By CHATULA KANGALI –

. Cotton

ZAMBIA’S cotton output is projected to double next year due to increased seed allocation to farmers.
Zambia Cotton Ginners Association (ZCGA) executive secretary Bourne Chooka said in an interview that increased seed allocation would help double the country’s cotton output projected at 220,000 tonnes.
The 220,000 tonnes were expected to be harvested from the 450,000 hectares of land to be planted.
Mr Chooka called on farmers to plant all the seed they had received from ginners in order to meet the target for next year.
He said the association was not impressed with the production output for the 2014/2015 farming season, adding that about 120, 000 tonnes of seed cotton were produced in the last farming season.
“We are urging all the farmers to make sure that they plant all the seed they received from ginners. No  farmers should keep the seeds at home.
“If all the seed is planted, we hope to have 450,000 hectares of seed planted and 220,000 tonnes of cotton produced,” he said.
Mr Chooka added that the seed given to the farmers came from eight ginners namely, Cargill Zambia Limited, NWK Agric Services, Alliances Ginneries, and China Africa Cotton Zambia Limited.
Others are Manjeet Cotton Zambia, Africa Global Development Company Limited, and Grafax Cotton Zambia Limited.
Mr Chooka noted that the ginners had in the past not been operating at full production capacity due to lack of materials.
He said there was need for more cotton to be produced in the country in order to meet the high market demand.
Cotton in Zambia is predominantly grown in four provinces namely, Southern, Eastern, Central and Lusaka.
About 500 kilogrammes are harvested per hectare of land planted.