Harare (New Ziana)-The Cotton Company of Zimbabwe (Cottco) is planning to set-up oil expressing plants within cotton growing areas.
Cottco acting accounting officer Munyaradzi Chikasha said the oil processing plant project is expected to generate additional revenue, create employment and support the government’s devolution strategy.
“It will also provide cooking oil and stock feed to the surrounding communities at affordable prices,” he said.
Chikasha said Cottco had also identified a partner to construct a 1.2MW solar plant at its Muzarabani plant.
“This is part of our green energy thrust where we want to fully utilize the abundant solar energy that is within the Mzarabani area,” he said.
“We want to improve Cottco’s commercial viability and- at the moment we believe we are on track.”
Meanwhile, Chikasha said the cotton cropping season was promising as a total of 360 014 farmers with approximately 295 175 hectares had been contracted this year, compared to 201 821 hectares established at the same time in the 2021/22 season.
“The swift implementation of the Presidential Climate Proofed Pfumvudza/Intwasa Program continues to yield commendable results,” he said.
The government introduced a number of farmer support programmes such as the Presidential Input Scheme and Pfumvudza/Intwasa through which farmers are given seed, fertilisers and chemicals for free, to boost production.
The introduction of support and competitive prices have seen many farmers returning to grow cotton after having abandoned it in favour of other cash crops such as tobacco, whose marketing was orderly, and prices were profitable.
But despite the free inputs, the country recorded low seed cotton volumes last year which stood at 46 748Mt compared to 116 053Mt achieved same time during the 2020/21 season, owing to late effective rains, a dry spell and an early unprecedented cool weather before the crop reached its full growth.
New Ziana
