Chronicle Editor
Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief
IN 1994 Ms Ivy Moyo (58) and her husband, now late, relocated from Rengwe Village in Mberengwa District to Burure Village near Chitekete in Gokwe North District for one reason — to farm cotton.
She said by then cotton which was famed as “the white gold” had higher returns as characterised by the enticing producer price which saw her easily settling down in the other part of the country.
Burure Village is about 80km from Gokwe town centre and is reputed for cotton production.
Farmers like Ms Moyo have traditionally been farming cotton because of the good soils in which cotton plants thrive well.
Zimbabwe is among the five largest cotton-growing countries in sub-Saharan Africa and is renowned for its high-quality handpicked cotton.
Cotton is a major smallholder cash crop in Zimbabwe, employing over half a million households directly as farmers, and indirectly in the related agro-processing and input industries.
The crop is usually grown under contract farming arrangements where contractors supply production inputs (seed, fertiliser and chemicals) to farmers on loan.
At harvest, the contractor buys back the contracted seed cotton, deducts the costs of the inputs and pays the contract farmer the balance.
In 2015, the Government approved a three-year free input support programme to revive cotton production, due to the crop’s strategic importance.
The three-year input scheme began in the 2015/16 season and ended in the 2017/18 season.
In the 2016/17 production season, the Government implemented the cotton inputs scheme for a second consecutive year through the distribution of free cotton inputs to cotton farmers.
The Government, through the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (Cottco), distributed free inputs for nearly 90 percent of the cotton crop and mandated Cottco to purchase cotton from all recipients of the free cotton input scheme.
“With my late husband, we relocated in 1994 from Rengwe Village in Mberengwa district to Burure Village near Chitekete in Gokwe North district for one reason — to farm cotton. We were attracted by the good producer price the crop had back then and the fact that this place has good soils and temperature for the crop to do well,” said Ms Moyo.
She said from 1995 to around 2000 they managed to build the homestead of their dreams and also bought some livestock from proceeds from cotton.
“When we relocated we only had our clothes and blankets and nothing more. We settled here and started farming cotton. From 1995 we could afford to send children to school, pay their school fees and buy uniforms, groceries you name it. We even had cattle and goats,” recalled Ms Moyo.
However, she said cotton has become a pale shadow of itself as producer prices have collapsed. A kilogramme of the crop last season fetched between US$35 cents and US$40 cents.
The mother of three children (all adults now) said from around 2005 the negative impact of inflation on delayed payments and less attractive prices for the “white gold” started taking their toll on them.
She said since the turn of the millennium, they have been toiling in the fields, effectively, for nothing as cotton is no longer paying them enough money so that they can return to the fields.
“I no longer have any cattle or goats and as you can see, the cattle kraal is empty. I have been toiling for nothing and this season I finally said enough is enough. I have stopped farming cotton. My son who took up farming can no longer pay school fees, buy school uniforms, or even develop his own home. He is engaged in gold panning to fend for his family,” said Ms Moyo whose husband passed on in 2006.
Cotton prices have fallen over the years and that has meant that the situation is getting worse and worse for farmers like Ms Moyo.
“Farmers incur losses on growing cotton. But every farming season, they still go back to growing the crop, even if it may mean they have to borrow the inputs, remaining poor in the process,” said Ms Moyo.
Showing Chronicle a worn-out sack that she once used to put her cotton lint before taking it to the market. She said she was contemplating retracing her footprints back to Mberengwa.
“The challenge I have is that my husband’s grave is here but I hear there is development in terms of mining in Mberengwa. I will be forced to go back,” said Ms Moyo.
In Nembudziya Village, Mr Samuel Ndure (38) has also quit cotton.
Sitting under a shade at his homestead, he shared the same story of his parents having relocated from Mberengwa to Gokwe for the white gold.
“My father who is late relocated from Mberengwa to farm cotton back in the 90s. Coupled with late payments and almost zero returns I have decided to stop cotton farming,” he said.
Mr Ndure said they haven’t been paid for the crop they delivered last year adding that when the money comes, it would have been eroded by inflation.
“Year in and year out we were always dissatisfied with the producer prices offered for the crop. It’s too little I tell you. Yes, I heard that there will be a hard cash United States dollar component to the payout, the money is still little as compared to the blood, sweat, and tears we put in when we are farming the crop,” he said.
Mr Ndure said cotton is now associated with low profitability, low prices, expensive inputs meaning expensive loans and lack of involvement in price setting.
Two seasons ago, many farmers had to endure the pain of failing to get the full value of their commodity due to delayed payments after Treasury delayed releasing the subsidy funds.
Some farmers are yet to be paid while others got their outstanding payments eight months after delivering their cotton.
During the 2020 marketing season, the merchants used household goods, farm implements and groceries as a form of payment.
Cotton output in Zimbabwe fell by 59 percent in the 2021-22 marketing year due to protracted payment delays, disappointing most farmers, according to statistics from the country’s Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA).
Farmers produced 57 000 tonnes of the crop compared to 137 762 tonnes during the 2020-21 season.
At its peak, Zimbabwe produced 352 000 tonnes. Zimbabwe’s cotton season runs in two phases: planting between October and January and a harvesting and marketing phase that normally runs from May to September.
Londile Moyo
Bongani Ndlovu