The livelihood of vulnerable smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe is a cause of great social concern. At least 80% of the country's population resides in the rural areas and depend on smallholder subsistence farming. Recurrent droughts, the deteriorating economy, continued international trade distortions and domestic policies that are tilted in favor of big business continue to threaten livelihoods, and entrench poverty in the rural areas. As a social and economic justice network, ZIMCODD's goal is to help small-scale farmers to attain sustainable livelihoods, through organized, and rewarding involvement in agriculture.

 Cotton Producer Livelihoods Chain

Most of Zimbabwe’s export cotton is produced by small-scale farmers whose livelihoods solely depend on subsistence farming. However, the falling international prices of cotton, unfair domestic and international trade policies continue to demean the livelihoods of the over 200 000 people depended on cotton production in Zimbabwe. Click here to see how the small-scale cotton farmer remains in a vicious cycle of poverty whilst enriching local and international merchants.

Gwaro Rekuvaka Mapoka Ezvitengeswa Varimi Vemumaruwa

Kabhuku kano, gwaro re W.K. Kellog Foundation rekuvaka mapoka ezvitengeswa evarimi vemumaruwa rakaturwa kubva muchirungu kuiswa muShona nesangano re Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD). Izvi zvakaitirwa kuyamura varimi vedonje vemumaruwa kuti vaumbe mapoka emuonerapamwe anomiririra kodzero dzevarimi nekuvandudzwa kwe nduramo inechouviri. Kuti muverenge gwaro iri bayai mufananidzo waro.

The Zimbabwe Cotton Campaign

An estimated 200,000 rural households depend on cotton farming, which thrives in the country's most arid regions, making the crop one of the most important sources of household livelihoods, and national revenue.

ZIMCODD's campaign seeks to build capacity of local small-scale cotton farmers to ensure their increased participation in influencing domestic and international factors affecting cotton production and trade on one hand and their livelihoods on the other. In this campaign, ZIMCODD uses its existing economic justice infrastructure to promote consultation amongst key stakeholders in the cotton industry. This include among others parliamentarians, the UN and other interested agencies, cotton merchants and processors, farmers' representatives as well as research institutions. ZIMCODD also seeks to facilitate the formation of a Cotton Growers Association, which can be a vehicle for proper representation of the farmers on such issues as fair price negotiation, access to inputs, access to progressive farming methods, product marketing and fair contracts. The association can help small-scale farmers to explore involvement in value addition (ginning).

So far, ZIMCODD has facilitated the formation of a National Action Committee to provide direction to the Zimbabwe's campaign for trade justice in cotton. Specific efforts have been made towards sensitising media practitioners, legislators and other CSOs to engage in key events and processes leading to WTO Hong Kong Ministerial Conference in December 2005 and beyond. This has been done through se stakeholder workshops, such as the Cotton Stakeholder Indaba (Harare, 20-21 September 2005) as well as campaign materials.

In December 2005, ZIMCODD sponsored two small-scale cotton farmers, Mrs. E. Paradza and Mr. D.H. Chimbwanda, to travel to the 6th WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong as part of its delegation. Furthermore, the coalition collected over 10 000 signatures in support of the 'Defending our Livelihoods, defending the Cotton Farmer' petition. While acknowledging the specific challenges that the country is currently facing, ZIMCODD is convinced that it is imperative for Zimbabwe to join forces with other African countries in fighting for agricultural trade justice and demand the immediate removal of trade distorting subsidies on agriculture in general and cotton in particular.

Download "Cotton Stakeholder Indaba Report"

 Two Zimbabwean small-scale
cottone farmers travelled to the
6th WTO Ministerial Conference
in Hong Kong with the ZIMCODD
delegation, to campaign
agricultural trade justice.










How it all started, GWA 2005

On April 13 2005, ZIMCODD convened a Peoples' Festival to mark the Global Week of Action on Trade Justice in Zimbabwe. Over 300 people attended the one-day festival. During one of the plenary discussions, Mrs. Elizabeth Paradza, a cotton farmer from the Gokwe rural area, gave a heart-rending testimony about how the small-scale cotton farmers' livelihoods were being threatened by falling prices. The testimony resulted in a Global Justice Declaration which attracted about 300 supporting signatures within thirty minutes. Soon after the festival, ZIMCODD developed a campaign with the theme,

"Defending our livelihoods, defending the cotton farmer."


"For the last ten years i have
toiled under the scorching
sun, growing cotton, but have
nothing to show for it, " says
Mrs.Paradza