By Rungano Dzikira

Zimbabwe is set to embark on cotton irrigation farming following a surge in demand for the product at international market as Zimbabwe remains among the few countries which still produces cotton under natural means.

“Zimbabwe and Kenya’s cotton are the most sort after at the international scene as most countries adopted genetically modified (GMOs) and as a country we saw it fit to venture into cotton irrigation to maximise profits and boost yields,” says Solomon Musisi, an Agricultural Economist with the Ministry Agriculture.

“At the moment, the country’s biggest cotton player, the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (Cottco) has applied for 40 000 hectares of land in Guruve, Mbire district in an effort to intensify cotton production,” he added.

The company’s head of corporate services, Benedict Muguri-Gumeni, concurred that the demand for Zimbabwean cotton globally was high and had since applied for 20 000 hectares in Kanyemba and another 20 000 hectares in Mushumbi for irrigated cotton production.

The average yield of irrigated cotton is 2 000 kilogrammes per hectare under rain-fed crop which can thus be doubled under irrigation.

With Government’s push for revitalisation of the sector, this move will also encourage value addition since the production of more cotton will lead to lint processing, as well as cooking oil and stock feed production.