Vusumuzi Dube
Vusumuzi Dube, Online News Editor
THE Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (Cottco) aims to increase cotton farming in the Matabeleland region where they are encouraging farmers to register for the Presidential input scheme on cotton production.
In an interview with Sunday News, Cottco board chairperson, Mr Sifelani Jabangwe said while most crops were being disadvantaged by the effects of climate change, the cotton crop was benefiting as it thrived in low rainfall regions. He revealed that the company was on a transformation journey and this included the need to have more farmers taking up cotton production.
“This year, with the transformation agenda and the National Development Strategy 1 agenda in the forefront, we are trying to push so that we also add the Matabeleland region into cotton production. With the areas that we work in the rest of the country, these are your region four and five where there is less rainfall and very few commercial crops, and what Cottco does is that it brings a cotton crop to these and they now have incomes,” said Mr Jabangwe.
He said with the deliberate focus on the Matabeleland region all farmers had to do was provide labour and manage the crops with Cottco providing all the inputs and machinery for free.
“The project that we are now bringing through the support from His Excellency, President Mnangagwa in that we are provided with inputs for free, which we then provide to the farmer and all the farmer has to do is provide the labour, manage the crop then we come to pay for the crop.
“Why we are coming to the Matabeleland region is because the region has got that region where there is less rainfall which is perfect for cotton. Last year we paid about US$22 million into the rural community as revenue and this year we aim to put about US$40 million as payment to the crop that is coming through,” said the Cottco board chairperson.
He said with the government further announcing the new producer prices where 85 percent of a farmer’s produce is paid in foreign currency this thus made cotton a cash crop,
“We are hoping that if Matabeleland grows we will be paying some of that money into Matabeleland. To show the potential of investing in cotton farming we have seen some of our farmers put up boreholes, built houses, put up solar and modernized their lives which is the transformation that we envisage. In this case, once we are able to achieve the minimum volumes that we aim to achieve we will then be able to put up a granary here in Matabeleland depending on the volumes and also part of our strategy is value adding,” he said.
Mr Jabangwe said cotton had a huge potential of transforming rural Matabeleland hence their deliberate target of increasing cotton production in the region.
“What we are saying is that cotton can help transform rural Matabeleland. At the moment from the region, we are getting about 1 600 metric tonnes and we are hoping that Matabeleland contributes up to 100 000 metric tonnes because the land is there and its just a matter of ensuring uptake and start producing
“0.40cents per kilogramme works out to US$400 per tonne, that price is even better than the maize price and this is a crop suitable for the Matabeleland region and the price is way better. I know of a farmer who was paid US$9 000 for their seasonal crop, this shows you the huge potential this crop has,” said Mr Jabangwe.
Online Reporter