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Zvamaida Murwira Mr Speaker Sir
As the cotton marketing season beckons, the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe should stop being a crybaby moaning about side-marketing, but think outside the box to come up with strategies to incentivise farmers.

Mr Speaker Sir, a tour last week by Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Lands, Agriculture and Resettlement chaired by Gokwe Nembudziya MP Cde Justice Mayor Wadyajena to a Muzarabani Cottco depot in Mashonaland Central Province was an eye opener.

During an interaction with legislators, Cottco managing director, Mr Pious Manamike moaned that they were grappling with the problem of side-marketing after giving out free inputs to farmers under the Presidential Inputs Scheme.

Mr Manamike moaned that instead of selling their cotton to Cottco, some farmers were taking their produce to private buyers in clear violation of the contract they would have signed.

He said the side-marketing scourge had the potential of threatening the viability of Cottco since it would fail to recover value, given the investment they would have made in the farmers in terms of not only inputs, but free agricultural extension services.

Mr Speaker Sir, there is no doubt that the scourge of side-marketing is a big problem, which requires concerted efforts by all stakeholders, but Cottco should explore ways to deal with it.

It is equally unfair of those unscrupulous firms to try to reap where they did not sow by buying cotton from farmers whom they have not contracted.

By offering more than what Cottco pays, the firms know that they are engaging in unfair business practices so they have to raise the bar, for lack of better word, in their effort to lure farmers.

This is where, Mr Speaker Sir, Cottco management should summon its innovative mind.

Mount Darwin North MP Cde Nobert Muponori (Zanu-PF) asked Mr Manamike what incentives the firm had come up with to entice the farmers to sell their produce to Cottco.

In response, Mr Manamike said they offer farmers, who bring their produce promotional materials like umbrellas, T-shirts, hats and wrapping cloths.

Mr Speaker Sir, from the presentation by Mr Manamike, it is clear that one of the reasons why Cottco’s fortunes took a nosedive more than a decade ago was because of rampant side-marketing that went unabated as unscrupulous buyers lured desperate farmers with higher cash offers than Cottco, among other incentives.

Government had to intervene to have a direct interest in the firm given its strategic importance.

It is on that basis, Mr Speaker Sir, that management at Cottco ought to think outside the box to explore ways to fight side-marketing.

As legislators rightfully put it during the meeting in Muzarabani, there is need for Cottco management to come up with incentives, whose effect would be to induce farmers to sell their produce to Cottco.

The promotional trinkets offered by Cottco in the form of umbrellas, hats, T-shirts among other paraphernalia are not good enough to entice the farmers.

Firstly, Mr Speaker Sir, Cottco should go on a blitz to raise awareness on the importance of selling their produce to them.

Farmers ought to be told that it is criminal to sell to other firms, by-passing Cottco, which would have given them the inputs as this amounted to fraud and breach of contract.

They ought to be told that selling cotton to Cottco is the most patriotic thing they could ever do as it would go a long way in nation building and restoring the country’s breadbasket status.

But more importantly, Mr Speaker Sir, farmers ought to be given incentives like bonuses, back pay as what Cottco used to do in the 1990s.

Cottco used to pay farmers bonuses then, despite the fact that it enjoyed a virtual monopoly of the market before the advent of other firms like                                                                            Cargill.

It is not in dispute Mr Speaker Sir that a decision to pay bonuses among other financial incentives might be a tall order given Cottco’s balance sheet, but those are the kind of hard decisions that ought to be taken, which in the long run might produce good returns.

Mr Speaker Sir, Cottco is still rebuilding its name after its fortunes slumped over the years.

It would be recalled, Mr Speaker Sir, that cotton farmers were threatening to stop producing the crop owing to poor producer prices, which they said were not commensurate with what they would have sunk in securing inputs.

To its credit, Government intervened and bailed out Cottco and further introduced the free input   scheme.

The free input scheme has created a lot of hope for cotton farmers, Mr Speaker Sir, no wonder Mr Manamike and most cotton farmers told legislators to implore Government to extend the scheme beyond the three-year threshold.

It goes without saying that Government would need to be satisfied that the free inputs are being put to good use through selling cotton to Cottco if it is to accede to that  request.

It is very unlikely that Government would accede to such a request when it turns out that the bulk of the produce is finding its way into the black market and not to Cottco.

It is for that reason that Cottco should come up with measures to combat side-marketing.

Moaning over it at this juncture might not be helpful because what it ought to do is to tackle it head on and return the company to viability by recouping what is due to it.