Online Reporter
Business Reporter
THE Government has fully embraced new high-yielding hybrid seed technologies as part of an aggressive push to breathe new life into Zimbabwe’s low cotton production and boost smallholder farmers’ viability.
Mrs Medlinah Magwenzi, the chief director of Agricultural and Rural Development Advisory Services (ARDAS) in the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development, revealed this during a familiarisation tour of a cotton demonstration plot at the Kadoma Research Centre.
She said that the Government was ready to absorb hybrid technologies to protect rural livelihoods.
Mrs Magwenzi made the remarks while representing the permanent secretary in the ministry, Professor Obert Jiri, at the event, attended by private cotton companies and members of the Cotton Ginners Association.
The policy shift comes at a critical time for the sector.
National cotton production has plummeted from the peak of 352 000 tonnes in 2011 and about 10 000 tonnes in 2024 and now sits at a low of roughly 30 000 tonnes.
Experts note that smallholder productivity has been severely depressed, with average yields averaging just 0,5 tonnes per hectare.
This has been blamed partly on inadequate input distribution and on rising industry concerns about poor-quality seeds supplied by some seed houses.
These low-quality seeds have experienced dismal germination rates, crippling farmers’ economic viability.
However, experts from Quton Seed revealed during the tour that their newly introduced hybrid seeds possess a massive yield potential of up to five tonnes per hectare—significantly higher than standard Open Pollinated Varieties (OPVs) currently dominant in the fields.
Acknowledging that hybrid seeds generally command a premium price, Mrs Magwenzi emphasised that the Government would leverage its existing safety nets—specifically the Presidential Inputs Programme—to ensure the technology reaches farmers.
To complement this, Quton announced plans to massively expand its local hybrid seed multiplication programme to actively drive down procurement costs.
The localisation process has already commenced, with Quton targeting the production of 100 tonnes of hybrid seed this year before gradually ramping up its localised breeding operations.
“This tour has shown a different picture from what we’ve been seeing in cotton production of late,” Mrs Magwenzi said.
“Farmers will always look at something viable… If they manage to produce this way, they can be happy.
“So, if farmers could learn all these new technologies and tap into them and adopt them, then we’ll be a better cotton production country as we have been before.”
