A government programme is supporting the regrowth of Zimbabwean cotton production in which over half a million households are involved.Cotton has traditionally been grown in Zimbabwe by small-scale farmers. At its peak, the country grew an average of 250 000 tons of seed cotton per season.The 2021 harvest of 116 052 tons was 40% up from the 82 479 tons produced in 2020.This will have had a knock-on effect for logistics companies transporting fertiliser, seed and other inputs, as well as moving cotton from the farms to the gins and then to a port for export or to a Zimbabwean textile plant.“To ensure cotton farming remains viable, the Zimbabwean government last year committed to pay an additional 22 Zimbabwe dollars (20 US cents) per kg delivered by farmers as subsidy payment,” said Jacqueline Dube, Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (Cottco) acting company secretary.Cottco is the country’s largest cotton-producing company.Dube was speaking at a January trading update for the third quarter ending December 2021."Zimbabwean hand-picked cotton is in high demand and the company's order book exceeds production volumes," she said.International lint prices surged to a 10-year high in 2021, peaking at 119.2 US cents an ounce in November, compared to average prices of 56 US cents in 2020.The government’s Pfumvudza agricultural cotton scheme targets around 520 000 households across the country, each with an average of a quarter of a hectare of cotton.Pfumvudza was first rolled out for the production of maize and other small grains.
