The Zimbabwe Government has decided to intervene in the ongoing row between cotton farmers and merchants over pricing of cotton, Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara said in the House of Assembly.Elaborating further, Mr. Mutambara said after discussing the issue and pondering on ways to find a solution for the same, the Cabinet has directed the Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development Dr. Joseph Made to hold meetings with various cotton industry stakeholders and amicably resolve the issue.
He said the Government has prioritized and is actively working for setting up of a commodity exchange for agricultural products, so as to fetch a long-term solution to the pricing issue.
The exchange would trade several agricultural products including cotton. Such exchanges extend a market driven platform for trading listed commodities that allow the farmers to reap maximum price for their products, Mr. Mutambara said.
He said they also intend to see the cotton scaling up the ladder of the value added agro-processing chain, so that they can establish a cotton cluster probably in Kadoma, where processing of cotton and textiles takes place. He added that it would be essential to develop support industries and infrastructure for the cluster.
In order for the farmers to reap better value for their commodities, it is important that the country emphasises on processing cotton domestically to add value, he said.
Fibre2fashion News Desk - India
