Cotton once dressed the world in Ugandan threads. In the years following independence, the crop was a economic backbone of the country, bringing in significant foreign exchange and supporting rural livelihoods across the nation. Sixty-four years later, the story is more complicated.
Production has declined and export earnings have fallen well below the levels Uganda once achieved. Cotton no longer holds the central place in the economy it once did, a shift that speaks to decades of changing priorities, policy shifts, and global market pressures.
The crop is still grown. Farmers in various parts of the country continue to cultivate it, and cotton remains classified as one of Uganda's traditional cash crops. But "traditional" can sometimes mean "left behind," and the gap between what cotton once contributed and what it contributes today is hard to ignore.
As Uganda celebrates 64 years of independence, the cotton question is really a bigger question: what does it take to bring a legacy crop back to its former strength, and is there still the will to find out?
Originally published by AllAfrica.