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Andrew Gasura bailing cotton in Chireya, Gokwe recently

Fortious Nhambura Features Writer
Less than a decade ago cotton was the crop of choice for farmers in Gokwe. Not only did cotton thrive in the area, it had a ready market that brought the much needed cash to the people.  As such, cotton was then christened Zimbabwe’s white gold. It had ready cash. One only needed to sell a bale of cotton lint at the nearest shopping centre to get money enough to pay the miller or buy furniture and groceries and even marry several wives.

However, that has changed over the past half a decade.
Low prices have spelt doom for farmers in Gokwe as in all cotton growing regions of Zimbabwe.
Cotton prices continue to plummet, leaving most farmers regretting the decision to grow the crop.

Even the coming in of more cotton buying companies has not brought joy.
Instead prices continue to plummet.

Cotton has become a pale shadow of its former self. A kilogramme of cotton is fetching between US35 cents and US40 cents, depending on the buying company.

Even though last year’s minimum producer price was pegged at US53 cents, some companies ended up paying as much as US80 cents a kilogramme.

This year the situation seems bleak.
Prices have started low and there are no signs that they will hit the US80 cents recorded last year.

It seems the decision by the Competition and Tariff Commission directing cotton buyers to negotiate with individual farmers on cotton prices is backfiring as the latter have no capacity to negotiate with large companies.

This has delayed the commencement of the cotton selling season.
Previously, the Cotton Ginners’ Association would negotiate with farmer organisations for the producer price.
Worst hit are contract farmers.

The effects of the poor producer prices on the only source of income for the area are evident. Shops that were always fully stocked in the past are closing down.

Children are also dropping out of school as parents fail to pay fees.
Construction programmes have stalled and workers that were employed in the once vibrant cotton sector have lost employment.
Even beerhalls that used to fill up this time of the year are empty. No one knows what the future has in store for them. Farmers say it is not viable to grow cotton anymore but there are few alternatives given that it is the only the crop that does well in the dry but fertile lands of Gokwe, Sanyati and Kadoma.

Those in the Gokwe Sesame area are complaining, too.
Chirovamavi Village head, Mr Colliart Chirovamavi, said low prices had made growing cotton unattractive.
He said he was planning to abandon growing cotton for other crops as all their hopes of increases in the producer prices were fading.

“I used to produce between five and six hectares of cotton annually, but have been reducing the hectarage since 2012.
“In 2011 /2, I thought the situation would improve and did five hectares of the crop.

“When prices did not improve, I reduced them to three in the 2012 /3 season and last year I only had one. I am strongly contemplating stopping if the prices do not increase.

“Life is hard this side. I had a shop in Chireya but I have since closed it. People no longer buy basic commodities like sugar and salt. Cotton is not paying and shops are stuck with stocks.

“I could not even pay the shopkeeper hence I closed the shop.
“Farmers in the area have moved to growing maize and sweet potatoes. As you know maize is not paying and is actually being sold to private buyers at US$2 a bucket.

“Our only alternative has been sweet potatoes that are fetching about US$5 for a 20-litre bucket. That is better money. Some have ventured into tobacco and have realised better rewards than growing cotton,” said Sabhuku Chirovamavi.

The area is yearning for Government intervention. The large billboard at Gokwe Centre announcing that one is entering a cotton zone is no longer significant for the local folk.

The low producer prices have meant housing construction has stalled.
Even the Cottco ginnery that used to provide employment has gone quiet, save for occasional rumble of tractors bringing a bale or two at long intervals.

Ms Jupiter Makanika of Gokwe Centre said her life now hinged on selling used clothes and small grocery items to farmers but the business was not looking good.

“Business for us traders usually picked during this period of the year but as things stand there is no hope.
“Cotton marketers have let us down. Cotton prices are not encouraging and we can only hope for a better ending.

“We have not been selling and some of this stock has gone for months. We usually make a killing this time around and as things stand there is no hope for us,” she said.

Even the rugged tarred road linking Gokwe Centre and Chireya, which used to be hive of activity this time of the year is quiet.
It tells a miserable story of a people without an income.
It desperately needs repairs.

Farmers appealed to Government to come up with mechanisms to ensure that the crop does not go into extinction but remains viable given the amount of infrastructure that has been set up to process the crop.

The current delays in the announcement of a cotton price has not helped matters as farmers are in a quandary as to whether they will get something for their labour this year.

Even schools are feeling the heat of the delays in the opening of the cotton selling season. School authorities say they get school levies for the year after farmers sell their cotton but the past three successive years have been disastrous.

Mr Collen Gasura of Zanda, Chireya in Gokwe said they have no option than to wait for the announcement of producer prices.
“Every day we are glued to radios in the hope that there will be an announcement of a favourable price but the Government is mum.

“It is high time authorities announced the producer prices before the start of the season to ensure that farmers have adequate knowledge.
“As it stands, the merchants are abusing farmers. They know we can’t do anything with the crop and will offload it to them for peanuts.

“We use our homes to store the cotton lint and it’s risky. We fear it may catch fire. It is unfortunate we will soon be forced to dispose the lint at these low prices and hope merchants will increase the price.

“We have to wait for reasonable cotton producer prices otherwise this is a wasted year again,” Mr Gasura said.
Another farmer in the area Mr Simon Chatiza said due to the delays some farmers had been forced to deliver a bale of cotton to the merchants for US$50 advance.

Farmers will only get the remainder after the announcement of the producer price.
“Unfortunately this has not been a good option for us as the facility is being abused by some middlemen (makoronyera) who are making sure that you can’t deliver your cotton without paying a kickback.

“Only those with money are selling their crop under this arrangement. The rest of us have been condemned to perpetual poverty. Daily we wait in anticipation that the Government will come to our rescue and announce a favourable price, failure of which we are doomed.

“Producer prices have forced us to slow down on picking of cotton,” Mr Chatiza said.
Delays in the announcement of cotton producer prices will have a bearing on the quality and weight of the crop hence the price. A bale weights between 200 and 250 kilogrammes and fetches an average US$85 for the farmer.

Farmers say this money is way below the production costs and hence unviable.
Mr Chirovamavi said it was painful to think that all the investment that farmers and cotton companies had put in cotton production were now going to waste.

“Many people will lose employment if there is no solution to cotton pricing and process puzzle.
“Gokwe Centre was a cotton farming town. Most of the people at the centre are directly or indirectly benefiting from cotton production. I wonder what will happen to the town.

“Government should move away from exporting cotton to processing it into cloth, seed cake and oil for local use. Adding value to cotton is the only way we can win the war on cotton producer prices,” he said.

Some farmers have since stopped harvesting because they cannot pay for the labour. Cotton harvesting is labour intensive and farmers hire people to pick the crop by hand. Government has mooted re-establish of the Cotton Marketing Board to protect farmers.

“We cannot allow what is happening in the cotton sector. It is a very vital sector.
Sixty percent of our rural population is directly involved in cotton production,” he said.

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