By Patricia Kapulula:
The Department of Crop Development in the Ministry of Agriculture has decried continued lack of access to inputs such as seed among cotton farmers.
This, they say, is propelling exodus of farmers from growing the crop.
Department of Crop Development Deputy Director, Martin John Gausi, made the remarks in Salima during a field day on cotton seed multiplication.
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He expressed concern that the land put to cotton production is going down as there are less farmers in the field, hence the need for partnership to enhance accessibility of inputs, at affordable prices, for the growers.
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“In the cotton sector, one of the challenges is availability of seed. Mostly, farmers access hybrid seed, which is imported from India and is expensive. So, the field day showcased alternative seed varieties such as OPV which farmers can also buy and grow,” Gausi said.
He added that amidst the uncertainty surrounding the future of tobacco due to the global anti-smoking campaign, cotton emerges promising to meet both local demand and contribute significantly to export earnings.
Regional Head of Programmes for Solidaridad Southern Africa, Humprey Nxumalo, concurred with Gausi, saying issues of access to seed are very crucial in as far cotton is concerned.
He said in order to increase production, his organisation has partnered Cotton Council of Malawi (CCM), Masapa company and Kvuno to establish seed that can be available to farmers at an affordable price.
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Regional Operations Lead for Kvuno, Lydia Banda, described partnerships as important to enhance seed availability among smallholder farmers.
“Kvuno supports seed multiplication to ensure that farmers are accessing it at affordable prices as well providing alternative solutions to purchasing the seed,” Banda said.
The field day, which was held under the theme ‘Fair and Sustainable Cultivation of Cotton for All’, was done to celebrate OPV cotton varieties and demonstrate recommended agronomic practices.
Recently CCM indicated that it expects cotton production this year to be similar to that of last year, hovering around 10,000 metric tonnes (mt).
In an earlier interview, President of Cotton Farmers Association of Malawi (Cofa) Lapson Zidana said farmers failed to produce more cotton due to high cost and delayed supply of seed on the market.
“There are two main factors that affected production this year; first is delayed supply of seed on the market. Most farmers were able to access seed only in January, which is late, and second is the fact that the seed is expensive at K58, 000 per kilogramme (kg) which is expensive for most farmers.
“Regarding market opening, we expect prices to reflect recent economic trends such as the 44 percent devaluation and reflective of our gross margins. So we expect a price higher than the K600 per kg which we closed with last year,” Zidana said.
Last year, farmers realised K5, 873,555,400.00 after selling 10,000mt of cotton.
