Online Reporter
Edgar Vhera, Specialist Writer — Agribusiness
THE Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) has launched a feasibility study to explore the viability of a seed cotton farmgate ginning model for the upcoming season.
This initiative aims to complement the Government’s free cotton input support programme and enhance value chain efficiency in the cotton sector.
The Government initiated the Presidential Cotton Input Scheme in 2016 after the sector had recorded a huge decline in production, from a record high of 351 million kilogrammes in the 2012 marketing season to as low as 29 million kg in 2016.
The Government’s intervention saw a 155 percent increase in production to 73 million kilogrammes in 2017.
The funding has continued over the years, with analysis of the financial support indicating that its proportion to private sector financing, which was 65 to 35 percent at inception, has widened over the years to 80 to 20 percent now.
CZI chief executive officer, Mrs Sekai Kuvarika, said the study was meant to establish the economic and entrepreneurship potential for farmgate ginning.
“The study seeks to explore the feasibility of a seed cotton production model that operates independently of the traditional ginner-financed approach and gins cotton outside the free input schemes.
“It aims to estimate the required investment and minimum production thresholds, identify qualifying farmer profiles and evaluate potential financing mechanisms,” she said.
Mrs Kuvarika said farm gate ginning was a value addition model that enhanced the viability of the grower through recognising ginning as a farm gate operation, thereby enabling growers to process their free cotton and move up the value chain to sell higher value lint and ginned seed.
“Free cotton means seed cotton that is grown by a grower without contractual obligations or above contractual obligations agreed between the grower and contractor as confirmed by crop reports done end of March of each year,” she said.
The Government selected cotton and sunflower as the key policy crops.
Cotton is a major source of livelihood for approximately two million people, including farmers (approximately 500 000), farm workers, their families and industrial workers.
The crop contributes immensely to income and employment creation while contributing to foreign currency earnings.
The cotton sector has evolved from only accounting for one percent of the commercial agriculture output in 1965 to about 10 percent to date, with 70 percent of the crop produced exported to generate foreign currency for the country.
Cotton provides raw material for oil expressing, knitting, spinning, weaving and stockfeed industries.
The establishment of oil expression plants in production areas will curb rural-urban migration, lower cooking oil and stockfeed costs.
Stock-feed production by the farmer utilising locally produced cotton cake will support the Village Business Unit (VBU) concept being driven by the Government, where each VBU will have a livestock centre.
Cotton and sunflower were identified as smallholder crops that could transform communities.
Stakeholders in the cotton industry have called for the active participation in the value addition and beneficiation of the crop in line with the country’s current push to strengthen crop value chains and set the economy on a positive growth trajectory towards achieving rural industrialisation and development.
