Government critisized for backtracting on cotton policy

05 Jun '05

2 min read

Official of a major cotton buying company, Corin Jones has blamed the government pegging up cotton price at K25 per kilogram out of sheer political compulsions.

Corin, a General Manager at Great Lakes Company dealing in cotton said no agreement was reached during previous meetings held between the buyers and government.

He said that Government feared putting their political position at stake if prices were lowered.

He expressed surprised by the government turnaround in its position giving false impression of being considerate of understanding the plight of the buyers, maintaining contradictory stance in public.

He called for the government to consult all stakeholders before taking declaring such important announcements.

Principal Secretary for Agriculture Andrew Daudi, who claimed to have accredited the announcement was unreachable however, one of the senior officials in the ministry said the K25 price was agreed during the meeting.

“The only bone of contention was whether it should be minimum price or recommended price. As government we are concerned that even in Mozambique the same companies are buying the cotton at K27.50 per kilogramme,” said the official who declined to be mentioned.

He said even though the buyers are talking of subsidy it was in fact donors who funded the subsidy through the buyers.

“We would have loved if the price was beyond K25 but we understand the problems which the buyers are meeting. But if they insist to offer such lower prices then we are ready to ban the selling of cotton again until they comply,” he said.
meeting. But if they insist to offer such lower prices then we are ready to ban the selling of cotton again until they comply,” he said.

Abudalla Ayami, Chairman of the Cotton Growers Association in Mangochi informed that though a few farmers were selling cotton at K22, government intervention was sought to direct the companies to pay the K3 difference.

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