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Manual on formation of Community Producer Associations launched
Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD)
July 27, 2009

The Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) has launched a translated version of the W.K Kellog Foundation's field Manual for Developing Commodity Associations to empower smallholder cotton growers. The manual, which was translated into Shona, is a practical guide for promoting effective organization amongst smallholder farmers. This development was announced at a meeting focusing on Trade Justice hosted but ZIMCODD for CSOs affiliated to MS-Action Aid Zimbabwe on Friday last week.

According to the Director of ZIMCODD, Dakarayi Matanga, the organization has been assisting cotton farmers to organize themselves into producer association under justice program entitled Rural livelihoods since 2005.ZIMCODD is convinced that effective organization of farmers is a mechanism for helping cotton farming communities to work towards improving their own livelihoods and defend their social and economic rights. They also aim to enhance the role of women and youths, who are also heavily involved in the cotton value chain.

Currently the negotiation process in buying and selling of cotton takes place between two extremely unequal partners. On one hand cotton merchants have a sophisticated organization network, being well endowed with resources (material, human and financial).they have superior access to information on the global cotton trade and maintain regular contacts with the international end users .on the other hand the growers are resources poor and fragmented and scattered, have scant knowledge on cotton trade and absolutely no contact with end -users .cotton merchants are therefore in a position to dictate terms of cotton trade to the growers.

Merchants who control local pricing of cotton provide small scale farmers with inputs through contract farming and do the value addition (ginning). The merchants separate the seed from the lint, and use the seed for oil production and stock feeds. The farmer are only paid for the lint. Globally, cotton lint is sold at ever decreasing prices to international buyers. Developed countries are still distorting global prices and trade by paying their farmers subsidies. The result is that many farmers who have been engaged in growing cotton for years have nothing to show for it. They invest years of hard work in this exercise but seem to become poorer by the end of each season.

Matanga lamented the fact that whenever the problems of cotton growing sector are discussed, there is always a focus on problems of the corporate sector, at the expense of the small scale growers who are contracted by them." Somehow, people have forgotten the interests of the small scale farmers, many of whom remain poor despite of their highly labour intensive involvement in growing the crop," he said.

The Short Term Emergency Recovery Programme (STERP) states that government will support local farmers to create commodity associations to foster "interaction, provide forum for research, technical and marketing support for farmers as well as facilitate the development of own extension services". Matanga said that ZIMCODD has also approached ministry of Agriculture to explain exactly hoe the Inclusive Government will support local farmers in this regard.

Research shows that there are an estimated 2000 000 small scale farmers with average size of 6-10 people who depend on cotton production for basic subsistence. Small scale farmers account for over 90% of the cotton output. The manual will also be translated into other vernacular languages and distributed in the booklet form when resources are made available in future.

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