Zimbabwe has scaled up input support for cotton farmers, with four lakh households expected to receive free inputs covering a hectare each. This is double last year's package and could translate to a yield of more than two lakh tons. Good rains are expected this season. However, production could be as low as 35,000 tons, the lowest since 1992. Farmers may get free inputs, but the appetite for growing cotton remains subdued due to poor prices.

So providing free inputs isn’t seen as enough. A price mechanism has to be devised that incorporates a pre-planting price and forward sales. In contrast, some major cotton producing countries in West Africa such as Burkina Faso, Cameron and Ivory Coast announce a pre-planting price.

A pre-plant price would help insulate farmers from low global prices. Increasing production of synthetic garments is giving stiff competition to cotton fabrics. Also, western countries, particularly the US, provide illegal subsidies not only in cotton, but in other agricultural commodities such as sugar.

Farm subsidies are an emotive issue. Richer nations see it as their right to look after their farmers' viability while emerging nations feel such action is unfair and perpetuates trade structures, which suppress competitiveness while at the same time perpetuating poverty in least developed countries whose economies are heavily dependent on global commodity prices.