By CHATULA KANGALI –

ZAMBIA has continued  to record  a cotton deficit of more than 100,000 tonnes annually because few farmers are engaged in  production.
Zambia Cotton Ginners Association (ZCGA) executive secretary Bourne Chooka said recently that the total annual cotton output was not enough for ginners.
Mr Chooka said in an interview that ginneries in the country had an installed capacity of 350,000 tonnes and that the country was producing between 100,000 and 200,000 tonnes annually.
“Farmers are not growing enough cotton to meet the demand of ginners in the country. We have over the years not been operating at full production capacity due to lack of materials,” he said.
Mr Chooka urged farmers in the country to diversify to cotton production as it was highly demanded by the ginners.
“We are ready to buy all the cotton produced and encouraging more farmers to diversify and start cotton growing in order to meet the demand of ginners,” he said.
Ginners were ready to provide cotton inputs to farmers willing to venture into cotton production.
Mr Chooka said the association had projected a production output of over 180,000 tonnes this year, compared to 120,000 tonnes produced last year.
“We are very hopeful that this year cotton production will increase as most parts of the country have started experiencing normal rainfall. Last year’s output was low because of the poor rainfall pattern,” he said.
Mr Chooka said over 370,000 hectares of land was this year planted throughout the country, but that the marketing season would delay because of the late start of the rainy season.
He said the ginners were expected to start buying cotton from farmers by June this year and the market for the commercial crop was readily available.