Hello

Your subscription is almost coming to an end. Don’t miss out on the great content on Nation.Africa

Ready to continue your informative journey with us?

Hello

Your premium access has ended, but the best of Nation.Africa is still within reach. Renew now to unlock exclusive stories and in-depth features.

Reclaim your full access. Click below to renew.

Museveni should save Kasese cotton growers

Writer: Asuman Bisiika. PHOTO/FILE

What you need to know:

  • Without any money from secondary buyers, primary buyers (farm gate purchases) are stuck

This is the sad story of cotton growers in Kasese. The co-operative movement, which anchored the cotton industry, collapsed; and with it, Nyakatonzi Co-operative Union. The union, which once stood at the centre of Kasese's economy is now a shell of its old self. Granted, there was a policy shift from the cooperative movement to a privateer (and profiteer) economy.

But this cotton season both the private cotton buyers and the quasi-public Nyakatonz Cooperative Union are not buying our cotton. There are four ginneries (cotton buyers) that buy Kasese cotton: one in Rubirizi and three in Kasese Municipality. Only two ginners (both in Kasese) are buying cotton this season.

These are Nyakatonzi Cooperative Union and another popularly known as Hamdan. Nyakatonzi Cooperative Union is said to have issues with finance and last paid for cotton on January 13. With Nyakatonzi lacking crop finance, Hamdan has been left to enjoy a near-monopoly. This has afforded Hamdan the opportunity to reduce their price from Shs2,200 to Shs2,100.

Even then, Hamdan (as a secondary buyer) is not giving any money to primary cotton buyers. Without any money from secondary buyers, primary buyers (farm gate purchases) are also stuck. And so, the primary buyers take farmers' cotton on credit. They also supply the ginners on credit. Sometimes, the primary buyer may be paid by the ginner (say, after say seven days).

But remember the primary buyer purchased the cotton on credit. In a strictly business sense, if the primary buyer pays the cotton farmer, he will have no finance to continue buying.
And after the delayed payment, the cotton farmer may not trust the primary buyer with his or her cotton yield on credit.

Anecdote: A human person known to me (involved in the cotton value chain) wanted to sell his cotton. As is now commonplace, he asked whether this particular secondary buyer had cash. This particular secondary buyer informed my man thus: you are better off keeping your cotton because we don't know when to pay for the cotton we already have in our stores.
***************
My unsecured information is that secondary cotton buyers (ginners) source funding from Micro Credit Centre. And for this or that reason, Micro Credit Centre has not funded crop finance (adequately).
And boy, oh boy, this has destabilised the entire Kasese economy. That is why I am calling on Mr Museveni to intervene. Otherwise, our children will not go to school next term.

That though, Mr President, is not the main story. The main story is that almost all cotton farmers rent land in what are popularly known as blocks.
These blocks are huge chunks of land owned by individuals (most of whom involved in the cotton value chain as primary or secondary cotton buyers). If one farmer rented an acre in this block, he or she is compelled to cultivate cotton during the (August-December season) and maize during the March-June season).

At harvest, the block owner transforms into a primary buyer. And none of the cotton on his or her block should be sold elsewhere. So, for most cotton farmers in Kasese, there is even no primary buyer (in the strict sense of the term); there is a compulsive purchaser (the block owner). Trouble now is that the block owner (turned primary buyer) has no cash to pay for the farmers produce!

Dear reader, I have heard that a certain Gen Salim Saleh can help in such matters. That he once intervened in the maize grain issue of such a nature. So, if you see me in Gulu soon, don't say I am one of the musicians seeking charity from Saleh.

Mr Bisiika is the former executive editor
of the East African Flagpost. abisiika@
gmail.com