At last, some good news on agriculture from Zimbabwe whose agriculture sector suffered devastation from economic crisis and farm seizures. The country may be on course for record cotton exports.
Zimbabwe’s cotton shipments will hit 408,000 bales in 2010-11, a jump of 20% on those in the current marketing year, which closes next week, US Department of Agriculture officials said.
Besides putting the country back on the same page as other significant African exporters such as Benin or Mali, bumper shipments of its cotton, which typically attracts a premium on international markets, would represent a rare fillip for a Zimbabwe farm sector which has become more notorious for its decline.
The wheat harvest in a country formerly known as the breadbasket of southern Africa was, at 12m tonnes last year, less than 4% of its peak two decades ago, according to USDA data. Production of corn, the staple food, which came in just short of 3m tonnes in 1984, was 650,000 tonnes.
Growers vs ginners
Zimbabwe’s cotton revival follows legislation which has “brought stability”, if not total harmony, to an industry which had been marked by its poor relations between farmers and merchants, who provide growers seed and fertilizer on credit in return for harvested crop.
Farmers blamed merchants for scrimping on the inputs they were obliged to provide, while growers themselves were notorious for so-called “side-marketing” – selling crop to ginners other than those they were contracted to.
By bringing contracts under a better legal framework, the regulations have encouraged – and obliged – merchants to provide richer supplies of seed and chemicals, putting farmers on course to raise yields by more than 40%.
One major source of disagreement remains the price being paid by ginners, with farmers considering the $0.30 per kilogramme offered too low, threatening a continuing switch from cotton to tobacco growing. Agrimoney.com
Economic revival
Zimbabwe last year achieved its first year of economic growth for 11 years, data from the International Monetary Fund showed, which pegged expansion at 4%. Previously, the country had regularly seen its economy contract by 5-10% a year, while inflation soared to levels measured in millions of percent a year.
The country has since last year been governed by a coalition between Zanu-PF, the party of longstanding president Robert Mugabe, and the Movement for Democratic Change, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, the prime minister.
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