Stakeholders have said there is need for the Cotton Council of Malawi to consider serious changes in the cotton value chain stressing seed distribution could not guarantee production boom.
The observation comes at a time the council is optimistic of the imminent production increase attributable to its zero-deposit loan scheme which is distributing certified seeds to farmers on credit.
According to the council, scarcity of cotton seed has been affecting production in the past years but with the guaranteed supply production is set to jump 400 percent from 10 000 metric tonnes (MT) in 2023/24 to 50 000MT.
However, an agricultural policy expert Tamani Nkhono-Mvula though commending the seed supply initiative highlighted a number of interventions that should be jointly reviewed to significantly revamp the sector.
Nkhono-Mvula said: “When you are talking about the production slump in cotton, there have been a number of reasons, issues of pricing challenges to do with weather, these have contributed a lot to cotton production.
“I think if we are going to improve in the volumes, then in addition to what we are doing in providing the seed, we should also look at the ways to address the other issues that have led to the decline.”
Thus Nkhono-Mvula highlighted the need to strengthen extension services and weather-related production challenges that, for instance, require promotion of irrigation and a complete overhaul of the whole value chain.
In a separate interview Cotton Farmers Association of Malawi president Labson Zidana while agreeing with Mvula, has commended the council for its seed solution this forthcoming season.
Zidana confirmed that farmers have started receiving the seeds this week, a process which is being conducted concurrently with this year’s cotton growers’ registration exercise.
He said: “So far so good. I can confirm that distribution of the zero-deposit scheme has started and about 4.5MT of certified seed has been supplied to farmers starting with Mangochi and Balaka.
“It is our hope that other farm inputs like chemicals will also be smoothly distributed to significantly boost cotton production which at its best surpassed 100 000MT.”
In a separate interview, Cotton Council of Malawi spokesperson Prisca Jamali said the scheme targets 125 000 growers while so far 20 000 farmers have been registered as the exercise continues up to December.
Jamali says the local firm Masapa Cotton Ginners has produced 300MT of seed which is enough to supply the required number of farmers.
“This year, 300MT of certified seed has been produced in the country and will be distributed to farmers on credit and the money will be recovered during the selling season,” she said.
Jamali said the cotton sector revamp will involve many aspects like chemicals and marketing framework, stressing that the seed is the starting point.
Earlier, Masapa director Oswald Lutepo said they started delivering the seed to cotton council a fortnight ago in small tranches of 10MT and 20MT as they are still finalising the anti-counterfeit process to make it secure.
According to Lutepo, the seed will be sold at K10 000 per kilogram (kg) which is affordable compared to hybrid seeds pegged at K62 000 per kg.
During last season, Malawi produced 10 000MT of Cotton, which was priced at K900 per kg before the price jumped to K1 110 per kg towards the end of the season.
