10000 farmers abandon cotton amid covid-19
The Cotton Farmers Association of Malawi says about 10 000 farmers have abandoned cotton production this season due to lack of loans and last season’s poor markets triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Last season, farmers struggled to access markets because Covid-19 lockdown measures imposed internationally blocked markets, resulting in textile industries scaling down or halting production.
About 98 percent of the country’s cotton is exported to international markets and with the Covid-19 pandemic, cotton ginners were forced to pull out of the market.
In an interview on Tuesday, Cotton Farmers Association president Dickson Gundani described the development as bad for the country at a time the cotton industry was supposed to progress.
He said: “Cotton production is expensive and it involves a lot; hence, farmers needed support to be able to procure seed and chemicals.
“As indicated, a good number of our colleagues have abandoned production this season because they cannot afford. Only a few ginners have come forward to issue laons to farmers at 20 percent upfront payment.”
Gundani said, so far, four ginners have come forward this season,which include Afrisian Limited, Malawi Cotton Company, Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (Admarc) and new entrant Mapeto (DWSM) Limited.
He said if Covid-19 persists throughout the year, farmers will face the same market access challenges just like last season, a development which will further worsen their dependence on the crop.
African Institute for Corporate Citizenship (Aicc) cotton manager Isaac Tembo, in an interview, said so far their analysis has similar outcomes because out of last year’s 30 000 farmers, only 20 000 are growing the gap.
He cited Covid-19 and a shift in the Cotton Council of Malawi approach to channel seed and chemicals capital to be managed by ginners, a move away from last year when the council managed the loans itself.
So far, Tembo said farmers owe the Cotton Council of Malawi about K400 million in unpaid loans from last year.
Agriculture development policy expert Tamani Nkhono-Mvula said what is happening in the cotton value chain due to Covid-19 should be a lesson that not everything will be alright moving forward, adding that Malawi can get clothing, cooking oil, soap, margarine, animal feed, among others from cotton.
He noted that most of the cotton is produced for overseas markets such as China, but now with Covid-19, Malawi should not only invest in production, but processing too.
Said Nkhono-Mvula: “We need to swiftly revamp the cotton manufacturing and processing industries such as the sleeping giant Mapeto [DWSM], to manufacture cotton associated products.”
He said currently, Malawi is paying dearly for exporting raw cotton and importing clothing and associated products from cotton when it could have been reaping economic benefits.
The Aicc cotton market analysis shows that the sector is coming from a record low production of the 2018/19 which was around 10 000 metric tonnes, but the government’s Special Campaign for Cotton Production Enhancement (Scope) in 2019/20 season saw Treasury injecting K1 billion for Ccotton production.
