By Moses Nyirenda

Salima, May 13, Mana: Minister of Agriculture, Sam Kawale, says his ministry is committed to supporting cotton farmers by, among other things, providing them with affordable inputs to improve cotton production in the country.

He made the remarks Monday at Mgoza Primary School Ground, Chinguluwe Extension Planning Area (EPA) in Salima during the opening of the 2023/2024 cotton marketing season.

Kawale said there in need for increased cotton production in the country to meet both local and international market demand.

“We need to produce large quantities to satisfy both domestic and export markets. On the domestic scene, over 50,000 metric tonnes is needed annually to meet local manufacturing and value addition demand.

“The demand on the export market, on the other hand, is in excess of 200,000 metric tonnes,” Kawale said.

He said government is working tirelessly to ensure that all cotton farmers have access to affordable and high quality seed at affordable prices to increase area and production in order to achieve some pillars in the Malawi 2063. 

He said cotton has the capacity to contribute to pillar number one and two of the MW2063 which talks about agricultural productivity and commercialization and industrialization respectively.

Cotton Council of Malawi Executive Director, Cosmas Luwanda, said the Council is keen to help farmers with proper cotton farming techniques for them to reap more benefits.

Luwanda said they are lobbying government to come up with structured cotton markets to attract more investors in the sector.

“Around 2011, we had 12 ginneries supporting farmers to produce cotton. Over time, because of informalities such as; side buying and selling most ginneries closed shop. Currently, we are remaining with only four.

“Therefore, we would like to combine structures to aggregate cotton in the system to attract more investors because they will know that they have a platform to recover their money and has zero risks,” Luwanda said.

Cotton Association of Malawi Chief Executive Officer, Synoden Mbalafana, commended government for its commitment to promoting cotton farming.

He hailed cotton adjustment farm gate price from K580 to K900 per kilogram. However, he appealed for more adjustments to encourage farmers to start producing more cotton.