Zimbabwe: Most Cotton Farmers Switch to Tobacco

Source from:  The Herald  10/08/2012

Most cotton growers in Mashonaland Central province have switched to tobacco production because of the low prices offered for the crop on the market this season. The farmers have started constructing curing barns and others have already established seedbeds. At the same time the farmers are afraid of losing their property to cotton companies after failing to settle their debts. Most farmers told The Herald that they could not pay back loans to companies that contracted them and have since been given an October 30 deadline to settle their debts before the companies come in to attach their proprty. The companies usually confiscate property such as ploughs, ox carts and inputs to force farmers to pay the outstanding payments. The farmers said last season companies offered very low prices ranging from US30 cents to US35 cents per kilogramme despite the Government directive for them to buy the crop at US 77cents per kilogramme. Mrs Dananayi Sabau of Nyamaropa Village in Madziva said some of the companies came to buy the crop very late and farmers were in desperate need of cash and ended up selling to other buyers. "They have indicated that they will come for recovery but we do not know what will be taken but most of the times they take fertilisers, seed, ploughs and other assets. "If we had money we would grow cotton but this season we want to try tobacco, which is better paying," she said. Another farmer, Mrs Ireen Harumbwi, said she owed her contractor US$56 and was only given a bag of fertiliser. "They want to buy the whole crop when they gave me only a bag of fertiliser. "I cannot grow tobacco because I am an apostolic member but I wish there were other alternatives," she said. In other areas farmers are complaining of harassment from the recovery teams which they accused of using force to confiscate their property. A local cotton company, however, refuted the claims by farmers. The company said it encourages farmers to pay back loans. It also said growers, who side market their crop, are handed over to lawyers and debt collectors who deal with them according to the laws of the country. Enditem