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Elita Chikwati Senior Reporter
The Presidential Inputs Cotton Scheme is expected to spread to commercial farmers with irrigation facilities during the 2019/20 summer cropping season to boost production and quality of the produce.

The scheme which is being spearheaded by Cottco used to cater for smallholder farmers in dry areas, but will now include A2 farmers who have the capacity in terms of agronomic expertise and human resources to produce the crop at a large scale.

In an interview at the Zimbabwe Agricultural Show yesterday, Cottco managing director Mr Pious Manamike confirmed that the scheme was expanding to commercial production.

Mr Manamike said Cottco was targeting Mashonaland West and Mashonaland Central provinces where some A2 farmers used to produce cotton, but had now switched to other crops.

“There are some farmers who used to produce cotton before resettlement,” he said. “These farmers can use some of their free pieces of land to produce cotton at a larger scale. The advantage is that they have irrigation facilities and knowledge of growing the crop. We want them to utilise their skills.

“We are looking at a minimum of 10 hectares and the farmer will receive seed, fertilisers and chemicals. We are also trying to introduce hybrid seed to both our commercial and small scale farmers to maximise yields.”

Mr Manamike said besides inputs, Cottco will also be offering tillage services to the beneficiaries of the Presidential Inputs Support Scheme.

“We have realised that some of our farmers do not have tillage facilities as they lost their livestock to drought and diseases,” he said. “There is also evidence that most farmers who were assisted with tillage services last season had high yields.”

The Presidential Inputs Support Scheme has revived the cotton industry which was on the verge of collapse due to low prices offered by merchants. Most farmers in cotton growing areas had abandoned producing the crop as for paprika, groundnuts and maize, while others left their fields fallow as they had no alternative crops suitable for their areas.

Cotton is important because of its contribution to the textile industry, edible oil and stock feed manufacturing and also bringing in the much needed foreign currency.