The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo, Senior Farming Reporter
PLAYERS in the cotton to clothing industry have appealed to the Government to spread the US$20 million monthly allocation by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to edible oil producers across the entire value chain so as to enhance the production of the white gold.
Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union vice-president Mr Winston Babbage said the Government should ensure that the US$20 million, which the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) committed to allocate the country’s cooking oil manufacturers on a monthly basis for the importation of crude oil and soya bean as well as ancillary materials like caustic, tonsil and packaging, was spread along the value chain.
“Instead of Government channelling US$20 million to cooking oil producers only for importing raw materials, those funds should be equitably distributed to oil seed farmers as a way of enhancing their production particularly cotton producers so as to curb unnecessary imports. We should be having cotton producers being able to participate throughout the value chain and this means they should have ginneries and seed processing plants, which is part of what is enshrined in the 2014-2019 Cotton to Clothing Strategy, which unfortunately lapsed without achieving its goal,” said Mr Babbage.
Zimbabwe Clothing Manufacturers’ Association chairman Mr Jeremy Youmans said the industry was in support of the Association of Cotton Value Adders (ACVAZ), which was set up from the Cotton to Clothing Strategy that advocates for the realisation of synergies throughout the value chain.
“While Government consistently promotes the prioritisation of value chains, their policies remain fragmented and centred around individual stages of the value chain. Through better allocation of resources, the cotton crop can quickly recover and, along with growth of the soya bean crop, can provide all of the cooking oil requirements of the country and more.
“So, the US$20 million being allocated, per month, to import bulk cooking oil could be utilised within the chain to not only prevent this demand for scarce foreign currency but also create significant employment, value addition, import substitution and growth in exports of value-added products. ACVAZ need to be supported on this,” he said.
Mr Youmans said nothing from the 2014-2019 Cotton to Clothing Strategy was implemented, a situation, which has hampered the growth of the sector. He further said Zimbabwe failed to access part of the Euro 57 million meant for the 2014-2019 Cotton to Clothing Strategy, which was made available to the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) due to the bureaucratic nature of accessing the facility.
“The activities and approvals of fund allocations has to go through a very bureaucratic process involving Ministry of Industry and Commerce and Comesa Clearing House. This process was ceased with interference and procrastination such that not one of the activities had been actioned three-and-a-half years later. There were clear divisions of opinion on what needed to be done and in the end most of the progress ended up handcuffed by red tape. It is vital that this does not occur again in the updated strategy review for the next five years,” said Mr Youmans.
Although, the country’s cotton production has experienced a bit of recovery over the past few years, it is still far off its peak in 2013 when the country produced 352 000 tonnes of cotton. In 2015, output fell to 28 000 tonnes, the lowest since 1992.
Mr Youmans added that apart from the plummeting production, the quality of the country’s cotton had also deteriorated.
“While the farmer is the producer, we cannot blame them for all of this. Firstly, we would like to see the issue of tenure of land resolved such that bankable title deeds are provided to all landowners. Secondly, the Government support needs to be paid based on output produced, not as free inputs which are not controlled and often abused by the farmer due to necessity. Support to pricing should be based on the grade of the cotton produced. A formal database of all farmers, inputs and production should be established,” he said.
Mr Youmans said there was a need for farmers to wean themselves from contract farming overtime and be self-sufficient so as to realise meaningful returns from their enterprises. – @DNsingo
