Organization and Performance of Cotton Sectors in Africa ... - infoDev

CHAPTER NINECotton ResearchDuncan Boughton and Colin PoultonFarm-level productivity gains are critically important for Africa’s cottonsectors to improve their international competitiveness and contributemore effectively to raising rural incomes and reducing poverty. Figure10.1 (see page 118) shows that while world average yields for rainfed cottonproduction have increased by more than 150 percent since 1980, yields inAfrica over the same period have risen by much less and have been essentiallyflat in West and Central Africa (WCA) since 1985. Lagging yields are an indicatorof possible weaknesses in the technology development and deliveryvalue chain that, if carefully diagnosed and corrected, signal a potentialopportunity for raising competitiveness in the future. Although a completediagnostic is beyond the scope of the current study, this chapter provides aninitial assessment of the current state of research and its contribution tocompetitiveness on the basis of the case study countries.The next chapter also shows a high level of variation in productivity amongsome African cotton farmers. The most productive farmers achieve cottonyields close to or above the world rainfed average, suggesting that a major causeof low average yields in Africa is the inability of the majority of farmers toaccess or use existing technology packages effectively. Research is generallythought of as pushing out the production frontier, but the fact cannot beignored that many cotton farmers in Africa are achieving yields far short of theexisting frontier. At a minimum, socioeconomic research can help improve theunderstanding of the reasons for the yield performance gap, even if researchers105