REPORTS of the failure by government to pay cotton farmers their dues after delivering their first bales of the year and that they are owed $1,5 billion from last season’s produce are a cause of concern.
Cotton farmers delivered their first 2021 bales last week, but returned home empty handed after buying points across the country failed to immediately release the promised cash, according to sector leaders.
The failure by the government to pay cotton farmers timeously could pose a major threat to cotton production in Zimbabwe particularly at a time when it had started to improve.
This could take us back to the dark days when cotton production in Zimbabwe declined to an all-time low of 32 000 tonnes in 2016, from 84 000 tonnes in 2015, and 143 000 tonnes in 2014, after a decade-long spell of low prices, which averaged US$0,30c per kilogramme.
As pointed out by Cotton Producers and Marketers Association chairperson Stewart Mubonderi, there is increased anxiety that cotton farmers could eventually find themselves again in the ridiculous situation of being paid for their deliveries in groceries.
The anxiety has not been helped by government’s failure to keep the promise it made in December last year that payment for arrears would be made before the beginning of the new cotton selling season.
Where on earth is the surplus that Finance minister Mthuli Ncube boasts about when cotton farmers are reduced to penury due to non-payment?
Government should be commended for starting a free-inputs scheme in 2015 to boost cotton production through Cottco, which has seen nearly 400 000 farmers constituting 90% of total cotton farmers benefiting. However, such efforts are being undermined by its failure to pay cotton farmers timeously.
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This could discourage farmers from growing the crop which will have serious implications for the country’s textile sector which is slowly finding its feet after years of turmoil and uncertainty. This will promote side marketing as desperate cotton farmers seek to replenish their pockets that have been empty for a long time. The failure by the government to pay for cotton deliveries is worrying at a time when it has put maize on the list of controlled products. This means that maize producers will only be allowed to sell to the Grain Marketing Board and are prohibited from selling it to private players.
If the government is letting down cotton farmers, the fear is that the same will be replicated with maize which is the country’s staple diet.
Government’s neglect of cotton farmers does not bode well for the recovery of the economy and it will only have itself to blame should farmers abandon the crop which will have a devastating impact on the textile sector along with those whose livelihoods depend on it.V
