Online Reporter
Edgar Vhera
Specialist Writer – Agribusiness
The Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries (CZI) has launched a feasibility study to explore the feasibility 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.
