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Ashton Mutyavaviri
COTTCO will this season adopt a cautious approach in distributing inputs and give first preference to those who delivered cotton to them last season with only 124 000 out of 372 600 who benefited under its inputs programme confirmed to have delivered their crop to them, while the rest may have side-marketed it.
The parastatal’s chief operating officer Mr Munyaradzi Chikasha revealed this during a recent quarterly stakeholder engagement meeting held in Harare, saying such meetings were necessary in fostering and maintaining strong relations with farmers. They presented a platform for the addressing operational matters that can easily ruin relations, he added.
Said Mr Chikasha: “This season our approach will be strategic and we will work with farmers who have a record of delivering. From the registered 372 600 farmers, only 124 000 have delivered their produce to us. The figure of those who collected inputs does not tally with that of those who eventually delivered.”
Mr Chikasha also explained that Cottco had introduced the smart farmer technology that enables farmers to access technical information of their phones and other internet platforms, which also helps them reduce the cost of stationery significantly.
He added that some teething problems had been experienced initially but the technological innovation eventually managed to bring to light statistical issues that Cottco had been trying to solve over a long period of time.
Mr Chikasha also took the opportunity to announce that Cottco has managed to pay US$16,7 million to farmers and were currently engaging banks for more funds to be released before the onset of the season.
“We are upbeat that the bulk of payments will be done before the start of the rains. You now understand us better and we are working tirelessly to address issues that you put before us. By coming together as a collective, we have dispelled suspicions that were previously the elephant in the room which hindered us from putting our heads together in resolving issues bedevilling our sector,” said Mr Chikasha.
Meanwhile, Cottco chief executive officer Priscilla Mutembwa also conceded that the quarterly stakeholder engagement was a great opportunity for Cottco to sit down with farmers and exchange notes and get guidance on areas that the company needs to improve.
“As Cottco, we take full responsibility on the payment delays to our farmers. We will do everything in our power to rectify that as soon as we can. Two things that I have picked from this meeting are that Cottco needs to improve communication with farmers particularly in terms of challenges.
“Cottco could have done a better job by keeping farmers updated on liquidity crunch it was facing. We also need to improve on the roll out of the planting, buying and ginning seasons. We to improve this as Cottco if we are to maintain our relationship with the farmers,” she added.
Online Reporter