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Chipata, Friday (October 6, 2023)

Senior Chief Nzamane of the Ngoni people of Chipata City in Eastern Province says it is sad that ginners are indirectly stealing from vulnerable cotton farmers.

The Traditional Leader has since urged Members of Parliament to support the Amendment of the Cotton Act of 2005 which does not protect cotton farmers.

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This came to light when a team from Cotton Association of Zambia (CAZ) and Cotton Board of Zambia (CBZ) paid a courtesy call on him in Chipata ahead of the World Cotton Day event to be held in Chipata City under the theme “Making cotton fair and sustainable for all, from farm to fashion”.

“I am very happy to receive you here. On Saturday, we are hosting the World Cotton Day to showcase why we need to continue growing cotton. Naturally, when doing things, there must be things that must be done first. All along, we lacked an Act of Parliament which protected Cotton Growers and the Cotton Association of Zambia. Therefore, the Cotton Act that will be presented to Parliament soon is welcome because there were a lot of lapses in the way cotton farming was done,” he said.

Chief Nzamane said it is saddening to note that farmers never know the price of cotton in advance as it is done on maize.

“We were growing cotton blindly without knowing the price. At the end of planting cotton, we are told different prices but when harvesting, we are given shoddy prices. That affects the farmer who is at risk of not getting anything out of it,” he said.

Senior Chief Nzamane said in recent years, farmers have lost interest in growing cotton because of not getting anything out of it.

“This coming season, most of the farmers will go into maize production because of the good maize floor price by Government,” he said.

The Traditional Leader said he was personally frustrated when he planted cotton on assurances of selling it for K20 per kilogramme but was sold at K6 per kilogramme.

“You can imagine that I grew cotton myself. At the time I was planting the seed in the soil, I was promised that cotton would be sold at K20 per kilogramme but I was surprised that they were buying at K6 per kilogramme. It’s like the people that contract us to grow cotton are stealing from us which is not right,” he said.

Chief Nzamane is hopeful that the Cotton Act that will be presented to Parliament for amendment will now protect the farmer and the Cotton Association of Zambia (CAZ).

“I urge Members of Parliament to support the Amendment of the Cotton Act of 2005,” he said.

Cabinet has approved in principle to introduce a Bill in Parliament to amend the Cotton Act of 2005 in order to enhance the regulation of the cotton industry in Zambia.

The Bill also seeks to introduce sufficient provisions for the regulation of the entire cotton value chain in line with international best practices.