… cotton growers drop drastically
MBABANE – It is worth noting that despite the recorded surplus, the number of farmers that engaged in cotton production declined from 917 to 438 with the area under production also decreasing from 1 200 hectares to 547 hectares.
Production had declined to 503 metric tonnes down from 920 metric tonnes in the previous season.
The Board further reported that seed sales for the period under review declined to 8.903 compared to 11.825 tonnes in the previous season. The reason for the reduction was rainfall only came in February and it was already late for planting cotton. Furthermore, farmers were not happy with the price of seed cotton as they felt that it was not increasing proportionate to the rising costs of production. The result was a decline in plantings from 1 200 hectares in 2021/22 to 547 hectares in 2022/23.
The season under review turned out to be one of the worst seasons for cotton production. The good rains received could not motivate farmers to plant cotton because it came late and the continuously rising cost of production due to the RussiaUkraine war also contributed to the low production for the season.
YARDSTICK
The Lowveld Experiment Station (Big Bend), which is the yardstick station for the cotton growing areas received a total of 698.3mm compared to the 514.1mm received in the previous season. Even though the distribution was fair, a lot of rain was received in February, which had a negative effect on the crop as substantial crops were severely damaged and could not produce any meaningful yield. Temperatures on the other hand, were extremely high, impacting positively to both emergence and fruiting.