for last year’s produce,” said a farmer who spoke on conditions of anonymity.

In the wake of Cottco’s failure to pay farmers on time, government recently said it was taking over the majority shareholding in the cotton producing company.

“Cabinet noted with concern the continued failure to pay farmers for cotton delivered to Cottco and has decided to institute measures to increase its shareholding in Cottco to at least 51% in tandem with its contribution in the company and apparent support to farmers and the need to spur rural industrialisation,” Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa told a post Cabinet briefing in May.

“To this effect, the government will be paying farmers directly,” the government spokesperson said.

Farmers said events obtaining in the cotton industry heralded the death of the sector, which in the past was one of the biggest foreign currency earners in the country.

Cottco came into being at the height of trade liberalisation in 1994 to replace the Cotton Marketing Board, which was then the sole cotton merchant in the country.

During that time Cargill joined the bandwagon, bringing some competition to the industry and making growing cotton more feasible.

“Cottco and Cargill assisted in boosting productivity by making cotton a viable crop to grow. This was done through support on the ground in terms of training and inputs supply,” said Cleopas Dambakurima from Chishava village in Chiwenga village.

However, the introduction of more players in the cotton industry coupled with the demise of Cargill, brought misery to the farmers.

Cottco has been in the woods for some time, while Cargill closed down citing viability challenges.

A gloomy picture was painted about the future of the industry, as seen by the significant reduction in cotton production.

Cotton is a major cash crop around the world and Zimbabwe is one of the African countries that were earning millions from its cultivation.

However, cotton farming has been on the decline in Zimbabwe.

The country’s cotton production reached its lowest in the 2015/16 agricultural season when 28 000 tonnes were produced.

In the 2017/18 season, production rose to 143 000 tonnes, but declined again to 80 000 tonnes last year.

Since then, cotton production has been on a free-fall as seen by the number of farmers switching to other cash crops.

“Government should quickly address this issue about cotton.

“This crop was lucrative in its heyday. It had the potential to improve livelihoods and develop communities,” said Kairezi ward councillor Alderman Amon Mavedzenge.

“People are still passionate about growing the crop. They still want to grow it, but they are being discouraged by companies that are failing to honour their obligations.

“It’s not good for a big cotton producing company to lie to its producers. They lose their trust and eventually cotton companies will die. We need a change in the operations of cotton companies.”

Cottco has been using various payment methods for delivered cotton, with some farmers having received either full or part payment in the form of groceries and farming implements, something which many farmers were against.

Muzarabani joined Gokwe North and South as well as Sanyati districts among the top cotton growing areas in the country and enjoyed and recorded phenomenal infrastructural development just after independence.

However, their joy was short-lived following the opening of doors to more players, including Chinese merchants, who brought their own ways of doing business.

Cotton Producers Association of Zimbabwe president Stewart Mubonderi has always insisted that Cottco needed to clear outstanding payments to farmers if the cotton industry was to remain viable.

Zimbabwe has the capacity to produce over 350 000 tonnes of cotton.

However, in the past five years, yields have fallen to as low as 28 000 tonnes.