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Tawanda Mangoma in Chiredzi
OVER 400 000 cotton farmers, who are beneficiaries of the Presidential Input Support Scheme, will start receiving their allocations today. It has also emerged that farmers who delivered Grade A and B cotton would receive their adjusted amounts after being paid for Grade C yields.

Farmers who delivered Grade B will receive 50c per kilogramme while those who had Grade A will be paid 55c per kg. The Grade C cotton fetched 47c per kilogramme. The development follows reports that the number of cotton farmers registered for the scheme had doubled from 37 000 to 77 000 this season.

The farmers from across the country had also delivered over 75 000 tonnes of which about 70 percent of the yields were Grade A courtesy of the inputs supplied through the Presidential Input Support Scheme. In an interview after touring the Chiredzi Cottco Ginnery on Saturday, chairman of the Parliament Portfolio Committee on Lands and Agriculture, Cde Christopher Chitindi hailed the scheme for boosting cotton production in Zimbabwe.

“We have toured Cottco ginneries in Kadoma, Gokwe and now we are in Chiredzi. Our main goal is to have an appreciation of how the company has transformed after Government availed millions of dollars in inputs issued freely under the Presidential Inputs Scheme. We have been told by the company management that they will start issuing inputs to the 400 000 farmers this coming Monday with 77000 farmers having registered to grow the crop here in the Lowveld,” he said.

Cde Chitindi said the huge success of the Presidential Inputs Scheme must pose as a challenge to Cottco to start value addition projects such as the reintroduction of cooking oil and lint processing.

Cottco currently exports 75 percent of its lint while 25 percent is reserved for the local textile industry. Cotton seeds are further processed into cooking oil locally with a smaller percent treated as seed.

Cde Chitindi said Cottco would also start paying farmers adjusted prices for Grade A and B cotton.

“Cottco also told us that on Monday (today) they will start paying adjustments to farmers whose cotton was in Grade A and B. Remember they paid farmers 47c which was for Grade C cotton so all farmers would be receiving their dues which are up to 55c for those who produced A Grade cotton,” he said.

Cde Chitindi urged Government to extend the free inputs scheme for cotton for a further three years.

“Our tour has given us more reasons to advice Government to extend the free inputs scheme for another three years. This will leave a farmer at a better production position while earning the nation more foreign currency,” he said.

Cde Chitindi, however, challenged Cottco to add value to the cotton which they are receiving.

“We cannot continue selling our cotton products in their raw form. Our advice as Parliament is they must start producing cooking oil. We also want them to further process lint so that the country gets more foreign currency,” he said.

Cottco has pledged to introduce tillage services this season while farmers have already started receiving aid in undertaking soil sampling. Government has set aside $60 million to support 400 000 cotton growers under the Presidential Inputs Support Scheme.

Cotton production, which was on the verge of collapse, increased by 286 percent last season. The country has potential to produce 600 000 tonnes of cotton per annum. Cotton farmers received inputs worth $42 million under the same scheme in the 2016-17 summer season.