Online Reporter
Patience Maturure and Felistas Tavarera-Agriculture Reporters
Stakeholders in the cotton industry have been urged to promote quality production, facilitate grade-based payment systems and strengthen farmer training in grading and handling practices to enhance the sector’s sustainability and competitiveness.
This came out at the unveiling of the 2025 National Seed Cotton Master Boxes by the Agricultural Marketing Authority in Harare on Friday.
The National Seed Cotton Master Boxes are a set of manually prepared benchmarks that define the maximum allowable faults in each cotton grade.
Speaking on behalf of AMA acting chief executive Mr Jonathan Mukuruba, business development manager Mr Edgar Mudokwani said the introduced standards would be used to grade seed cotton into four categories; A, B, C and D.
“The unveiling of the 2025 National Seed Cotton Master Boxes is a step towards improving the industry’s competitiveness on the global market.
“Seed cotton grading in Zimbabwe is conducted in line with Statutory Instrument 142 of 2009. This regulation outlines the national grading standards classifying seed cotton into grades A, B, C, and D. These grades are represented in the National Standard Grading Boxes.
“We must intensify our efforts as stakeholders, from policy makers to merchants and farmers, to promote quality production, facilitate grade-based payment systems and strengthen farmer training in grading and handling practices. Efforts are underway to improve the industry’s performance,” he said.
Mr Mudokwani said the cotton industry faced quality challenges, with most of the crop falling into lower grades due to poor agronomic practices, inadequate pest control and lack of grade differential payments.
“Given that these physical samples degrade over time, the boxes are refurbished annually to ensure they remain accurate and reliable.
“Over the years, the quality of our seed cotton has been declining, primarily due to key factors such as erratic rainfall and drought, which normally leads to fibre discolouration, leaf trash and contamination during harvesting,” he said.
Mr Mudokwani said during the 2024 marketing season only 4 percent of seed cotton was Grade A and 5 percent was in Grade B. The bulk of the crop (91 percent) fell into Grades C and D.
“These figures translate to a mere 462 172 kilogrammes out of 11 912 000 kilogrammes being Grade A,” he said.
Mr Mudokwani said for the 2025 marketing season, the authority had established 697 buying points across the country and expected merchants to display grade results at all buying points within seven days.
“As AMA, we expect our merchants to ensure great differential payments are made before November 30, 2025. We also expect our merchants to distribute wool packs to contracted farmers well in advance to reduce contamination risks.
“But obviously, this is not a one-way street.
‘‘We also call upon our farmers to uphold ethical practices, avoid nesting bells with stones or wetting seed cotton to increase weight.
“Such actions significantly reduce cotton quality and damage our collective reputation,” he said.
Mr Mudokwani also warned merchants against operating outside the law and encouraged farmers to maintain the quality of their seed cotton.
Cotton Council of Zimbabwe national coordinator Mr Cliffert Mangena highlighted the significance of maintaining high-quality cotton production.
“With 70 percent of Zimbabwe’s cotton being exported, producing premium-quality cotton is crucial.
“Even local spinners demand high-quality lint.
This grading system helps farmers understand the standards and rewards them with better prices for higher grades. For instance, Grade A cotton fetches 42 cents, while Grade C gets 30 cents, with a 12-cent difference.
‘‘This incentivises farmers to produce better quality cotton,” he said.
