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 Printable version |
Liberalization of the cotton production-marketing chain and agricultural innovation in West Africa |
Cahiers Agricultures. Volume 15, Number 1, 17-21, Janvier-Février 2006 - Le coton, des futurs à construire, Étude originale
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 Résumé
Article gratuit
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Author(s) : Jean Sibiri Zoundi, Karim Hussein, Léonidas Hitimana |
Summary : The results of the research presented here are based on consultations of stakeholders and on case studies carried out in Burkina and Mali. The paper analyses the issues at stake raised by the liberalization and privatization policies introduced in the cotton subsector in terms of innovation processes. Results indicated that one of the positive elements of these reforms is the increased importance attached to the place of producers within the cotton production and marketing chain. Concerning the use of technological innovations, the possibility that research in the cotton sector might be privatized raises the question of social equity, i.e. how to ensure access of all categories of producers to agricultural innovation? This constitutes a major challenge for producers’ organisations, but also calls for policy-makers to act and fulfil their responsibilities. Indeed, access to the inputs necessary to apply certain agricultural innovations still constitutes a major constraint for producers. Initiatives developed to make producers responsible for the supply of inputs were only partially successful, thereby indicating that these actors are still insufficiently prepared to take on such responsibilities. The results of the study also indicate that the tendency to privatize agricultural consultancy does not appear to square with the actual capacities of producers and with those of the State as regards the control of the quality of the services. As a conclusion, the lessons to be learnt from the study is that policy-makers should ponder over the consequences a failure of the innovation system in the cotton subsector might pose in terms of food security and poverty reduction. |
Keywords : vegetal productions, economy and rural development |
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