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Cotton farmer

Tedious Manyepo : Features Correspondent

When the going gets tough people tend to regret ever taking the first step. This is the case of 53-year old cotton grower, Mr Reuben Chiwada of Chitsa in Nembudziya, Gokwe. Chiwada vividly remembers how as still a teenager he endured a gruelling 17-day journey on foot from his native Gutu to settle in Gokwe in the late 1980s.In the company of his brother, Chiwada drove the family’s herd of cattle to Gokwe, pulled by the prospects of lucrative cotton growing ventures in the area.

In the subsequent years, he consistently reaped the rewards of migration as cotton growing buttered his bread beyond what he had imagined before leaving Gutu.

“I was living pretty comfortably for almost two decades. For those years, I managed to buy a business stand at Chitsa and I lost count of the number of cattle which I bought.

“I even managed to send three of my nine children to a boarding school. That was how cotton growing turned to be the goose which laid the golden egg for me,” Chiwada recounted.

But just at a time when everything seemed to be working right, market prices turned and before long, cotton farming seemed to be a waste of time.

Everything has turned upside down and Chiwada is struggling to educate his six other children.

“Some few years ago, market prices took a knock and aboard came some selfish buyers. We were doing the hard work and they enjoyed our sweat. Cotton farming became useless and most farmers jumped ship. As we speak right now, most of them are trying their hand at tobacco and soya beans.

“I regret ever coming here because I came to make a living out of cotton farming. So if it is not paying me then why did I dump my roots?

“Just imagine selling your crop at 15 cents per kilogramme when you were used to selling at around 40cents and more. What do you get considering all the investments that you would have made in land preparation and buying inputs,” said Chiwada.

The problem is not peculiar to Chiwada as most farmers who used to live on cotton across the country are struggling to make ends meet.

However, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel after all.

In the past agricultural season, President Robert Mugabe donated inputs targeted to cover about 250 000 hectares across the country.

However, the El-Nino induced drought meant cotton harvest was not up to the expected tonnage this year.

A number of cotton farmers who managed to harvest something are still holding on to their crop citing low market prices.

In comes Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (Cottco), recently acquired by the Government, with a promise to be a game-changer in the cotton industry.

The company starts buying cotton this week at a minimum price of 45 cents per kilogramme.

It has also promised to pay annual bonuses to growers who sell their cotton to the parastatal as long as the company posts a profit.

Cottco managing Director, Engineer Tapfumanei Christopher Murove said his company was ready to help revive cotton farming in the country by offering growers favourable market prices for their crop.

“As Cottco, we are ready to buy cotton at a minimum of 45 cents per kilogramme and we are saying growers should also get annual bonuses for selling their crop to Cottco which is now a Government parastatal,” said Engineer Murove.

Currently, Cottco is carrying out a meet-the-farmers campaign to preach the gospel.

Traditional leaders and parliamentarians have all backed the company.

Gokwe-Nembudziya Member of Parliament Cde Justice Mayor Wadyajena said Cottco’s stance was very encouraging and urged cotton growers to wake up to the call.

“Being a Government’s programme to try and reward farmers for their efforts, Cottco has taken the right decision. Cottco is now a Government department that is why it has the people’s plight at heart,” Cde Wadyajena said.

With what the company is promising, it means that cotton farming will bounce back to the golden days when growers used to enjoy every minute of their lives,” he said.

This coming agricultural season, Government is targeting about 400 000 hectares of cotton across the country and has set aside over $52 million for inputs which will be delivered to the farmers free of charge, according to Engineer Murove.