Company ProfileAlliance Ginneries Ltd

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Alliance Ginneries Ltd is a company that specialises in cotton ginning. It is part of the Alliance Ginneries Group that also operates in Zimbabwe and Tanzania. Alliance Ginneries sources raw cotton from smallholder farmers for processing into cotton lint, while cotton seed is sold for the production of cooking oil and animal feed. Alliance Ginneries also trades and processes other crops such as soya and cowpeas. 

Project Description

With support from EZCF, Alliance Ginneries Ltd aims to:

1. Set up a large-scale organic cotton supply chain in Zambia to meet rising international demand. This will be done through contracting 15,000 farmers, providing training on climate smart practices, incorporating them into Organic and CMiA certified supply chain, and setting up 12 collection centres to aggregate crops from farmers.
2. Buy and adapt a farmer management tool from a peer company in Tanzania, and will adapt it to the Zambian context to improve service delivery and far mer engagement.
3. Promote cultivation of cowpeas will improve soils, and Alliance Ginneries will provide a ready market for this crop at its collection centres, as well as for cotton.
4. Work with 19,000 new SHFs to grow organic cotton. Alliance already works with over 37,000 ordinary cotton farmers in  Zambia and its sister company in Tanzania produces organic cotton.

Product, Market and Competition

1. Large fashion retailers have fuelled an increase in demand for organic cotton, resulting in an increase of 56% from 2017 to 2018.
2. Paul Reinhart AG has a large demand for organic cotton, and is currently sourcing much of its requirement from Alliance in Tanzania. They have an agreement with Alliance Ginneries to purchase 3,000MT of organic a year from Zambia.
3. Demand for cowpeas is increasing by around 5% per annum in sub-Saharan Africa in response to rising food demand from increasing populations, as well as stock feed. Alliance Ginneries has an agreement with AGT Foods South Africa for 1,000MT per annum, as well as opportunities in the domestic market.