Govt happy with cotton sector
GOVERNMENT is committed to supporting all beneficiaries of the land reform programme to help the country reclaim its breadbasket status in the region.
Lands, Agriculture and Rural Resettlement Minister Air Chief Marshal Perrance Shiri (Retired) last week said Government was satisfied with the increase in production of critical cash crops such as cotton which would earn the country more foreign currency.
In a speech read on his behalf by Masvingo Crop and Livestock officer Mr Peter Chamisa during a Cottco National Field Day here, Minister Shiri hailed positive developments in the cotton industry, which had totally collapsed due.
Minister Shiri said Government stood ready to assist farmers willing to produce.
“As a ministry, our role is to create an environment that ensures that those farmers that need assistance in the form of inputs and technical support get it through our inputs programmes and the team of Agritex and Cottco extension officers that are on the ground,” said Minister Shiri.
“Government remains committed to supporting all the farmers that have the land and are willing to produce crops that do well in their respective areas. Thus we urge farmers to work closely with the extension staff so that they are given proper advice on which crops to grow to avoid a scenario where farmers access inputs and use them in the wrong climatic regions where the crop will fail. That would be a waste of resources.”
Minister Shiri said Government was impressed by the turnaround in the cotton industry buoyed by Government’s Presidential Inputs Support Scheme.
“We are here in Chiredzi’s Section 64 for Cottco’s national Field Day, where we are witnessing good agronomic practices from one of the 387 000 farmers that grew cotton in Zimbabwe during the 2017/ 18 season,” he said.
“Cottco registered 387 000 farmers in the 2017 /18 season up from 155 000 growers in the previous season which was a significant increase from 75 000 farmers in the 2015 /6 season.
“Cotton production, as you are aware, has been on a downward trend prior to Government’s intervention due to lack of discipline by both merchants and farmers who engaged in side marketing, unviable cotton producer prices and the migration of farmers to other competing crops.”
Cottco managing director Mr Pious Manamike said as a growth strategy, his firm was now focusing on improving yields.
“We are now in the third year of the Presidential Free Inputs Support Scheme in which our yield potential has been improving despite the drought realised in the 2015 /6 season and excessive rains in the 2016 /7 season,” he said.