In an interview, ZCFU president Wonder Chabikwa said if government wishes to see Zimbabwe regain its bread basket status in the region, it should consider agricultural practices that have been adopted by other countries.
“We also want government to subsidise agricultural output at the point of sale so that our farmers can get enough money for their labour, subsidies are a necessity,” said Chabikwa.
Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Minister Joseph Made is on record denying the adoption of genetically modified seeds leading the ZCFU leader to describe Made’s decision as “personal”.
The union leader gave an example of South Africa which last season produced 90,000 tons of potatoes compared to Zimbabwe which produced a mere 15,000 tons.
“South Africa is ahead of us in terms of agriculture because they have better farming methods. We believe farmers can do more if the government compromises on its stance. Here GMO’s are being used like nobody’s business. We seek to have stakeholders and the government to come to our rescue as farmers,” he added.
Chabikwa said his team would protect cotton farmers in the coming season so that they will not fall prey to unscrupulous cotton buyers like what happened last season.
“Our mission is to have good agricultural development and sustainable practices for our members. Cotton farmers have been the most affected and this coming season we will give them advice before they put pen to paper. We will also go through the contracts and then we will advise them to sign if they are favourable.
“Last season nothing significant was done to protect cotton farmers, some have lost their farming implements after failing to repay heavy loans, but we will not allow people to be impoverished like that,” he added.
Last season the government announced that cotton prices should range between $0.76 and $0.84 per kilogram depending on the grade, but the announcement fell on deaf ears as buyers offered $0.35 per kilogram.
Post published in: News