Cottco to clear outstanding debt

Edgar Vhera, Agriculture Specialist Writer

THE Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (Cottco) has approached some creditors seeking deferment of payments to 2025, as it moves to clear a balance of 10 percent owed to farmers from the 2022/23 season.

Cottco chairman, Mr Sifelani Jabangwe said this recently while responding to questions raised by stakeholders in the Zimbabwe Agricultural Think Tank (ZATT) – Cotton Council Discussion Forum WhatsApp group over non-payments for seed cotton intake.

“For the 2022/2023 season Cottco has made about 90 percent payments for the 2023/24 crop. This is a great improvement and that culture should continue into the future,” he said.

Cottco is going through a transformation process to improve its business operations to fully execute its mandate.

Mr Jabangwe said Cottco would continue to play a central role in cotton production building on Government’s interventions in the industry since 2015.

Government supported the resuscitation of the cotton industry through Cottco when other private players had abandoned ship.

The Presidential Free Cotton Input Scheme was started in the 2015/16 agricultural season with a US$28 million input package as a subsidy to farmers that was administered by Cottco.

The proportion of Government to private sector financing, which started at 65 to 35 percent at inception has widened over the years to the current 84 to 16 percent.

The Cottco boss said the 2023/24 season had the worst drought in living memory due to the El Nino effects, which caused their intake to plunge to about 9 900 tonnes.

“This size of crop is not enough for Cottco to survive on and let alone clear past obligations. Hence there are challenges to pay transporters and delays in salaries among others,” he added.

He urged farmers’ unions to also help by providing revised lists of growers who are yet to get their dues for the 2022/2023 season.

Meanwhile, Cotton Producers and Marketers Association (CPMA) chairman, Mr Stewart Mubonderi has voiced his disappointment over what he termed empty promises Cottco was giving farmers over the outstanding payments. He said the development was frustrating preparations for the upcoming season.

“We believe the outstanding balance is more than 10 percent and as per our earlier meetings with Cottco, we reiterate that the unions will not provide the list, as it was Cottco’s mandate to keep it. The outcry from farmers and their poor welfare is a cause for concern and Cottco must move with speed to enable farmers pay for school fees, buy food and meet other daily necessities,” he said.

The Crops, Horticulture, Fisheries and Livestock Summer Plan for the 2024/2025 summer season production plan indicated that Cottco was targeting to contract 180 000 hectares this season.