Cotton contractors have proposed a new seed cotton production and marketing model for the 2026/27 agricultural season, as the industry seeks to reverse declining output, with deliveries this season falling 15% to 20 million kilogrammes from 23 million kilogrammes last year.
The proposal comes after the Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA) revealed that stakeholders across the cotton value chain are pushing for sweeping reforms to restore the industry's viability.
"Stakeholders in the cotton value chain are proposing new cotton production and marketing models to revamp the industry," AMA said in its July market update.
The regulator said the proposals include introducing a zoning system under which contractors would be allocated specific districts, allowing them to provide comprehensive support to contracted farmers while reducing competition among merchants.
"The stakeholders proposed zoning wherein a contractor is given a particular district to operate from, which gives them the liberty to fully support their farmers. A maximum of two contractors can be given a licence to operate in a particular district," the report said.
AMA said Zimbabwe's cotton industry has suffered a prolonged decline in productivity over the past four decades, with average national seed cotton yields dropping from a peak of 1.8 tonnes per hectare in 1980 to just 93 kilogrammes per hectare during the El Niño-induced drought of the 2024 season.
While acknowledging the role of the Presidential Inputs Programme (PIP), contractors are calling for all licensed merchants to benefit from the scheme on equal terms.
The report also recommends reinstating the full credit financing model.
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"The merchants also want a return to the full credit scheme to recover all inputs advanced to farmers. This allows contractors to increase their input support levels with a guarantee of recovering all their inputs," AMA said.
Stakeholders have further proposed introducing a price incentive scheme that would reward growers above prevailing market prices while allowing them to procure their own inputs.
"This allows farmers to source their own inputs and get rewarded at delivery time. Tied to this should be the announcement of pre-planting prices for seed cotton by August," the report added.
Private contractors plan to finance production on 113,000 hectares during the forthcoming season, although the country's largest contractor, Cottco, is yet to announce its target.
The current marketing season, which is expected to end within the next week, has so far earned farmers US$4.8 million and ZiG54.3 million from seed cotton sales.
Cottco remains the largest buyer, accounting for 53% of the crop marketed so far, having purchased 10.3 million kilogrammes.
Agri Value Chain (AVC) follows with 16% (3.22 million kilogrammes), Alliance Ginneries with 14% (2.8 million kilogrammes), Southern Cotton with 11% (2.21 million kilogrammes), Cangrow with 5% (905,000 kilogrammes) and the Zimbabwe Cotton Council (ZCC) with 1% (136,395 kilogrammes).Ends
