ZIMBABWE recorded a 60 percent increase in cotton production this year to about 133 million kilogrammes from 83 million kg achieved last year, a Cabinet minister has said.

“Pertaining to cotton, the Cabinet wishes to advise the public that the marketing of seed cotton has tailed off.

“A total of 132 862 054 kilogrammes were delivered to the country’s six cotton contractors, compared to the 83 059 898 kilogrammes received last year,” Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa. told a post Cabinet briefing on Tuesday.

Cotton is one of Zimbabwe’s major cash crops, and contributes to economic growth and improved livelihoods among rural farmers.

The Government, through the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (Cottco) is the major financier of cotton, also known locally as the “white gold”.

Since 2014, the Government has been supporting farmers through free inputs including seed, fertilizers and chemicals.

Next season, it is targeting to sponsor as much as 400 000 farmers, which translates to an output of 400 000 tonnes.

“The 2021-2022 summer production season, a total of 347 583 households have been trained under the Presidential Climate Proofed Pfumvudza/Intwasa Cotton Programme and inputs,” said the minister.

Other private companies supporting farmers are Zimbabwe Cotton Consortium, a subsidiary of Ethical Holdings, and Southern Cotton.

After slumping to a record low of 28 000 tonnes in nearly two decades in 2015, cotton production rebounded, thanks to Government intervention through inputs subsidies.

The programme, now running for seventh year, regenerated massive interest among farmers who had abandoned cotton for other crops citing poor prices and lack of agronomy support from contractors.

The Government scheme is different from those previously run by private merchants when farmers were given inputs on a commercial basis. This means they needed to repay after selling their crop.

Poor prices triggered appetite loss for cotton farming. Some producers found themselves stuck in huge debts as the money they would have earned from selling their crop to contractors was not enough to repay the loans, thus relegating them as mere labourers.

The State assisted programme brought new hope as many farmers took up production again. Resultantly, output rebounded, reaching 144 000 tonnes in the 2017/18 season.

Output, however, declined the following two seasons due to back-to-back droughts that swept across many parts of the region. At peak, Zimbabwe produced 352 000 tonnes in the 2011/12 season and more than 10 contractors, including Cargill were financing the crop.