The Sunday News
Dumisani Nsingo, Senior Farming Reporter
THE Government has set a target of cropping 15 000 hectares under cotton in the Matabeleland region in the 2019/20 farming season as the number of farmers venturing into the production of the crop continues to grow, an official said.
Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (Cottco) Matabeleland area manager, Mr Innocent Ncube, said the number of farmers engaging in cotton production has been on the increase since the 2017/18 farming season.
“A number of farmers in Matabeleland region are now embracing the growing of cotton, largely due to its attributes of being resistant to high temperatures and moisture stress. We also have those (farmers) that had stopped cropping it (cotton) coming back and we are seeing a tremendous growth in terms of cotton production in the region. For instance, in Filabusi we started with about 400 farmers in 2017 but now we have 1 300 and in Lupane we had about 400 as well now there are close to 1 000,” said Mr Ncube.
Cotton is a drought tolerant plant and can still provide relatively good yields under dry land conditions, even in areas where the rainfall is less than 500mm annually.
Mr Ncube oversees cotton production throughout the Matabeleland region except for Lusulu in Binga District, which is now recognised as a stand-alone region with regards to cotton production.
Last season a total of 5 272 hectares was put under cotton production in Matabeleland with a yield of 1 211 tonnes being realised. This season, a target of 15 000 hectares has been set of which 10 000 hectares is expected to be cropped in Lusulu while 5 000 hectares would come from other parts in the region.
A number of farmers in the region have started growing the “white gold” for the 2019/20 season after receiving inputs under Government’s free Cottco Presidential Inputs and Tillage Scheme.
The planted crop is at various stages of growth.
“We are assisting farmers with land preparations through ploughing a hectare for each farmer but due to scarce resources we are being forced to select those that attained reasonable yields last season, but if resources were permitting, we were going to plough for all the beneficiaries. We already have the crop on the ground for those that received their inputs early. Others are weeding while others are already spraying for pesticides although distribution is still on-going in other areas,” said Mr Ncube.
Under the scheme, each farmer receives a 20-kilogramme bag of cotton seed, three bags of basal and top dressing fertiliser, a knapsack sprayer, needles, bales and different kinds of pesticides including herbicides, all given for free.
The scheme is expected to benefit more than 400 000 households and two million rural people countrywide.
Mr Ncube said Cottco was also encouraging institutions to participate in cotton production so as to improve the country’s yields.
“We are also encouraging institutions such as schools, both primary and secondary, to grow cotton. To date Khami Prison has grown 15 hectares and we also have Esigodini Agricultural College. We are really encouraging institutions to participate in the production of cotton as we believe they won’t participate in side marketing,” he said.
Cotton production in Zimbabwe declined to an all-time low of 32 000 tonnes in 2016 from 84 000 tonnes in 2015, and 143 000 tonnes in 2014 after a decade-long spell of perceived low prices averaging US$0,30 per kilogramme.
The crop had also suffered from low intake as ginners and feeder companies such as textile companies are facing increasing pressure from cheap imported fabrics mainly from Asian countries.
