Zimbabwe govt to 'punish' dishonest cotton farmers

The government is taking action against cotton farmers who were provided with presidential inputs but failed to deliver their crops to the Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (Cottco) during the 2023 selling season. According to Agriculture ministry secretary Obert Jiri, these "dishonest" farmers will not be given priority when government inputs are distributed for the next season. Jiri explained that the 2023/24 presidential cotton inputs will be allocated to those who fulfilled their obligation by delivering seed cotton during the 2023 cotton marketing season.

Agricultural organizations, including Agritex, the Agricultural Marketing Authority (AMA), and Cottco extension services, have been assigned to collaborate on monitoring the use of presidential inputs. They will capture production unit coordinates to facilitate inspections and evaluate the inputs' use.

Cottco's chief operating officer, Munyaradzi Chikasha, recently called for an investigation into the utilization of inputs under the presidential input scheme, which was introduced a decade ago to boost cotton production. While cotton production almost reached a peak of 140,000 tonnes in the 2020/21 season, it declined to under 60,000 tonnes the following season before slightly rebounding to 90,000 tonnes in the 2022/23 season.

Reports have emerged of farmers selling the inputs, some of which have been recovered by the police from buyers. Additionally, there have been allegations of officials selling farming inputs, such as the case involving former Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Resettlement deputy minister Douglas Karoro, who was arrested on accusations of selling items from the Presidential Inputs Scheme.