Cotton production in Zambia, a land-locked country in South Africa, has reduced in 2013-2014 farming season to 95,000 tonnes from 102,000 tonnes in the 2012-2013 season, Zambia Daily Mail reported.
During 2013-2014 farming season, the average yields were registered at less than 300 kilograms per hectare, Zambia Cotton Ginners Association (ZCGA) executive secretary Bourne Chooka said while signing a code of conduct with eight ginning firms to improve the cotton production in Zambia.
At the recently held signing ceremony of the code of conduct for members of ZCGA in Lusaka, Chooka said the low production may be due to low national productivity levels, high cost of production for inputs and ginning costs, and competition among ginners as all end up chasing a small crop.
He said production of cotton in the country has been on the decline since the 2011-2012 season when the country experienced the highest production of about 275,000 tonnes due to the increased lint prices on the global market and high producer prices paid to farmers in the previous season.
Other causes would be few numbers of farmers growing cotton as there is competition from other crops, low input financing levels by some ginners, and high prevalence and side trading by ginners and farmers.
Chooka also said the code of conduct will be used to address challenges faced by the cotton sector, self-regulate the production, ginning and marketing of seed cotton in Zambia.
The secretary of the Cotton Board of Zambia, Dafulin Kaonga, said the code of conduct will ensure that farmers adhere to international standards in cotton farming.
