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1. Uganda: Direct Sales Give Eastern Uganda's Cotton Farmers a Stronger Hand

   [Bird Story Agency] Cotton farmers in eastern Uganda are bypassing village middlemen and selling collectively or directly to ginneries. The emerging model is giving growers greater control over weighing, payment and market access - and helping women turn seasonal cotton earnings into education, land, homes and productive assets.

2. Africa: The Trade Pact That Could Stitch Africa's Textile Industry Together

   [Bird Story Agency] The AfCFTA offers African cotton, textile and clothing businesses the opportunity to build cross-border production networks, attract investment and retain more value on the continent. And it can do so while providing the shared rules and larger market needed to strengthen factories and trade corridors.

3. Ghana: Ghana's Kente Protection Opens New Economic Possibilities

   [Bird Story Agency] Ghana's geographical indication for kente could help weavers protect the celebrated cloth from imitation, reach new markets and earn more from generations of skill. Turning legal recognition into livelihoods will require collective standards, business support and the revival of local raw-material production.

4. Africa: Africa Brought Deals to Washington - The Test is Whether the Money Moves

   [African Business] Washington, DC -- The inaugural Africa Business Investment Summit saw a target of $500m of structured commitments, a royal keynote and an unusually candid accounting of why capital still hesitates.

5. Benin: How Benin Is Turning Its Cotton Wealth Into An Industrial Economy

   [Bird Story Agency] Benin is using its position as West Africa's largest cotton producer to pursue a bigger economic prize: processing more of what it grows at home. At the Glo-Djigbé Industrial Zone (GDIZ), cotton is being turned into fabrics and garments, creating jobs and retaining value that previously left the country with the trade of raw fibres. Its progress offers an emerging model for industrialisation for the continent.