Petros Zivengwa Features Writer
Zimbabweans have started to till their land and plant seeds, heralding the beginning of the new season. Each farmer has his or her own unique story.
Some sections of the agricultural sector, particularly the cotton industry, are on the verge of collapse owing to the hard economic conditions and poor farming practices.

The challenges have also been attributed to farmers failing to embrace the developing trends, especially new farming technologies.

This has led to calls for Government to educate farmers on the new cotton growing technology if productivity and quality cotton are to be achieved.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development has introduced the Cotton Residue Awareness Campaign, running under the theme “Reclaiming Cotton Productivity and Quality.”

Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made recently launched the initiative in Muzarabani. It aims to resuscitate the cotton industry, which is on the brink of collapse owing to challenges such as climate change, poor pest control measures, among other problems.

Minister Made said the cotton industry was facing serious challenges that could be addressed by educating farmers at every stage of the cotton plant life cycle.

“Cotton growing is generally pesticide-intensive, farmers should have chemicals to contain pests such as pink bollworm, the chilli thrips, the cotton seed bug, the tarnish plant bug and the armyworm, among others,” Minister Made said.

“The problem is that most farmers do not know how to prevent such pests, for example you (farmers) do not know that the dangerous pests that affect cotton can be prevented by destroying and burning cotton residues.”

Cotton farmers are said to keep cotton plant residues as a “cost cutting measure”, which they, in the next season, maintain, weed and spray.

Minister Made said this is the worst a farmer could do.

“The cotton produced is very poor. It attracts the worst prices in the market,” he said.

Government research findings revealed that cotton plant residues play host to pests such as pink bollworm, which is also known as pectinophora gossypiella – the most destructive cotton pest in many areas of the world.

“It is called pink ‘bollworm’ because it affects the plant at the boll formation stage, affecting the formation of the threads and eventually making them shorter than required in the manufacturing companies,” explained an Agritex official.

In Zimbabwe it has reduced the yield and quality of the crop by over 50 percent. Minister Made said Government will go around Zimbabwe educating farmers about the importance of destroying and burning residues as the best cost cutting measure in cotton farming.

“Farmers incur huge costs in buying inputs and chemicals yet they yield far less than what they would have invested.

“It is because farmers are reluctant to minimise costs through simple measures like destroying and burning the residues after every season,” he said.

Minister Made said destroying and burning cotton plant residues destroys the life cycle of pests which may be hosted in the plants.

He said this effectively suppresses and controls pests and diseases which lead to bumper harvest.

Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development deputy director of research services, Dr Godfrey Chikwenhere said more needs to be done to resuscitate the cotton industry.

“Awareness campaigns remain the best in educating the farmers. It is sad that most farmers toil in broad day light, planting, curing and harvesting yet their efforts will not see the light of the day because of poor quality, the prices and the money they get at the end of the season continue subjecting them to deplorable conditions,” he said.

“This is why most farmers say cotton is no longer profitable.”

Dr Chikwenhere said Government would soon establish awareness centres where farmers would be constantly educated about growing cotton.

Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development secretary Engineer Ringson Chitsiko told farmers in Muzarabani that Government was working on addressing the plight of cotton farmers by assisting them with knowledge and other inputs.

“Successful cultivation of cotton requires a long frost-free period, plenty of sunshine and moderate rainfall measuring between 600-1 200 mm.

“Farmers without irrigation facilities should grow cotton under the dry land most suitably around October,” he said.

He said farmers should be knowledgeable about the use of pesticides since incorrect use may be harmful.

“Some farmers have fallen ill as a result of lack of adequate equipment and knowledge about how to handle pesticides properly,” he said.
Chemicals such as herbicides, fertilisers and insecticides were indispensible cotton growing components, he added.

Mr Gibson Musariwa, a Muzarabani farmer, said that cotton farmers were facing challenges emanating from the hard economic conditions.

He appealed to Government to consider supplying them with some expensive, yet indispensable inputs for the quality production of the crop.

“The problem is that as peasant farmers, we try to save our hard earned cash to buy chemicals and seeds. Some tend to keep the residues because they do not have inputs and because of unpredictable rainfall patterns,” he said.

“It is not like we do not want to destroy them, but poverty sometimes leaves us with no option but to keep them so that we get something in the next season.”

Ms Tracy Makuruki, a cotton farmer in Muzarabani, applauded the move by the Government to educate farmers on cotton production.

“Some of us lack knowledge so education is important to improve our productivity as well as quality,” she said.

“A cotton crop can fail completely if weeds are not adequately controlled so farmers should employ effective weed control methods such as the application of herbicides.”

Most farmers are slowly retiring from growing cotton and venturing into tobacco farming owing to the attractive prices for the latter.
Farming is a science that calls for one to apply his knowledge.

“It is an art calling on the very farmer to be creative in the quest to produce the best quality in the market.

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