Govt bans cotton contract farming
Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa has banned contract farming, saying it is exploitative.
“From now on the crop will be sold in auctions. Enough is enough. Cotton buyers have been setting prices to exploit farmers and that must stop immediately,” he told residents of Hunyari in Bunda District, Mara, where he inaugurated a dispensary on January 19, 2018.
Mr Majaliwa is on a tour of the region.
According to a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office, the government has formulated strategies of improving production of major crops including cotton whose cultivation, input distribution and marketing will be streamlined.
He also directed extension officers to serve farmers accordingly to ensure modern farming methods are observed.
He called upon herders to destock. “It is wrong for animals to graze on farms of other people,” he warned.
He warned that the government would take tough legal action against pastoralists who graze their livestock on farms as they provoke farmers and cause conflicts.
