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

trends in global and regional contexts, factors underlying those trends, andtheir relationship to different ways of organizing the cotton sector. When onecompares across sector types, it is helpful to consider average yields and yieldtrends. The typology in chapter 4 suggests that average yields will be stronglyinfluenced by performance on input provision and extension (expected to bebest in monopolies and concentrated sectors), but yields will also depend heavilyon past investments, especially in research.Cotton Yields in a Global ContextWorld cotton yields expressed in lint equivalent have increased from an averageof 300 kg per hectare (ha) in the early 1960s to more than 700 kg/ha in2005, equivalent to a 1.9 percent annual increase (figure 10.1). Yields in Westand Central Africa (WCA) increased at an annual rate of 5 percent until theearly 1980s, reaching about 450 kg/ha at that time, mainly in response to theintroduction of fertilizer (a characteristic in all cotton producing WCA countries).Yields in this region, however, have stagnated or even declined slowlyover the past 20 years. 71 Yields in East and Southern Africa (ESA) have beenincreasing at the same rate as the world average since the early 1970s, albeitfrom a very low base. Average yields in ESA as of mid-2008 are slightly morethan one-half the WCA average and one-third the world average.If one is to understand the factors underlying long-term yield trends, a distinctionmust first be made between irrigated and rainfed production systems.Africa’s cotton is almost entirely rainfed, while world average yields reflect theFigure 10.1 Cotton Yield Trends in World, WCA, and ESA (1970–2008)800yields of lint (kg/hectare)60040020001970–711974–751978–791982–831986–871990–911994–951998–992002–032006–07World WCA ESASource: Authors.118 POULTON, LABASTE, AND BOUGHTON