Impact Of Agricultural Market Reforms On Smallholder Farmers In ...
Impact Of Agricultural Market Reforms On Smallholder Farmers In ... Impact Of Agricultural Market Reforms On Smallholder Farmers In ...
4.3: Results of the Bénin Survey of Groupements Villageois 4.3.1 Introduction Cotton production has increased dramatically in the past ten years. Between 1990 and 1997, cotton output rose from 146 thousand tons to 386 thousand tons. This represents an increase of 164 percent, or almost 15 percent per year. The use of agricultural inputs has increased at a similar rate. For example, fertilizer use has grown from 22.7 thousand tons in 1990 to 85 thousand tons in 1998, an annual growth rate of 16 percent. This growth has been stimulated by the vertically integrated cotton marketing system and by policy reforms. The vertically integrated marketing system provides fertilizer, cotton seed, and other inputs to farmers on credit and manages the collection, ginning, and export of the cotton. The Societé Nationale de Promotion Agricole (SONAPRA) organizes the importation of fertilizer and other inputs through private importers. Cotton seed and agricultural inputs are provided to organizations of growers known as groupements villageois (GV) for distribution to farmers. At harvest, the GV organizes the assembly of the seed cotton and its sale to SONAPRA, deducting the cost of inputs from the payments to farmers. The cotton is ginned either by SONAPRA or by privately-owned gins and then exported. Recent reforms include the privatization of input importation, the emergence of a private cotton ginning sector, and the 1994 devaluation which doubled the local currency value of export earnings. In spite of the impressive growth of the cotton sector, significant problems remain and additional reforms are being debated. In particular, a number of concerns have been raised about the cotton system: The number of GVs has increased rapidly in recent years, leading to considerable variation in the financial and administrative capacity of the GVs. The quality of inputs and the delivery of adequate quantities of inputs has been a problem on occasion. Some GVs have experienced problems recovering input credit from members, but it is not known how widespread this problem is. 117
Although inputs are imported by private companies, SONAPRA sets the prices and manages the distribution of inputs to the GVs. Some have argued that this system could be made more competitive, resulting in lower input costs to farmers. SONAPRA fixes cotton prices and is the only legal buyer of cotton. Some efforts are underway to make this system more competitive while maintaining the ability of the system to provide inputs on credit and maintain repayment rates. Some reforms being contemplated would give greater responsibility to the GVs for selecting input suppliers, arranging cotton sales, and managing input credit. But the ability of the GVs to undertake these responsibilities is not known. The objective of the IFPRI-LARES Survey of Groupements Villageois is to better understand the activities, capacity, and problems of these organizations. Specifically, the survey attempts to address the following questions: What are the basic characteristics of the GVs in terms of the year of establishment, membership, and activities? What is the management capacity of the GVs, as indicated by the education and experience of the GV secretaries and other managing officers? What is the physical capacity of the GVs in terms of the types of equipment and infrastructure they have? What is the range of commercial activities that the GVs carry out, including both input delivery, crop marketing, and provision of credit? What is the financial capacity of the GVs, as indicated by their revenues, expenditures, and debts? What are the perceptions of GV management regarding the problems they face and what steps are they taking to address these problems? 118
- Page 74 and 75: households are not considered credi
- Page 76 and 77: In almost every category of agricul
- Page 78 and 79: This discussion implies that farms
- Page 80 and 81: eturns per hectare and labor-intens
- Page 82 and 83: farm household and tends to be smal
- Page 84 and 85: Surprisingly, the value of sales as
- Page 86 and 87: Finally, proximity to an all-season
- Page 88 and 89: Changes in crop marketing In this s
- Page 90 and 91: Poor households are more likely to
- Page 92 and 93: it is clear that virtually all grow
- Page 94 and 95: production to total expenditure is
- Page 96 and 97: a significant number of household (
- Page 98 and 99: non-food spending. These are follow
- Page 100 and 101: Larger farms are associated with hi
- Page 102 and 103: This would not be surprising in lig
- Page 104 and 105: Female-headed households appear to
- Page 106 and 107: poorest expenditure category to jus
- Page 108 and 109: headed household were more likely t
- Page 110 and 111: Households in every expenditure cat
- Page 112 and 113: An important result of this analysi
- Page 114 and 115: oad network, although those citing
- Page 116 and 117: questions posed by the IFPRI-LARES
- Page 118 and 119: With regard to cotton marketing, al
- Page 120 and 121: Village leaders were asked to ident
- Page 122 and 123: Marketing patterns Village leaders
- Page 126 and 127: 4.3.2 Survey methods At the time of
- Page 128 and 129: officers have CM2 certificates. Thi
- Page 130 and 131: Suppliers The GV representatives we
- Page 132 and 133: Cotton area per GV ranges from 145
- Page 134 and 135: The largest cost items are schools
- Page 136 and 137: members and 10 percent of the membe
- Page 138 and 139: Table 4.1.1-Description of sample o
- Page 140 and 141: Table 4.1.7-Age, education, and lit
- Page 142 and 143: Table 4.1.13-Ethnic background of h
- Page 144 and 145: Table 4.1.19-Importance of each sou
- Page 146 and 147: Table 4.1.25-Number of plots and ar
- Page 148 and 149: Table 4.1.31-Land tenure by expendi
- Page 150 and 151: Table 4.1.37-Change in labor alloca
- Page 152 and 153: Table 4.1.42-Seed use by sex of hea
- Page 154 and 155: Table 4.1.47-Perceived change in av
- Page 156 and 157: Table 4.1.54-Share of producers of
- Page 158 and 159: Table 4.1.59-Fertilizer use by farm
- Page 160 and 161: Table 4.1.64-Characteristics of fer
- Page 162 and 163: Table 4.1.69-Change in fertilizer a
- Page 164 and 165: Table 4.1.75-Allocation of labor by
- Page 166 and 167: Table 4.1.82-Allocation of labor by
- Page 168 and 169: Table 4.1.89-Change in credit avail
- Page 170 and 171: Table 4.1.94-Percent of households
- Page 172 and 173: Table 4.1.98-Percent of households
Although inputs are imported by private companies, SONAPRA sets the prices and<br />
manages the distribution of inputs to the GVs. Some have argued that this system could be<br />
made more competitive, resulting in lower input costs to farmers.<br />
<br />
SONAPRA fixes cotton prices and is the only legal buyer of cotton. Some efforts are<br />
underway to make this system more competitive while maintaining the ability of the system<br />
to provide inputs on credit and maintain repayment rates.<br />
<br />
Some reforms being contemplated would give greater responsibility to the GVs for<br />
selecting input suppliers, arranging cotton sales, and managing input credit. But the ability<br />
of the GVs to undertake these responsibilities is not known.<br />
The objective of the IFPRI-LARES Survey of Groupements Villageois is to better understand the<br />
activities, capacity, and problems of these organizations. Specifically, the survey attempts to<br />
address the following questions:<br />
<br />
What are the basic characteristics of the GVs in terms of the year of establishment,<br />
membership, and activities?<br />
<br />
What is the management capacity of the GVs, as indicated by the education and experience<br />
of the GV secretaries and other managing officers?<br />
<br />
What is the physical capacity of the GVs in terms of the types of equipment and<br />
infrastructure they have?<br />
<br />
What is the range of commercial activities that the GVs carry out, including both input<br />
delivery, crop marketing, and provision of credit?<br />
<br />
What is the financial capacity of the GVs, as indicated by their revenues, expenditures, and<br />
debts?<br />
<br />
What are the perceptions of GV management regarding the problems they face and what<br />
steps are they taking to address these problems?<br />
118
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