Cotton industry revamp scheme faces hurdles
Fears have emerged that the objective of raising cotton output to 50 000 metric tonnes (MT) this season could fail after 45 percent of seed distributed under the zero deposit loan scheme has failed to germinate.
Cotton Council of Malawi, the cotton sector regulatory body, initiated the scheme to boost output from 10 000MT to 50 000MT by increasing the number of farmers and hectares.

However, it has emerged that the seed, multiplied by Masapa Cotton Ginners, achieved 45 percent germination rate, according to Cotton Farmers Association of Malawi president Labson Zidana.
He said: “We experienced a challenge as the seed that we distributed to farmers has not germinated well with the germination rate ranging between 40 and 45 percent.
“This is a challenge because out of over 20 000 farmers that registered to grow cotton this season, we are sure some were frustrated with the germination setback and gave up.”
Zidana said through the scheme, Masapa distributed 300MT of seed, which was supplied to farmers in Chikwawa, Nsanje, Balaka, Mwanza, Mangochi, Salima and Karonga districts.
Cotton Council of Malawi spokesperson Prisca Jamali, in an interview on Monday, confirmed the situation, but said interventions were made to cushion the gap as 250MT seed was sourced from Zimbabwe and other local companies.
She said: “Currently, the affected farmers are replanting because we supplied 50MT seed from Zimbabwe.
“In addition, Admarc [Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation] is supplying seed while some farmers are also accessing loans from the National Empowerment Fund to purchase hybrid seed.”
On how the situation will impact the production objective, Jamali, while admitting the volumes could be lower than the projected 50 000, said it is too early to conclude as the rainfall distribution will determine the outlook.
“Some of these recently distributed seeds are hybrid, which guarantees high yields, as such we hope if the season goes on well production would still be relatively good,” she said.
Jamali said the seed was certified by Ministry of Agriculture Seed Services Unit, but attributed the germination challenges to poor rains and quality of some batches from the supplier.
In a separate interview agricultural policy development expert Tamani Nkhono Mvula commended the council for the timely intervention, adding that marketing challenges are also a critical area that needs to be addressed apart from seed access.
He said: “On replanting now, I may not say how this could impact on production but the good time to plant cotton is in December but the challenge that we have this season is with rainfall distribution.
“However, I must say that while the council intervention is a good idea that it could have done to address the access of certified seed, at the end of the day we should also address the marketing challenges.”
Masapa Cotton Ginners director Oswald Lutepo was not immediately available for comment, but he earlier confirmed multiplying 300MT of certified seed that was ready for distribution this season.
Cotton is one of the country’s four traditional exports alongside tobacco, tea and sugar and while its potential is high, its production has been dropping over the year and stagnated at 10 000MT in the past two years.
In 2010, cotton hit a record output of 400 000MT due to a loan input scheme, but over the years output has been on the decline.