We were robbed: Cotton farmers 

Source: We were robbed: Cotton farmers –Newsday Zimbabwe

COTTON farmer

COTTON farmers feel hard done as some have not been paid for lint deliveries made three years ago.

“Cotton farmers have been short-changed,” Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers Union president Shadreck Makombe told NewsDay yesterday as the farmers recounted their ordeals ahead of commemorations of World Cotton Day today.

“It has been bad because given the situation right now there are other farmers who have not been paid three years down the line. Imagine that whatever they are going to get is now valueless. He said farmers had been getting a raw deal from the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (Cottco).

Women in Agriculture Union chairperson Olga Nhario said the amount farmers were paid for cotton did not correspond with its value.

An agricultural advocate Memory Chakwita said: “As a country we are rebranding agriculture as a career and the farmers need to earn a living from that. When the farmers are frustrated, they won’t be able to go back to the fields.”

Market prices for cotton have varied over the years. A kilogramme of cotton was selling for US$1,51 in 2017 and US$1,49 in 2018. In 2019, the price dropped to US$1,16 per kg.

In 2022, the price ranged between US$1,16 and US$ 1,49 per kg or between US$0,53 and US$0,68 per pound.

The price in Euro is EUR0,95 per kg and the average price for a tonne is US$1 160,42 in Bulawayo and Harare.