Zimpapers Logo

Leonard Ncube Victoria Falls Reporter
THE government is making frantic efforts to resuscitate the Cotton Marketing Board (CMB) to provide a ready market for cotton farmers at sustainable prices.

Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Cde Joseph Made said there was also a need to revive the textile industry to facilitate beneficiation to avoid the exportation of raw cotton.

Some farmers are still holding on to their cotton because of uncompetitive prices imposed by buyers.

Cottco, Tarafin, Alliance, Sinotex and China Africa are some of the buyers and they have allegedly pegged the white gold at 30 US cents per kilogramme.

Cde Made told The Chronicle on the sidelines of a Cooperation Centre for Scientific Research Relative to Tobacco Agrochemicals (Coresta) analysis sub group meeting here yesterday, that sustainability of the cotton industry hinges on the revival of the textile sector and beneficiation.

“Cotton is a vital crop but as long as the buyer is private there are challenges. Farmers have a genuine case because they are the price takers but prices are depressed worldwide,” said the minister.

“The only solution for us is clear. We must beneficiate and this starts with resuscitating the textile industry so that the cotton we produce is not sold out in raw form but is processed locally.”

He said the Cabinet had already adopted the position to revive the CMB.

“There is short, middle and long staple cotton and we are mainly producers of middle staple meaning we sometimes need to blend. We have already taken a position that CMB should be resuscitated so that we are then able to support farmers with inputs. Some inputs are expensive and we need to help farmers access them like we did this year where some received,” Cde Made said.

He could not be drawn into giving details on what has been done so far towards reviving CMB saying: “I don’t speak speculatively. I will give much detail when we are done but the position has been taken already.”

Cde Made said the recently commissioned tractors from Brazil would go a long way in ensuring that cotton is also put under irrigation.

“Cotton is also edible as oil. We can make cotton cake for livestock and fibre for our textile industry. As you know a team from Brazil is in the country in relation to the inputs facility. If we can support farmers with irrigation they can improve on yields. We need to support our farmers because inputs are expensive,” the minister added.

Meanwhile, the four day Coresta meeting which ends tomorrow, drew participants from agricultural scientists in Zimbabwe, Europe, Asia, Latin America and the United States of America.

Discussions are centred on chemicals used on tobacco growing and processing.

Zimbabwe is one of the leading tobacco growing and blending countries alongside Brazil and USA. Officiating at the meeting earlier on, Cde Made said the tobacco industry was doing well in the country with 216,2 million kg of the crop sold last year, a 30 percent increase from the 2013 harvest.