Cotton Council of Malawi moves to protect farmers, sustain production

Lilongwe, June 8, Mana: Cotton Council of Malawi (CCM) has introduced a digital platform called Cotton Information Management System (COTMIS) to support production and marketing of the crop, a move the Council says will protect farmers from potential losses, and sustain production.

CCM Executive Director, Cosmas Lwanda, disclosed this on Saturday at a press briefing held at the Council’s offices in Lilongwe, where the Council announced the official opening of the 2024/2025 cotton marketing season, which is to run up to September 9, 2025.

Lwanda said the changes brought by the newly introduced system include the use of digital registration and seed distribution; use of bank accounts and mobile platforms by farmers for receiving proceeds from cotton sales; pooling of resources for payment of farmers using COTMIS by all off-takers; and use of ADMARC, and other identified structures for permanent market.

“It is worth noting that stakeholders in the sector unanimously invested K2.85bn in production investments to support the Zero Deposit Input Distribution Program (ZEDIDI),” said Lwanda.

He added: “These changes portray a new beginning and emphasis on the security of investments for sustainably increased production of cotton which will attract increased value addition.”

The CCM Executive Director described the 2024/2025 cotton growing season as successful in terms of production, saying over 27,000 hectares were planted to cotton, with 29,000 farmers registered.

He further said over 200 Metric Tons of cotton seed was distributed to farmers in the growing year, and that the country is expecting production of over 20,000 Metric Tons, more than double last year’s production of 8,000 Metric Tons.

The 2024/2025 season has also seen new buyers, including Illovo Sugar Nchalo Limited, joining the industry and, according to Lwanda, there are five certified cotton buyers, including Afrisian Limited of Lunzu, Blantyre; ADMARC Limited of Limbe, Blantyre; Malawi Cotton Company of Mponda, Balaka; and Masapa Cotton Ginners of Kasungu.

The government of Malawi has, since, commended the steps that the CCM has taken to promote the cotton industry, saying the country is now moving towards sustainable production of cotton in high volumes for increased value addition.

Deputy Director of Crop Development Responsible for Field Crops, Osborne Tsoka, said the new system that the industry has adopted will help improve regulation and development of the sector by, among other areas, preventing side buying of the crop.

According to Tsoka, the minimum farm gate price for cotton for the 2024/2025 market season is K1,400 per kilogram, with a possibility to go higher, given the competitive market the industry has attracted this season.

The demand for cotton in Malawi is 300,000 Metric Tons on the domestic scene for local manufacturing and value addition, while the demand for the export Market is more than 200,000 Metric Tons, according to the CCM.