admin
Edgar Vhera
THE 2023 cotton marketing season is slowly coming to an end with seed cotton valued at US$25 million and $21 billion having been sold as of July 19, statistics released by the Agriculture Marketing Authority (AMA) have revealed.
AMA said four cotton merchants had bought seed cotton worth US$24 966 462 and $20 937 770 935 with prices ranging from 34 US cents to40 US cents coupled by payments in the local currency component. The main contractor, Cottco account for 76 percent of the purchases.
Government’s funding of production of the crop has been increased from US$26 million in the 2015/16 production season to US$86 million in the 2021/22 season.
The funding portion attributed to Government increased from 65 to 92 percent over the same time period. Figures for the 2022/23 funding by Government and private players are still being consolidated.
AMA agribusiness manager Mr Jonathan Mukuruba said they were still consolidating the information and would share it once ready.
“We are still compiling information on funding by Government and private sector players and this will be released upon completion,” he said.
It still remains to be seen whether the anticipated 137 000 tonnes of seed cotton from contractors from their first crop assessment will be achieved.
Cottco acting chief accounting officer Mr Munyaradzi Chikasha earlier this year said 97 000 tonnes of seed cotton were likely, thanks to projections from their first crop assessment.
“Projections from our first crop assessment show that 97 000 tonnes are possible from 308 567ha under cultivation. We contracted 360 224 farmers for the 2022/23 agricultural season with 121 607 of these being female, a 34 percent mark,” said Mr Chikasha.
Cottco has currently achieved 59 percent of its anticipated seed cotton intake.
Cotton Ginners Association (CGA) acting chairman Mr Caos Nzenze earlier this year revealed that members under their association contracted around 80 000ha of cotton capable of producing 40 000 tonnes of seed cotton at a conservative average yield of 0,50 tonnes per hectare.
Private ginners’ seed cotton intake currently stands at 45 percent.
The final crop, livestock and fisheries assessment report (CLAFA 2) said 152 472 tonnes of seed cotton will be produced from 178 864ha.
The country’s seed cotton intake at the moment is on the halfway mark of CLAFA 2 report’s anticipated tonnage.
Meanwhile, farmers have bemoaned the delay by Cottco to pay for produce delivered to buying points saying it was prompting some of them to engage in side-marketing to get cash to meet living expenses.
Cotton Producers and Marketers Association chairman, Mr Stewart Mubonderi said farmers were grateful for the interventions by Government to avail funding for all seed cotton produced but liquidity challenges at banks were delaying disbursements.
“Promised funds by Government have not yet been received by farmers save for the US$8 million that settled 40 percent of the initial intake. Banks are experiencing liquidity challenges and some unscrupulous buyers are offering cash to entice some farmers to dispose their seed cotton at low prices,” he said.
He said Cottco must improve payments to farmers in order to get much of its contracted crop from farmers, lest vultures siphon it with their cash incentives.
Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) cotton commodity association national chair, Mr Ishmael Pande said some buyers were buying crop they never contracted, as they take advantage of farmers desperate circumstances.
“Some buyers are paying prices as low as US$0, 34 per kilogramme using ready cash as an incentive. Cottco will buy less volumes this year due to this problem unless they act quickly to improve their payment systems,” Mr Pande said.
Recently, Cottco board chair Mr Sifelani Jabangwe said they had secured adequate funding to purchase all the contracted crop though liquidity challenges at banks were delaying fund transfer to farmers.
“We faced delays in accessing funding from our arranged banking facilities due to market wide liquidity challenges. We are pleased to advise that arrangements have been made to begin releasing funding in tranches and farmer payments have resumed using the first in first out (FIFO) method.
“So far, we have disbursed US$7, 84 million to our farmers and efforts are being made to finish payments for all the seed cotton that has been delivered,” he said.
Online Reporter