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

central body and that the state needs to play a key role within this body. Thisrole is in contrast to local monopoly or concentrated systems, where interprofessionalcommittees dominated by ginners and farmers have more potential toadequately manage the sector. Given the well-known problems of such stateinvolvement, the accountability of regulatory bodies toward ginners and farmersin competitive systems needs to be strengthened. Because incentives are verylimited within competitive sectors for individual ginners to support long-termprograms for productivity growth, the state and the ginners’ association mayhave to work with other actors (local government or donors, for instance) todevelop programs that enhance the asset base of farmers and also generate benefitsbeyond the cotton sector. The review suggests that if competitive sectors (asin Uganda) move to hybrid structures, such approaches need to avoid protectingginners entirely from competitive pressure; this conclusion is based onUganda’s experience, where entrenched overcapacity eliminates cost advantagesthe sector would otherwise have. Tanzania’s agro-ecological and population settlementcharacteristics have so far protected it from the need to take the type ofradical measures that Uganda has experimented with for input credit provision.However, if yields begin to fall as a result of declining soil fertility (or possiblyone day to increasing pest pressure), and if the country wants to realize itspotential more fully, it may need to consider moving to a more coordinatedapproach.Finally, when referring to the challenges faced by the various sector types, itis important to recognize that governments, private companies, farmers, andservice providers may experience these challenges in very different ways. Oneof the next steps in the reform processes is therefore to gain consensus on whatthese particular challenges are for specific actors and what further investmentis needed to address them.xxxivEXECUTIVE SUMMARY