Impact Of Agricultural Market Reforms On Smallholder Farmers In ...

fact that farms, and hence the areas planted to cotton, are smaller in the south than in the north. The
amount of pesticides ordered varies from 1 liter/farm in the southern departments to 15 liters/farm
in Zou, the national average being 10 liters/farm. The quantity of herbicides ordered is 6 liters per
farm ordering it, but it should be recalled that less than 10 percent of GV members order herbicides
(see Table 4.3.23).
Input credit The survey asked about the proportion of inputs sold on credit. As expected,
95-100 percent of the fertilizer and pesticides are sold to members on credit. The percentage was
somewhat lower in the case of herbicides (61 percent), largely because most GVs in Zou that sell
herbicides do not offer input credit (see Table 4.3.24).
When asked about the factors that determined the amount of credit offered to members, cotton area
was cited by 95 percent of the GVs and ability to repay was cited by 93 percent. Other factors were
cited as well: credit needs for cotton (84 percent), credit history (73 percent), and trust and
character (72 percent).
Trends GV representatives were asked to evaluate the trends in input use since 1992.
Over 90 percent of the GVs reported increases in the use of fertilizer, pesticides, and cotton seed, as
would be expected given national trends in input use and cotton production (see Table 4.3.25). The
main reasons cited for these increases were the expansion in cotton area and rising numbers of GV
members. On the other hand, the responses with regard to trends in herbicide use were more
mixed, with 34 percent of the GVs reporting an increase and 20 percent reporting a decrease.
Among GVs reporting a decrease in herbicide use, the most commonly cited reason was the price
of the input (67 percent).
Crop marketing
Cotton dominates the marketing activities of the groupements villageois. Cotton is
marketed by all 189 GVs in the sample, but maize is marketed by just 5 percent of the GVs and
groundnuts and yams by even fewer. Furthermore, cotton represents 97 percent of the volume of
crops marketed by the GVs and 99 percent of the value of crops marketed. Even in the south,
cotton accounts for 95 percent of the value and volume of crops marketed (see Table 4.3.26).
Given the importance of cotton and the small number of GVs marketing other crops, the remainder
of this section will focus on cotton marketing.
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