Total production for the 2015-/2016 cotton season in Zimbabwe is estimated at between 70, 000 and 80,000 tons.

Merchants have already started buying cotton at the common collection points with prices averaging 36 cents per kilogram, a price which may change if farmers are allowed to have their way at the bargaining table. The 2016 cotton marketing season is currently in progress.

The price continues to be negotiated between farmers and ginners and farmers are being paid according to the grade of their cotton seed, hence the price adjustments will be paid after grading.

Cotton production has declined over the past years due to viability challenges. Contractors complained of side marketing while farmers said buyers were offering low prices.

The government had to intervene last year by assisting cotton growers with inputs under the Presidential Inputs Scheme.

Farmers are complaining over the cotton producer prices, which they say are not viable. Farmers say some of the contractors do not give adequate inputs. In other words farmers have lost trust in ginners’ paying adjustments.

But farmers hope buyers will be fair and pay firm prices that will enable the farmers to go back to the land. Buyers say they will give an adjustment at the end after the crop has been graded.