Cotton farmers, ginners clash: Farmer organisations have raised concern over the cotton production support offered by ginners for the 2013-14 season which they say is inadequate and unsustainable. Stakeholders in the cotton industry recently held a meeting with ginners, demanding a meaningful input support scheme for the 2013-14 season. In an interview with ZBC News, Zimbabwe Farmers Union second vice president Berean Mukwende said the ginners are offering only one bag of Compound D and one bag of Ammonium Nitrate fertiliser for a hectare which falls far short of the Agritex recommendations. Agritex recommends that ginners who wish to support cotton farmers must provide five bags of Compound D and 4 bags of Ammonium Nitrate per hectare. “The ginners have however promised us that they are still looking into the issue and we expect them to come back to us soon,” said Mr Mukwende. Mr Mukwende said cotton farmers are also demanding that ginners come up with a pre-planting price to encourage more farmers to grow the crop this season. “We are looking forward to the increase of production this season if meaningful support is availed,” he added. Last season, cotton was sold at 60 cents per kilogramme, a price which farmers are demanding as a pre-planting prize for this season. The cotton sector in Zimbabwe is facing challenges mainly attributed to the flooding of the local market with cheap imports that have led the textile industry to collapse.
Posted on: Thu, 19 Sep 2013 18:58:13 +0000
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