Zimbabwe govt fixes cotton procurement price

27 Jul '12

2 min read

Bringing an end to the ongoing row between the farmers and the buyers over cotton procurement price, the Zimbabwe Government has fixed the cotton procurement price for the current season.

Agriculture Minister Joseph Made announced that the Government has fixed price for A grade cotton at US$ 0.84 per kg, while the price for B, C and D grade of cotton has been fixed at US$ 0.81 per kg, US$ 0.79 and US$ 0.77 per kg, respectively.

The Minister said the new price is for the 2011-12 season, and no farmer should be paid a price below that fixed by the Government.

He warned that licences of those ginners who do not pay as per the new prices can be cancelled. He also added that no negotiations are welcome in this regard.

Further, the Minister said that buyers, who have already procured raw cotton from the farmers at lower rates during the current season, would have to pay the balance amount to cotton growers.

The Government intervened to fix the cotton prices payable to farmers after such a request was made by farmers’ organizations.

Blaming the depressed global cotton market for slump in prices at home, cotton traders had earlier offered to pay a price between US$ 0.36 and US$ 0.50 per kg. In response, the farmers preferred to hold back their crop.

Zimbabwe’s overall cotton output for 2012 is seen rising from last year’s 250,000 tons to about 280,000 tons.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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