by Christopher Makaza
Since the opening of the 2020 cotton marketing season on 3 June, the Cotton Company, Cottco, has been giving cooking oil to cotton farmers who deliver their white gold, with a view to cushioning as well as motivating them to produce more.
Speaking to Harare Post, Cottco Operations Manager, Maxmore Njanji highlighted that the parastatal also decided to give incentives to cotton farmers so as to cement relations and discourage them from side marketing.
“As a way of motivating farmers to increase their output and continue enjoying our relationship, we decided this 2020 marketing season to give them cooking oil where each farmer is given 750 ml for each delivered bale. Farmers are happy with this development which has inspired them to produce more,” said Njanji.
Njanji revealed that to date, 55 000 tonnes of cotton worth ZWL$2.1 billion has been delivered to Cottco out of the targeted 80 000 tonnes of cotton.
The 2020 cotton marketing season commenced with a floor producer price of ZWL$43.94 per kilogram that was announced by Government compared to ZWL$3 per kilogram last year.
During this marketing season, the income realised by farmer per 200 kg bale comprises of US$10.00, 38% in ZWL cash and the balance electronically paid. Last year, farmers also received the US$10.00 package.
The Agricultural Marketing Authority has since deployed clerks at Common Buying Points (CBPs) to regulate the marketing process.
Besides Cottco, other merchants licenced to buy cotton this marketing season include Alliance Ginneries (Pvt) Ltd, Innovative Cotton (Pvt) Ltd, Zimbabwe Cotton Consortium (Pvt) Ltd and Shawasha Agri (Pvt) Ltd.
Regarding the issue of COVID-19 risks during the selling period, Njanji said Cottco has taken all precautionary measures in all its buying points across the country to minimise the spread of the deadly disease.
“We have more than 600 buying points country-wide where buyers and farmers have been sensitised on the importance of complying with the health guidelines to curb the spread of COVID-19 which include provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) to staff manning the depots, sanitisers and observing social distancing standards,” said Njanji.
In 2015, the Government introduced the Presidential Free Input Scheme, a State funded programme meant to increase production. The programme being administered by Cottco has seen nearly 400 000 cotton farmers getting assistance in the form of cotton seed, chemicals and fertilisers.
The Presidential Input Support Scheme has helped the resuscitation of the cotton industry with output growing from 28 000 tonnes, the lowest in nearly two decades, to about 150 000 tonnes last year.
Cotton remains an important source of livelihoods for most rural communities, as it is a drought resistant crop that can be grown in arid and semi-arid areas of Zimbabwe.
