VP Emmerson Mnangagwa
Lovemore Zigara Midlands Correspondent
VICE President Emmerson Mnangagwa says Ethiopian investors have expressed interest in financing cotton production in the country. The cotton sector has over the years taken a nosedive due to the plummeting prices of the commodity on the international market, which has resulted in farmers shunning the crop.Vice President Mnangagwa said while Ethiopia was willing to invest in the country’s cotton sector, the government will take the lead in ensuring that the cotton industry is revived.
He said the government will fully invest in the sector especially on the beneficiation thrust before opening the sector to foreign investors.
“We’ve had investors from Ethiopia who’ve expressed interest in investing in the cotton industry. You’re fully aware that at the height of cotton production in this country, we were producing about 435,000 metric tonnes of cotton but were only able to utilise 30 to 35 percent of that cotton,” the VP said.
“The balance we were selling was raw cotton. As the government we’re going to sponsor the growth of the cotton sector and come up with a cotton to textile value chain where we sell cotton products which would have been value added.
“We, however, want to open the cotton sector to foreign firms so that they also support the growth of the industry.” The fall of cotton prices on the global market has affected the growth of the cotton sector in Zimbabwe, which has resulted in farmers shunning the crop.
The country is now averaging between 130,000 tonnes and 150,000 tonnes of cotton since the downward spiral of prices. Figures availed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development show that 43,643 hectares were put under cotton this summer cropping season as compared to 74,446 hectares which was planted during the 2014/15 farming season.