By Fred Ogwang
The CDO recently announced that it will buy cotton at 1,600 Ugandan shillings (one USD = about 2,680 shillings) per kg, which seems to have disappointed most of the farmers in the sub-region.
Sirino Okwir, a farmer in Aburkot Ward in Amolatar Town Council, explained that another CDO agent had informed him that a kg of cotton would be bought at 3,000 shillings, but the farmers were later shocked to learn that their produce would be bought at just about half that amount.
Mike Ocen of Etam sub-county said the CDO price was not sustainable given the rate of inflation, which was 28.3 per cent at the end of September. He urged the CDO to revise the price to suit the current harsh economic environment.
A CDO agent who declined to be named, however, claimed that the CDO had never made any official communication about the cotton price. “It was an assumption by some farmers that the cotton price will shoot up to sh3,000,” the agent stated.
He added that the sh1, 600 price officially announced by CDO was not fixed, but rather a guide which could help farmers to negotiate with buyers.
Cotton prices hit record highs in January, raising prospects of better household incomes for farmers and improved export revenue this year. The price jumped to sh 2,500 per kg, up from sh1, 600 early this year.
Farmersat the time said middlemen were willing to pay high prices because their aim was to get big volumes to sell to the international markets where super profits could be made.
Recent climate change disasters have wrecked havoc in the leading cotton producing nations of the United States , China and Pakistan
0 comments:
Post a Comment