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

een slow to allow private ginners to contribute to research management, whilefarmer associations are rarely strong enough, especially in ESA, to articulatefirm demands for high-quality research effort.The reluctance of the public sector to relinquish or share control over cottonresearch, plus the long lags inherent in agricultural research, mean (a) that thecurrent structure of the ginning industry exerts a weaker influence over researchperformance than has been hypothesized in this analysis and (b) that historyexerts a relatively greater influence. However, recent experience in Mozambique,Zambia, and Zimbabwe, combined with the trend in WCA toward joint financingof research by all stakeholders through the interprofessional organizations, suggeststhat concentrated sectors and monopoly systems may, over time, begin toperform better than competitive ones with regard to research.Irrespective of sector type, a high policy priority should be to move towardgreater involvement of both ginners and farmers in research management. Theprecise model, which can involve a greater or lesser role for state agents, can beworked out locally. However, ideally it should do the following:■■■■■Include involving stakeholders in setting research priorities, monitoringresearch performance, and accounting for how research funds have beenused.Reward researchers who achieve high performance and meet stakeholders’expectations.Include majority funding of research effort by the industry through directcontributions or levies. Stakeholders should also work together to attractoutside funding to complement internal resources, and such collaborationwill be facilitated by the confidence that comes from working together to setpriorities and to monitor performance.Allow stakeholders, through whatever management regime is put in place,to play a key role in researchers’ evaluation, pay, and promotion (or termination),rather than relying on public sector practices and scales.Feature more active regional information sharing, strategic priority setting,and eventually financing across countries in similar agro-ecological zones.With improved funding, human resources, and management, cottonresearch could yet play a vital role in helping Africa’s cotton sectors improvecompetitiveness. Specific opportunities for technological progress include theidentification of well-adapted varieties with stacked genes incorporating Btand herbicide resistance, integrated soil and water management strategies toreduce the impact of rainfall variability and to adapt to rapidly increasing costsof inorganic fertilizers, and improved integrated pest management packages(including herbicides for farmers without animal traction). The extent towhich these technologies improve the productivity of farmers with differentasset bases needs to be carefully analyzed to avoid a one-size-fits-all approach112 BOUGHTON AND POULTON