Hike in cotton prices to match rising cost of inputs
10 Mar '08
1 min read
The Government of Malawi has recently announced new minimum prices for buying cotton.
The prices have gone up from a minimum of K45 to K65 representing a rise of 44 percent. Explaining this huge hike, Mr Frank Mwenefumbo, Deputy Miniter of Agriculture briefed the press stating that the revision was made considering various factors of production.
Elaborating on the point, Mr Frank reiterated saying that costs of farm inputs such as fertilizers, seed and pesticides, labor charges, yield, storage and transportation play a significant role in determining the final price of cotton. These should therefore be reckoned before coming to any conclusions about fixing cotton prices.
Additionally, the Government has also given due respect to farmer's need to have reasonable profit margin from the sale of their produce. As a matter of fact, small farmers are often exploited by corrupt middlemen and the revision in prices is done only to ensure that these victimized farmers get a decent remuneration for their hardwork.