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Cotton is the only cash income for peasants in Maringu. A farmer who grew the average of 300kg per hectare earned about R450 last year. With this, families need to buy whatever they do not grow or make themselves.
As the cotton is being harvested, expectation hangs in the air. Families picking the crop expect the same price as last year. But they are in for a disappointment: world prices have fallen by 23%.
Cotton production is a success story in post-war Mozambique. Twelve companies contract peasants to grow the crop. Each year the area planted increases. In 1997, production topped 74 000 tons. Of this, 90% was exported, earning some R150-million. It is still less than half the output in 1973, but a long way from the paltry 5 000 tons produced in 1985.
The government assigns concessions over areas to buyers, but retains the right to fix prices. Companies loan seeds and pesticides; their extension officers advise farmers.
Some 230 000 peasant families grow 70% of Mozambique’s cotton. They grow most of it in Nampula and Sofala provinces, traditionally Renamo’s power base.
The last thing the government wants before the municipal elections scheduled for late June is a price so low it will fuel discontent. Buyers want to pay 2 500 meticais (MT) per kilogram for grade A and MT2 000 per kilogram for grade B cotton. Last week the government fixed the price at MT2 950 and MT2 600. In 1997, the price was MT3 300 and MT3 100.
Translated into hard cash, this means the farmer who produced 300kg perhectare and earned R450 last year will earn R325 this year with the companies’ prices, or R380 with the government’s – a big loss when this is your only cash income.
Last week merchants flatly rejected the government price and said they would not pay more than MT2 500. “The government is fixing a political price that it cannot guarantee nor subsidise,” they said. “The government price is unsustainable for the companies.”
The potential for conflict is real. The government may threaten to revoke concessions. Companies may threaten not to buy. As the African proverb says: when two elephants fight, the grass gets trampled. Peasants would suffer most.
It would be better to increase productivity. At an average of 300kg per hectare, yields are low in Maringu. In Nampula, peasants working with Lomaco company’s cheaper and improved pesticides have yields of 800kg per hectare and lower production costs. Along the Zambezi, in Caia, with its long tradition of cotton production, yields can be as high as 1 200kg per hectare.
In Maringu, low productivity stems from a combination of poor soils and the sequel of war: loss of knowledge, work habits and tradition, lags in technological advance and fear of innovation.
At a meeting in Maputo on Tuesday, the government showed some understanding of the buyers’ problems. While government and companies iron out their differences, peasants and traders in Maringu anxiously await the meticais from Mozambique’s white gold.