Value addition and lobby for cotton producers CAZ has been a client of Agriterra, but it was decided to conduct an organisation assessment to further elaborate the objectives of the CAZ - Agriterra partnership.
An exercise identifying the services provided by CAZ to its members and a ranking of these services, helped to reflect on the priorities of CAZ in the coming years. The following ranking was produced:
1. Extension, exchange and training to increase production and productivity.2. Mobilization of farmers into cooperatives to promote supply to farmer-owned ginneries and spur growth of CAZ paid membership3. Access to inputs and new farming methods to boost production and productivity gains.4. Value addition as key area to increase incomes of members that are part of a cooperative.5. Lobbying & Advocacy to influence policies and regulations to increase CAZ’s financial base.

CAZ has a Strategic plan 2014-2018 that outlines the objectives and prospected outcomes of the organisation’s activities in the coming years. The Plan has 6 outcome areas:1. Self-financing, independent cotton farmers: setting up village savings groups (Cotton Association Savings and Leading Association or CASALAs) for farmers to acquire inputs on cash instead of credit and to engage in income-generating activities in order to reduce exploitation by ginneries that inflate input prices and offer low farm-gate prices.2. Establishment of farmer-owned ginneries: Mumbwa Farmers Ginning and Pressing Company, officially launched in December 2015, is the only Zambian-owned ginnery and is owned by cotton farmers. Through the ginnery, farmers can get inputs on cash basis and can choose to keep both the lint and seed or let the ginnery sell the lint on their behalf while returning the seed to farmers. This empowers the farmers as opposed to ginneries that buy seed cotton at the price of the seed (ZMW 2.50/kg) and keep both seed and lint, which is valued at ZMW 15/kg and comprises 1/3 of the total weight of cotton supplied by farmers. In addition, the creation of profitable ginneries that pay a fair price to farmers will act as a catalyst to bring other ginners to the negotiation table. The goal is to have 3 additional farmer-owned ginneries by end of 2018 in Southern (2) and Eastern province (1). So far, the Mumbwa ginnery provided 3,400 farmers with inputs. Expected output is 1,400 MT, of which 630MT lint and 770MT seed. Shares in the ginnery are: CEEC 32% (equity & debt), CAZ 28%, Mumbwa District Farmers Association (MDFA) 15%, ZNFU 25%. Eventually, MDFA should have a 80% share. But CAZ will keep a significant share to retain a strategic influence on the ginnery.3. Improved cotton production & productivity: extension services through 3 Regional Field Facilitators and 16 field facilitators / extension officers, provision of manuals to be used at SCG level, seed multiplication, promotion of conservation farming (which has higher yields up to 900kg/ha).4. CAZ organisation capacity development: strengthening the capacity of CAZ to provide lobbying & advocacy and farmer extension services. Specific activities are the training of field facilitators, Council, Board and Management. Furthermore, CAZ aims to become financially self-sustainable and less dependent on outside funding through lobbying for the seed cotton levy and paid membership. Current membership amounts to 25,000, although 200,000 farmers benefit from the extension services provided. Given this imbalance, a mindset shift is needed to get all beneficiary farmers to pay for the services, which according to CAZ is only possible through involvement of the government in the Cotton Act.5. Improve/increase value addition: value addition at the level of farmer-owned ginneries that feeds cotton into the handloom project (processing lint into yarn using handlooms and making end products from fibre). CAZ received support from ITC and EU/COMESA to purchase 24 handlooms from India and train Zambian women in India on the use of handlooms and on entrepreneurship skills. The aim is to set up handloom training centres for ToT by these women and set up handloom clusters throughout the country that will operate as cooperatives. As an additional value-adding activity, the 42 cooperatives around Mumbwa ginnery are to add value through oil extraction from cotton seed. 6. Improve cotton development policies: Lobby government to impose the cotton lint levy as defined in the Cotton Act, lobby for improved farmer contracts and adoption of a transparent pricing model by ginners. Lobbying is done through member consultations during NCC meetings and through the Secretariat using position papers to influence government, Members of Parliament and the Cotton Board of Zambia.

Creating an enabling environment for cotton growers to get a decent income out of it, and secondly is involved in starting up ginneries to ad more value.