MINISTRY of Agriculture and Livestock Development permanent secretary David Shamulenge has warned ginners against buying cotton from farmers at a price that has not been agreed upon by all stakeholders.
Dr Shamulenge said farmers in Petauke resorted to burning cotton in protest against some ginners who sold the commodity at a price which has not yet been agreed. He said in an interview in Lusaka yesterday that ginners should not buy cotton from farmers until the whole process of price negotiation is concluded and a fair price is arrived at.
“The information I am getting from our officers in the field is that ginners are enticing farmers to sell cotton to them at a price which has not been agreed upon,” he said. Dr Shamulenge advised members of the Ginners Association of Zambia to respect the wish of the farmers, adding that enticing farmers to sell the crop at a lower price will jeopardise negotiations.
He said farmers and ginners should give Government time to come up with a beneficial price for cotton, which will motivate them to continue contributing to the growth of the sector. Dr Shamulenge said Government is committed to protecting and empowering cotton farmers in the country.
“Government is working on measures to come up with a better price for cotton. The contribution of farmers to the agricultural sector should be appreciated,” he said. Dr Shamulenge said the misunderstandings between ginners and farmers will be resolved before the end of this week.
He said President Sata is concerned about the price of cotton in the country, which is why he has decided to reopen Mulungushi Textiles in Kabwe to create a ready market for cotton farmers. And Eastern Province minister Charles Banda said the burning of 11.3 tonnes of Cargill cotton in Petauke over the weekend was an act of desperation by some farmers.
Mr Banda said cotton farmers should not take the law into their hands but should be patient as Government is working out a mechanism to address the price of cotton. On Saturday, about 200 farmers torched Cargill cotton at Ukwimi Police Post where the bales of the commodity believed to have been bought at K1,600 per kilogramme were dumped.
This came a day after President Sata assured farmers that the impasse over the price of cotton would be resolved. Meanwhile, ZANIS reports that the Zambia Ginners Association (ZCGA) has condemned farmers who burnt cotton in Petauke over the weekend.
ZCGA executive secretary Bourne Chooka urged farmers not to resort to acts of arson, as doing so will not help to solve any problem. Mr Chooka urged all stakeholders to heed President Sata’s advice and has called for dialogue among concerned parties.
Mr Chooka said the ginners will incur huge losses, especially that they advanced more than K90 billion in loans to cotton growers. “Ginners have argued that the price of K1,600 per kilogramme is realistic on the prevailing market and competes favourably in the region, including Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania,” he said.
Cotton growers in Zambia have been demanding K3,000 per kilogramme for cotton supplied to ginners, the same price as last year
ZANIS
If cotton prices are so unstable then peasant farmers should stop growing altogether!
So this Ginners is the only buyer for the cotton?? No-wander the exploitation
The issues is that farmers need money in their pockets to solve household problems. This is not just about stopping the ginners to buy at low prices. It is about the lives of our farmers. They need money to buy food.
This GINNER SHOULD STOP EXPLOITATION OR FACE CLOSURE
child Labour in Zambian please lets stop this
They are part of the family members and out of that labour they get money for their school fees. I used to do that when I was a young in the Gwembe valley.. My parents in return used to give me transport money as school fees where none during the kk rule until late in the 1980s
Let us have a short term and long term program to solve this problem.The short term should be hegding on the buying and incouraging value addition should be a long term measure.The out grower fund should be given to cotton farmers association so that the farmers will maximise negotiations.let there be baby genniries…..ok call later.
actually gov is causing the problem.they should leave the industry to work things out on their own. eventually an equilibrium will be reached where the production will not our strip demand
He (David Shamulenge ) seems not to understand his job. This is marketing season. WHY talk nonsense pricing.. pricing.. He should have tabled the price lists, sacks and lorries to haul the cotton, maize and groundnuts in advance. By April he should have a list of prices and companies to ferry the commodity to marketing areas.. Storage places also inspected. Poor statement and lack of skills in agriculture management angers farmers.. We hear maize going to waste when rain falls as early as October. These are the people who just talk rubbish in office. FARMERS must be paid by end of May,June ..
Diversification is the key
This is child labour and someone needs to act, much as am not happy with the way farmers are being treated but let us look at after the kids.
The government of today have only managed destorting every thing as no any implementation to be seen so far. wake up shamulenge and perform your duties rather than cooling down farmers for nothing.Negotiations should not by words but make sure everything in protocol mind you, busy pumping money in your pockets keeping us behind suffering we need to see everything fine for else PF wont withstand election for 2016.