Zimbabwe provides quality cotton seeds to farmers

The government provided for all the inputs requirements for the new season for free to cotton farmers. This step was taken in an effort to revive the cotton sector which was once the country's biggest source of export revenue, Cottco said.

“The government's free inputs scheme has seen 4,156 tonnes of planting seed being disbursed to farmers which translates to 245,000 hectares,” said the company.

This move by the Zimbabwean government comes at a time when the cotton farming sector was already declining over the years due to poor funding by the cotton industry players who have become cautious and risk opposed following a spate of poor yields.

As the global production and stocks continues to exceed demands, the global lint prices continues to be bearish. International lint prices have also remained subdued threatening the viability of the cotton sector.

In 2011 Zimbabwe produced 268,000 tonnes of cotton which decreased to 135,000 tonnes in 2013-14 and further to 100,000 tonnes in the year 2014-15.

However, it is also believed by analysts that the government's efforts might fail to revive the sector due to late start of the planting season owing to unpredictable rainfall caused by the El Nino phenomenon. “The El Nino phenomenon is likely to reduce yields compared to the volumes of the seed taken by farmers,” said Cottco. (NA)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India