Cotton bales

Molline Gagare Business Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) has advised cotton growers to hold onto their produce until the dispute over pricing has been settled. The farmers demand fair price for the crop, which is inline with international market levels.

ZFU executive director, Paul Zacharia said the union was already in the process of notifying its members to halt sales until unions and ginners reach an agreement on pricing.

“Cotton growers shouldn’t sell until an agreement has been reached. We don’t want them to sell to unscrupulous buyers who will cheat them,” said Zacharia.

“We’re already notifying our members via WhatsApp. The issue of pricing is being sorted as we speak.”

Zacharia said the 2015 season was not encouraging with farmers saying cotton was no longer viable as they accuse ginners and contractors of exploiting them.

“Prices offered for the crop have made producers, who cite high production costs, unhappy. Price negotiations between producers and other stakeholders have never been fruitful,” he said.

In the last season farmers sold cotton at $0, 35 and $0, 46 per kilogramme.

There has been a steady decline of cotton growers in Zimbabwe in the last few years with farmers turning to growing either tobacco or maize.

In February this year the Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA), chief executive officer, Rockie Mutenha told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on lands, Agriculture and Irrigation Development that local production was being affected by international market changes.

He admitted that ginners were being blamed for offering low prices.

The sector used to be a major source of livelihood for over one million people who included farmers, farm workers and the textile industry as it once contributed about 19 percent of the country’s agricultural export earnings.

In 2013 and 2014 cotton production remained stagnant at 143,000 tonnes.

At its peak, Zimbabwe achieved 353,000 tonnes of cotton output.