Talk:Gokwe North District
Impact of Contract farming (CF) on smallholder farmers livelihood. A case of cotton production in Nembudziya Gokwe North
[edit]Cotton farmers continue to struggle to improve their livelihoods despite a noticeable increase in the production of the cash crop, Cotton. Contract farming was adopted in Nembudziya Gokwe North District communal lands as a way to increase smallholder farmers income and improve their wellbeing. CF has greatly increased cotton production, but farmers incomes have remained low and this community's residents are living in poverty despite this. Although the area's cotton production has increased significantly, this is mostly due to the availability of inputs from these businesses. However, these businesses also set the pricing for the cotton crop after harvest, placing the farmers in a precarious financial position.
The cotton businesses have a monopoly on cotton inputs and to give them for credit at inflated prices, despite the fact that the smallholder farmers in the Nembudziya communal area have an option to decide to acquire cotton cultivation supplies on a credit basis. This is the reason why complaints from farmers about the services provided by the cotton buying corporations have tarnished cotton production in Nembudziya Gokwe communal lands throughout many years since the beginning of the new epoch.
The complaints cover a wide range of issues, including the cost of cotton seeds, the rise in input prices, and the grading of the cotton crop at the market as well as the allegedly callous actions taken by contracting companies in the event that farmers fail to repay their loans and the fact that farmers are not involved in setting the price of cotton crop after harvest. As a result of the aforementioned issues, misunderstanding between cotton producers and contracting firms have developed. Due to cotton firms' greater unionization, smallholder farmers cannot compete with large corporations in the negotiation processes, and their production systems are not unionized either. Conflicts of interest between farmers and contracting firms have also led to other issues, such as side marketing.
In terms of the social sphere, the introduction of cotton growing in this area has accelerated societal deterioration. Young people have been drawn in by the seasonal cash stream of cotton growing, as a result there has been a noticeable rise in school dropouts. Children who are old enough to start school are abandoning their studies in favour of cotton growing and this has also contributed to an increase in early marriages.
Looking at grain production, traditional crops like maize, sorghum, millet and groundnuts have been planted on a far smaller scale than cotton, which is the cash crop. Food insecurity in the neighborhood has increased as a result of this. Over the years, local farmers have chosen to cultivate cotton in the aim of making a profit in the expectation that they could purchase food crops from the revenues of selling cotton. However, doing so has not been realistic, as farmers now find themselves in a difficult situation after selling their cotton because they have little left over after paying the cotton firms'back payments.
The root of these issues, particularly on the part of farmers, also comes from a lack of civic education at the most fundamental level as well as from misinterpretation and ignorance of the clauses in the contracts they sign with the cotton corporations. The majority of cotton growers sign agreements without fully comprehending their conditions. There are situations where cotton businesses offer inputs to some farmers on credit and someone (area representative or headman) signs the contract documents on their behalf.
.....the document is still under construction.