Cotton in Africa : an analysis of differences in performance

This paper examines differences in the output performance of six countries - francophone Cameroon and Senegal and anglophone Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, and Malawi. Dynamic production in Cameroon and Senegal is attributed largely to the Compagnie Francaise pour le Developpement des Fibres Textiles (CFDT), the semi-private parent company of the francophone cotton parastatals. The CFDT approach has led to technology development and extension and assured the availability of inputs and marketing and processing facilities. In particular, it has provided adequate financing for the cotton sector, ensuring timely payments to farmers. In the anglophone countries, faulty mechanisms and procedures for paying producer prices and ensuring input supplies have seriously undermined sector performance. The difference is particularly striking in Kenya, which has otherwise made impressive strides in several crops. The central conclusion of the paper is that, while differences in macroeconomic and sectoral pricing policies appear to have been critical, institutional factors have been fundamental in explaining the sustained growth of cotton production in francophone countries.