Seed and input cost for the cultivation of cotton for the year 2019/20 crop season has been fixed at a meeting with government representatives and cotton farmers and companies in Tamale, the Northern Regional capital.

The price of seed cotton grade A has been pegged at ¢2.2 per kilogram whilst grade B seed cotton will be supplied for ¢1.76 per kilogram.

The input cost would also stand at ¢351 while repayment in kilograms was fixed at ¢159.5, according to a memorandum dated 9th May 2019 and signed by Wienco Cotton Operational Manager, Mr Gbana Yahaya.

The memo with the heading “update of seed cotton and cotton input prices 2019-2020 season” addressed to “all production staff” said the decision was taken at a meeting in Modern City Hotel in Tamale.

The Zonal Manager for Wienco in Sissala East, Bakpa Sulemana Bachang, said the determination of the prices was arrived at from the current world market price of cotton with emphasis on farmers to ensure their bales of cotton met the highest quality or standard grade.

He urged cotton farmers in the Sissala East, West and Wa East “to take advantage of the favourable prices announced and be serious with their work this year”.

“Payment after cultivation will not be delayed with the aim of bringing cotton production back to the previous competitive years,” he said.

A known cotton farmer from Jeffissi in the Sissala West District, Mr Kassim Sulemana in an interview with GNA, praised the new price and input cost for cotton, saying: “Government has taken a bold step” as his expectation was over met.

“We shall all now do cotton farming, now that government is serious,” he added.

Cotton farming in the Sissala zone was a core part of most household farms notably because of the functional ginnery which was used in ginning tonnes of cotton for export and provided jobs for hundreds of youth from the factory and the transport sector, aside what farming offered.

But years of neglect drove many out of the sector until an investment of $10 million dollars by RMG Wienco Cotton was injected into the sector to revamp cotton farming and improve livelihoods.