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Harare Bureau
COTTON side marketing and viability challenges are likely to dominate discussions when stakeholders meet today to deliberate on issues affecting the sector.
The indaba, co-ordinated by the Agricultural Marketing Authority, comes at a time when significantly lower than projected cotton production is expected this year.
Preliminary figures obtained from the Cotton Ginners Association indicate that output could be as low as 145 000 tonnes, from the initial forecast of 250 000 tonnes. This would be 58 percent lower the 2011/12 production of 347 000 tonnes.

The CGA said lower output was due to poor grower viability which resulted in poor harvests while some farmers shifted to better rewarding crops such as tobacco

Also compounding the dire situation is the possibility that cotton merchants may significantly cut funding to farmers after losing substantial volumes to side marketing.

The bulk of Zimbabwe’s cotton is grown under contract schemes. They were introduced when farmers were failing to access finance from the banks due to lack of collateral.

It is estimated the industry could have lost 30 000 tonnes through side marketing this season.
The full day meeting will be held at Rainbow Towers in Harare.

“The objective of the meeting is to identify and prioritise key challenges undermining the cotton industry; review the role of contractors, farmer unions and AMA in promoting viability and sustainability of cotton industry through cost effective agricultural inputs support, funding and distribution systems,” said AMA.

Participants will also get feedback on a recent fact finding tour in Tanzania and recommend strategies that can be adopted to benefit the local industry. Revival strategies for 2013/14 will also be formulated.

Key speakers include Secretary for Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Mr Ngoni Masoka, AMA, farmer unions and CGA representatives and various stakeholders.

Cotton industry is one of the most strategic industries in Zimbabwe in terms of generation of foreign currency, employment creation and support for thousands of families.