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Agriculture Reporter
Cotton farmers are selling inputs they received from contractors to get cash to buy food, the Cotton Council has established.
The council received reports of this practice from Chiredzi, Muzarabani and Gokwe. Council spokesman Mr Garikayi Msika said, “We are aware of the current food shortages but selling inputs is not the solution. Some farmers have a tendency of diverting inputs either to other crops or for sale, and this has been affecting crop production for a long time.”

He said farmers received cotton inputs last month.

“Planting is underway in most cotton growing areas. We cannot determine the total hectarage planted so far as we are still assessing.

“It is difficult to tell the hectarage planted using the amount of seed distributed as this will distort the actual situation on the ground,” he said.

Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president Mr Wonder Chabikwa said farmers in Chiredzi and Chisumbanje usually do not use fertilisers and were not necessarily selling the input to buy food.