AMA stays clear of cotton pricing wars as season opens next week

But the Cotton Producers and Marketers Association of Zimbabwe (CPMAZ) said it was against the continued usage of CBPs as they were tantamount “to creating cartels.”

“Continued usage of buying points only benefits AMA which comes there to collect levies from farmers,” said executive chairman, Clemence Gondo.

“By using the points farmers are also forced to use the same scale at a fee and are not free to negotiate prices individually as buyers gang up.”

He said the farmers were in favour of buyers visiting each farmer and buying the white gold right from the farmer’s doorstep.

“This was successfully done in the past,” he said.

Gondo said the farmers were expecting a price of 63 cents per kg to remain in business.

“The breakeven point is about 53 cents and when we include the mark up, it goes to about 63 cents per kg,” he said.

Last year farmers were paid 30 cents per kg for all grades with promises that they would get top-up after grading but this never happened, Gondo said.

He said a large number of farmers had since abandoned the crop, which was at one point ranked Zimbabwe’s top agricultural export, opting for more viable once such as tobacco and soya beans.

“Cotton farming was a major foreign currency earner but it is dying now and government is letting us down,” he said.

Finance minister, Patrick Chinamasa in 2016 national budget, said inaction on the part of government would lead to “total collapse of cotton production”.

Government is currently working on plans to revive cotton firm, Cottco, once a major player in the sector, as it aims revive production.-The Source

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