Zimbabweans scout for cotton farming land

23 Apr '11

2 min read

Tom Jele, Chief Executive Officer of the Swaziland Cotton Board (SCB) revealed that, investors from Zimbabwe are hunting for land in the country to undertake cotton cultivation.

The investors may probably join forces with South Africa's Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), which too is looking for a 1,000 hectares plot, with abundant availability of water, he said.

Jele stated that, they would link up the investors with IDC so that they can work jointly. IDC was searching for a land, and thus they were viewing this as an opportunity to associate with someone with technical know-how, he added.

Their expectations for the IDC land faded out, owing to their failure to acquire land under the first phase of the Lower Usuthu Smallholder Irrigation Project (LUSIP), which spanned 6,000 hectares, he said. Their efforts did not materialize as sugarcane was given the first priority, he added.

In the mean time, he said that they had suspended their talks with IDC, owing to the SCB's failure to acquire a plot with adequate water supply.

This effort to secure a 1,000 hectares plot for IDC to undertake cotton cultivation was looked upon to help the textile firms in the country to cut down on their cotton imports.

Fibre2fashion News Desk - India

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