Cottco pays US$19,3m to farmers

STATE-RUN Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (Cottco) has paid US$19,3 million to farmers to date, out of US$23,6 million it owes, NewsDay Business has learnt.

In terms of the local currency debt payment, the company has only managed to settle ZWL$5,4 billion out of ZWL$28,8 billion, according to the organisation’s latest update.

The Zimdollar payments will be made at the prevailing bank rate.

The company’s latest update shows that 168 428 farmers have received inputs, which consist of seed, fertiliser and herbicides for the current planting season.

At least 3 211,48 tonnes out of 4 537 of seed has been disbursed to farmers. In terms of Compound L, 15 497,50 tonnes have been disbursed.

Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president Shadreck Makombe urged Cottco to pay off farmers as soon as possible so that they finance the current season.

“We are not happy at all with the way Cottco has been run and even as of now, there are some changes, but we are yet to realise the effect of those changes on the ground,” he told NewsDay Business.

“We continue lobbying and advocating for the best for farmers. We continue knocking on their doors … We would want it to improve. We expect that things will move in the right direction, considering that cotton was known as white gold.”

Makombe said inputs were available, while encouraging farmers to buy herbicides and pesticides.

“But as for planting, we are now discouraging farmers because we are in the middle of the season, which is a bad season,” he said.

“Yes, as it stands right now, the Meteorological (Services) Department has told us that there will be rains, and in the past, there were rains, meaning the crop which was (already) planted is doing well because of the rains.

“However, we don’t encourage farmers to plant going forward because even those ultra-short season seed varieties can be affected because the season is so short.”

Cotton is one of the country’s major agricultural export commodities and is largely grown by smallholder farmers.

Due to a number of factors, which include among others drought, climate change, low pricing, out-of-date varieties and payment delays, Zimbabwe’s cotton output has been declining.

Zimbabwe’s cotton production, however, increased by 67% to 89,6 million kilogrammes during the 2022/23 farming season, statistics from the Agricultural Marketing Authority show.

The nation produced 137 702 tonnes in 2021, up from 91 712 the year before.

The production of cotton began to decline in 2013. Before 2013, production was between 200 000 and 350 000 tonnes.-newsday