Malawi Farmers Association seeks higher prices from cotton ginners

According to a report by Malawi’s “The Nation” on May 5, the Farmers Association of Malawi (FUM) recently stated that the association is currently negotiating with cotton ginners and strives to obtain updates when the market opens later this month. High selling price. Jacob Nilongu, head of FUM’s Agricultural Economics and Markets Department, said that the association uses gross profit analysis to calculate farmers’ actual input per hectare and has recently convened all cotton ginners to discuss together to strive for a higher selling price. Last year, the sales price of Malawi cotton was considerable, reaching 52 cents/pound, which is about 250 kwacha. However, Nilongu said that considering the recent fluctuation of the local currency kwacha and high production costs, FUM hopes that cotton ginners can increase their bids. In the 2011/12 season, Malawi’s cotton output dropped to 45,000 tons from 100,000 tons in the 2012/13 season, and was basically the same at 46,000 tons in the 2013/14 season. The main reason for the decline in yield is that the yield per unit area dropped to 600 kg/ha, and farmers sprayed chemical pesticides late. FUM is mainly responsible for capacity building in providing post-service services to cotton farmers, and helping farmers communicate with cotton purchasers and service providers. However, an expert named Duncan Warren said that the current global cotton prices need to be improved, and as of last week prices were still very low. Cotton was originally Malawi’s fourth largest cash crop after tobacco, sugar cane, and tea, with an annual output value of approximately 50 Kwacha, or approximately US$10 million.