Last year Ngwengwe produced seven bales of cotton. From the sale of his harvest he expected to do well. But the little money he received did not go far. The school has taken him to court over unpaid school fees and the Chief has demanded $58 before the matter could be heard in his court.
This has become a perennial problem for farmers in the district who need cash to school fees, medical bills and other expenses such as agricultural inputs. Cotton traders know this and are successful in persuading rural farmers to sell their crops well below market value – just to get their hands on the cash.
The challenges facing the farmers in Muzarabani’s Chitsungo, Hoya, Machaya, Utete and Dambakurima is that the price of cotton is three times lower than the price prevailing during the time when cotton companies supplied the inputs on credit.
In September 2011, when farmers bought inputs for 2011-12 season, the inputs required to produce a kg of cotton cost $0.90. But in the 2012 selling season, the price of cotton fell to $0.30 per kg. In 2011, a bale of cotton, with an average weight of 215kg sold at $193.50 as compared to $64.50 in 2012.
“We have been stripped of our life. The cotton crop has become a curse to us. Our life is now riddled with debt. This season was the worst of them all,” said Ngwengwe bitterly. He spent the entire proceeds of his crop repaying a loan to a cotton company for the seed, fertilizer and chemicals used to produce it.
“If we didn’t pay the debt, the company would not have given us a new loan for the coming season,” said Sanders Musengeyi, of ward 6 of Hwata Village.
“We need prices to be considered before the planting season,” said another farmer, Menford Manengureni.
Under Statutory Instrument 106A of 2011-12, the cotton crop is a controlled commodity, which gives the state the power to fix the price. Buyers are required to buy the crop at a price fixed by the ministry of Agriculture. Farmers don’t have a say in pricing the cotton they grow. Moreover, the price is set after the cotton has been harvested instead of being announced before the season – thus giving farmers time to decide whether to grow the crop or not.
Although cotton prices fluctuate, Benjamine Hanyani Mlambo of the University Department of Agriculture said: “High profits that companies reaped during the 2001-2002 sent a signal that encouraged many other companies to enter the sector” but this is no longer the case.”
Muzarabani has a population of about 146 348 people and is made up of 22 rural wards. The wards comprise of large scale, small scale, resettlements and communal areas. In the early 1970s a large irrigation scheme was developed that accelerated agricultural development and helped introduce cash crops such as cotton. Since then the district has been a prime producer of the white diamond.
“Most farmers here don’t grow food crops. They usually buy from maize farmers in the neighbourhood soon after selling their cotton,” said Mlambo.
Because of on-going hardships in the area, several non-governmental organisations have established permanent residence. Christian Care deals with drought relief, water and sanitation; World Vision focuses on water and sanitation; the UN World Food Programme gives food aid and SAFIRE does supplementary feeding.
Post published in: Agriculture