Cotton market regulated

14 Apr, 2021 - 11:04 0 Views
Cotton market regulated Cotton Company of Zimbabwe managing director Mr Pious Manamike

The Sunday News

Nontobeko Mlotshwa, Sunday News Reporter

COTTON farmers have welcomed the new law which regulates the marketing of cotton as a step in the right direction in creating a level playing field for the industry.

The Government has gazetted Statutory Instrument 96 of 2021 which stipulates that cotton is now regarded as a controlled product.

This means that anyone who breaches or side markets cotton will be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine or face imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years.

This came after realisation that cotton buyers would entice farmers to side market cotton grown under the Presidential inputs scheme or undermine efforts by Government to earn the full value of cotton.

Zimbabwe Farmers Union executive director Mr Paul Zakariah said the new Cotton Statutory Instrument (SI) 96 of 2021 will not only bring sanity to the sector, but has the potential to unlock full value to growers.

“The new cotton SI is a welcome development, it will ensure that farmers get their money not groceries for their sweat and it will plug side marketing and ensure contractors buy what they sponsored,” he said.

He also said the issue of bogus contractors is set to come to an end and what is needed now is for relevant authorities to clearly explain the contents of the law so that it boost confidence of all stakeholders.

Cotton Company of Zimbabwe managing director Mr Pious Manamike said there is need for Government to engage relevant players in the industry for clarification of the new SI ahead of the marketing season.

“We are hopeful that Government will engage us and other players to clarify certain sections of the control of sale of cotton, because the timing of the announcements has come when some negotiations with banks who sponsor us were at advance stage and we need to build confidence following the pronouncement,” he said.

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