by -product market.  
vi. The methodology for the deve lopment of the PACIP programme is structured around five main 
stages: (i) Consensus concerning PACIP's broad guidelines (Pan -African Cotton Road Map 
(PACRM)), (ii) A phase aligning the roadmap with the CADDP, (iii) Development of PACIP 
through a participat ory process, (iv) A coherence framework with other programmes supporting 
the African cotton sector, such as the C4's Cotton Road programme, (v) An interactive 
programme document drafting and validation phase.  
Programme structure, duration and budget  
 
Desig ned to be implemented over a 15 -year period with a total budget of EUR 645 million, this 
investment programme, whose comparative advantages in relation to other ongoing initiatives are 
well illustrated, has been supplemented by a five -year project for oper ationalisation support  (POS) 
with an expected cost of EUR 16.6 million and designed to support the achievement of the 
following (PACIP) expected results:   
 
 There is effective capitalisation of the positive experiences of national/regional value chains, 
and stakeholder capacity building and knowledge management aimed at improving the 
competitiveness of the cotton -textile -manufacturing value chain is enhanced;  
 Institutional support to national cotton sectors, governments and RECs is in place, and 
actors' pr ivate resource mobilisation capabilities are strengthened with respect to processing 
for the sector's products and by -products.  
 Governance of national and regional value chains is improved, and coordination between 
stakeholders, African cotton trade organ isations and producer countries is improved.  
PACIP funding  
 
The Project for Operationalisation Support, which is designed to act as a catalyst, is expected to 
leverage EUR 121 million in funding during PACIP's first 5 -year phase to finance a variety of 
projects at different scales. The overall funding strategy for PACIP intends to rely on: 
(i) continental  funding which could come from the EU/ACP partnership, financial institutions, global 
funds or Technical and Financial Partners; (ii) regional funding mech anisms (regional 
cotton/sectoral funds...); (iii) national mechanisms via sectoral levies, any taxes on textile 
imports, private investments, etc.; and (iv) contributions from sector stakeholders to benefit  from 
specific programmes, e.g.  participating in b usiness forums.  
 
Governance and coordination  
 
For the effective implementation of this investment programme , PACIP proposes that coordination 
take all stakeholders into account through a common partnership. Coordination will take place at 
three levels with due regard for the principle of subsidiarity. Strategic guidance and the 
coordination of the implementatio n will be defined at the continental level, relying on COS in 
conjunction with Member States and RECs. Regional professional organisations will then be 
involved at the regional level. They will ensure strategic and operational coordination at their level, 
paying special attention to regional priorities. Finally, the third level of coordination will be taken 
on at the national level by national structures and professional organisations in accordance with 
national priorities.  
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  All traditional technical partners will remain active in supporting implementation. Special attention 
will be given to developing the capacities of African technical service providers and professional 
organisations. They will all interact with stakeholders  as part of the EU -Africa dialogue in general 
and as part of programme governance in particular.  
 
Attached hereto is the Policy document of the Pan -African Cotton Investment 
Programme  (full version) .2, 3 
                                                
2 In English  only. 
3 Available in French upon request.  WT/CFMC/W/74  
 
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  LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS  
 
ACA African Cotton Associati on 
ACP  African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States  
ACTIF  African Cotton & Textile Industries Federation  
AProCA  Association of African Cotton Producers  
AUC  African Union Commission  
C2D Debt Reduction and Development Contract  
CIRAD   French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development  
COMESA  Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa  
COS-cotton   Orientation and Monitoring Committee of the EU -Africa partnership on cotton  
EC European Commission  
ECCAS   Economic Community of Central African States  
ECOWAS  Economic Community of West African States  
EUD  European Union Delegation  
FAO  Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations  
IPPM Integrated Production and Pest Management  
ITC  International Trade Centre  
MoZaZiMa  Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi (public and private cotton sector 
representatives’ forum)  
NEPAD   New Partnership for Africa's Development  
PACIP  Pan-African Cotton Investment Programme  
PACRM  Pan African Cotton Road Map  
REC  Regional Economic Community  
SC  Steering Committee  
SDG  Sustainable Development Goal  
UNCTAD  United Nations Conference on Trade and Development  
WADB   West African Development Bank  
WCA  West and Central Africa.  
WECARD   West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development  
 
 
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  PP 8–113 - Offset ( PDF file attached)