adminReacting to questions by journalists at the end of the African Cotton Association 10th Annual Congress in Victoria Falls recently, Mr Mohammed said world cotton prices were always too low to allow African farmers to achieve parity after marketing.
“Our governments should help address the issue of cotton prices that perennially affect our farmers. The problem is that we are price takers.
“We do not set prices. We are not even consulted when the prices are set so countries like the United States of America and Australia normally do not have the slightest idea of the continent’s costs of production yet they set a uniform price,” he said.
Mr Mohammed said the fact that Africa produced one million tonnes of the world’s cotton while the developed world accounted for 26 million made it impossible for ACA to be considered in the determination of prices.
“Prices are fixed between supply and offer in accordance with world supply and rate of consumption. The New York Cotton Exchange sets the prices. It’s like the stock exchange and we just follow,” he said.
As small producers, African countries could not dictate prices and their production costs were not factored in at the setting of the prices to allow them to fully exploit their potentialities.
Governments and ginners, he said, should agree on prices that are viable for their farmers and not just take what the developed world put on the table.
He added that all stakeholders should fight for the removal of cotton subsidies to even the playing field for all producers and other players.
“The World Trade Organisation and the USA all speak strongly against subsidies yet the USA gives subsidies to its ginners cushioning them from losses incurred during the marketing season.
“This means that ginners in developed countries can give producers good prices and still remain in business yet the same cannot be said for us,” Mr Mohammed said.
Besides fighting for the scrapping of subsidies, Mr Mohammed said Africa could use the high quality of its cotton to fight for better prices.
He also dismissed as baseless claims by the developed world that Africa’s cotton was contaminated and therefore not expected to fetch good prices.
“There is nothing like 100 percent perfection in cotton quality. They only raise the issue of contamination to discredit our potential and justify their decision to award poor prices.
“As Africa, we will however, put a lot of emphasis on producing the best cotton quality, which the developed world is not capable of producing,” said Mr Mohammed.
Cotton is produced in four major regions on the African continent, namely North Africa, West Africa, Central Africa and East and Southern Africa.
It is a major source of livelihood for millions of African families on farm settlements.
Londile Moyo
Online Reporter