Obert Chifamba
Senior  Reporter
THE Government is disturbed by the prices offered for tobacco and cotton and the Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development is now looking at ways of ensuring that farmers receive adequate returns.

Minister Joseph Made last Thursday said Government was disturbed by developments in the marketing of critical crops such as cotton and tobacco.
“This trend in which merchants and contractors are forming cartels to prejudice farmers of revenue is very disturbing and as Government we have to act,” Minister Made said.

“Contractors are working in cahoots with merchants to create price ceilings that leave farmers poorer after every selling season so we want to create a situation in which farmers are capacitated to produce free crops that allow them to earn more.”
Minister Made said his ministry would work with the Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment ministry to mobilise the resources for the subsidies or procurement of inputs.

Crops produced without contractual support leave the farmers capacitated to bargain for favourable prices and selling to buyers of their choice instead of being mere price takers as is the situation at the moment.
The prices of tobacco have failed to go beyond US$4,99 per kilogram since the season started in February.
Cotton buyers and ginners have on the other hand conspiratorially adopted uniform prices that, as history has proven, remain stagnant throughout the season or even fall regardless of possible positive changes on the international markets.

At the opening of the tobacco-marketing season when most farmers were delivering tobacco primings that are of low quality and normally fetch low prices, the highest price was US$4,99 per kg.

This price has remained the highest that has been offered to this day despite the coming in of quality tobacco typical of mid-marketing season.
Minister Made said the Ministry had completed drafting an Agricultural Policy Document that would soon be tabled before Cabinet.
The policy, he said, would address issues of agricultural funding and it would be Government’s prerogative to decide whether to subsidise at inputs level or mobilise resources timeously and make them accessible to farmers in time. He said other crops such as potatoes and soya beans would also be included while it was also a must to accommodate livestock in the programme.

“I think it is time we stop crying about sanctions every day and start doing our own initiatives to save agriculture, which is the bedrock of our economy.
“Fertiliser companies and seed houses have been doing their part every year but we have been failing as a Government to play our part,” said Minister Made.

The lax involvement of Government in resource mobilisation, the Minister said, had allowed contractors and merchants to take advantage of the resultant void to fleece farmers.

Farmers on the other hand have also been left with no option but to fall for the contractors’ carrot to gain access to inputs, funding and markets.
Government’s decision comes in the wake of a price stalemate that has seen cotton farmers holding onto to their crop refusing to sell it in protest over low prices ginners and merchants were offering.

Merchants were offering between 36 cents and 50 cents for a kilogram of the white gold yet farmers wanted something between 75 cents and US$1,20 for a kilogram. Farmers have consequently vowed to hold on to their cotton. This has been a common situation in most recent marketing seasons in Zimbabwe and its regional neighbours. Many farmers have ended up side-marketing and having property attached in the end after failing to settle their debts while some have even opted out.