Pathways to Improved Profitability and Sustainability of Cotton Cultivation at Farm Level in Africa: An Approach to Addressing Critical Knowledge Gaps

The Michigan State University (MSU) International Development Paper series is designed to further the comparative analysis of international development activities in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Near East. The papers report research findings on historical, as well as contemporary, international development problems. The series includes papers on a wide range of topics, such as alternative rural development strategies; nonfarm employment and small scale industry; housing and construction; farming and marketing systems; food and nutrition policy analysis; economics of rice production in West Africa; technological change, employment, and income distribution; computer techniques for farm and marketing surveys; farming systems and food security research. The papers are aimed at teachers, researchers, policy makers, donor agencies, and international development practitioners. Selected papers will be translated into French, Spanish, or other languages. Michigan State University agrees to and does hereby grant to the World Bank a royalty-free, non-exclusive and irrevocable license throughout the world to use, duplicate, disclose, or dispose of this publication in any manner and for any purposes and to permit others to do so. Patrick Labaste and Stephen Mink of the World Bank provided assistance in identifying the issues covered by the paper and reviewing several earlier versions. Guy Faure of CIRAD also provided valuable assistance in our review of the underlying principles and practical applications of farm typologies and agricultural systems research in francophone Africa as well as reviewing earlier versions of the report. Patricia Johannes provided editorial and formatting assistance. In 2009, the World Bank published a comparative study of cotton sector reforms 1 , based on detailed case studies carried out during 2007/08 in nine of Africa's main cotton producing countries. The purpose of the study was to draw practical insights from the diversity of experiences in institutional reforms of cotton sectors and to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of the different types of sectors operating in Africa, the likely effects of specific types of policy change, and the possible ways forward. One chapter of this World Bank study focused on cotton yields and returns, looking first at international comparisons of lint yields per hectare and then at comparisons of performance indicators among different types of farms in selected countries. Two conclusions emerged from this work that motivated the research proposed in this paper: • Cotton yields in Africa lag behind those in other countries; and • Good performance in terms of cotton productivity and profitability …