Zimbabwe Commemorates World Cotton Day

By Wallace Mawire

Zimbabwe joined the rest of the world in commemorating the World Cotton Day on the 5th of October 2023 in, Harare.

The event brought  together players in the cotton value chain and afforded  them an opportunity to exhibit the enduring positive impact of cotton as a poverty-alleviating crop that is sustaining rural lives, providing sustainable and decent employment as well as anchoring the country’s manufacturing sector.

Running under the theme ‘Making sustainable cotton fair for all, from farm to fashion’, panel discussions   centered around sustainable cotton production, sustainability projects, cotton financing, and enhancing the cotton industry.

The moderators and panelists were  notable industry thought leaders while the other speakers  included the Meteorological Department. The Guest of Honor was  the Minister of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Hon. Anxious  Masuka.

World Cotton Day was initiated by four countries in Africa namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Mali in 2019.

‘White gold’ as cotton is popularly known is grown in more than 70 countries and there are 100 million cotton growers globally. China, the USA, India, Pakistan, and Brazil are the world’s biggest cotton-producing nations.

Cotton is a smallholder crop in Zimbabwe and provides livelihoods to approximately 2 million households and is grown in the dry and arid regions of Zimbabwe