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The Rhodesia Herald, January 31, 1969

In spite of cultivation and insect control problems aggravated this summer by lengthy spells of rain, Rhodesia’s relatively new “wonder” crop, cotton, is doing exceptionally well in all parts of the country, and there is now every hope that growers will bale their biggest and best crop.

More than a third of the annual cotton crop is now being produced by growers in the Salisbury-Shamva region, and nearly a quarter by growers in the Sinoia-Banket region.

Fairly large crops are also grown in the Gatooma-Hartley area, the eastern districts and the Fort Victoria and Marandellas districts.

Cotton is not yet a major crop in the Midlands and Matabeleland, where the summer rainfall is erratic.

In the main cotton areas many farmers, for the first time this summer, have applied the new water planting technique, with extremely satisfactory results.

It enables the crop to get a good start. Their cotton lands now look better and more impressive than in previous years, and if the favourable weather conditions continue a little longer it is almost certain that a crop of unprecedented volume will be harvested.

The wet weather has aggravated the problem of keeping ahead of weeds and many growers have also struggled to prevent a build-up of insect pests in their crops.

Most appear to be coping, however, and the present spell of clear weather is helping them in their efforts.

Lessons for today

• Cotton is one of the major cash crops grown in the country contributing an average 10 percent of agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and account for annual exports of about US$103,2 million.
• The crop’s contribution to the economy has seen it being referred to as white gold.
• The Midlands province, which in the initial stages did not produce the crop, is now the biggest producer of the crop in the country.
• The cotton industry was almost destroyed by side marketing before Government stepped in to assist farmers with free inputs, which has seen production rebounding and reaching record levels.
• In 2018 cotton output rose by 76 percent year-on-year to 130 000 tonnes, from 70 000 tonnes during the previous year.