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Cotton buyers are reportedly offering farmers as little as 22 cents per kilogramme yet the Agricultural Marketing Authority set the prices at between 36 cents and 50 cents per kg depending on the grade. The farmers are reportedly demanding between 85 cents and $1,20 per kg. Farmers in Gokwe and many other cotton producing areas have resolved to hold on to their crop until merchants come up with acceptable prices.

Most of the cotton has already been harvested and the selling should have started sometime ago. The livelihoods of families in areas such as Gokwe in the Midlands province are dependent on the growing of cotton which they now refer to as their white gold. Poor cotton prices therefore have serious ramifications on the lives of families in such areas. Cotton farmers and merchants should urgently resolve the issue of prices as prolonged storage adversely affects the quality of the lint.

Farming is a business and as such producer prices should enable farmers to realise a profit if farming is to remain attractive. Farmers cannot be expected to continue producing while making losses from their farming ventures. Reports that cotton buyers in areas such as Gokwe are offering as little as 22 cents per kg are very disturbing. We want to believe that when the AMA pegged the prices at between 36 and 50 cents per kg, it had taken into account the issue of viability as well as the fact that the global cotton prices had drastically declined.

The farmers should therefore appreciate the fact that due to huge stocks carried from previous years, international buyers are offering low prices and as such local merchants cannot be expected to buy the cotton at high prices because at the end of the day they sell the cotton to the same international buyers that are offering low prices. The local merchants, like farmers, are in business and they too want to realise a profit. What is wanted given the prevailing situation is for cotton farming to remain viable while at the same time cotton merchants remain in business.

What the farmers are demanding is probably the correct price for their cotton but the reality is that due to huge stocks from previous years, there is low demand for the crop and therefore no buyers are prepared to pay what the farmers are demanding.

It is against this background that we are imploring farmers to reconsider their position but we also feel the 22 cents being offered by buyers is just too low. We have already stated that we need to keep farmers on the land producing cotton for the country. The country would be digging its own grave by allowing a situation whereby cotton farmers are frustrated to the extent of abandoning growing the crop. We need cotton as raw material for our clothing industry. At the moment many clothing companies have closed due to viability challenges and we hope many of these will be re-opened soon hence we need farmers to continue producing cotton.

The other option to keep farmers in the fields is the proposal by Cabinet for Government to buy the cotton. According to Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made, cabinet advised his ministry to start mobilising cash to buy the cotton. The proposal by cabinet is very noble given the importance of agriculture to our economy but the major challenge is Government’s limited resources.

Government might find it difficult to mobilise adequate resources to buy all the cotton given the fact that it is yet to pay farmers for grain delivered to the Grain Marketing Board last year. The issue of Government subsidising farmers is common the world over and with resources permitting, Government should move with speed to cushion cotton farmers so that they continue producing.