The Role of Institutional Environments on Technical Efficiency: A Comparative Stochastic Frontier Analysis of Cotton Farmers in Benin, Burkina Faso, and Mali

This paper examines the role of institutional environments on cotton farmer technical efficiency scores in Benin, Burkina Faso, and Mali using a stochastic frontier production approach. First, the key institutional changes that have occurred with the recent market-oriented reforms are discussed. Then, farm efficiency per country is measured using cross-sectional data collected by the Cotton Sector Reform Project of the Africa, Power, and Politics Programme in 2009. Results from a one-stage estimation procedure suggest that while no technical inefficiency exists in Benin, an average technical efficiency of 69% and 46% is found in Burkina Faso and Mali, respectively. Agricultural development policies focusing on reducing the inefficiency at the farm level in Mali and Burkina Faso should be adopted; whereas policies designed to shift outward the production frontier seem more appropriate in Benin. Interestingly, institutional environment factors explaining variations in efficiency scores differ across countries. In Mali, farms that are food secure and that cultivate more hectares of cereals are more technically efficient in producing cotton. In contrast, Burkinabe farmers who are dissatisfied with the management of their producer organizations are more technically efficient. To be successful, efforts to promote efficiency would have to work in concert with the local realities in each country

John R. Commons and the Evolution of Institutions: The Case of the Malian Cotton Sector

Applying John R. Commons institutional economic framework, this paper analyzes the evolution of the key institutions in the Malian cotton sector starting with the CFDT contract following the country‘s Independence in 1960; the nationalization of the cotton gin company, CMDT, in 1974; the completion of a vertically integrated market structure from the mid-1980s to mid-1990s; and, finally, to the current state of the market-oriented reforms in 2010. In accordance with John R. Commons’ economic theory, institutional changes in the Malian cotton sector have led to both intended and unintended consequences impacting economic performance at the farm, gin, and State levels, which in turn, has contributed to the emergence of new limiting factors. At present, the limiting factors to desired economic performance in the Malian cotton sector are: the lack of adequate extension services, high rates of indebtedness at both farmer and cooperative levels, difficulty in farming in an integrated system due to the limited access to cereal inputs on credit, low yields, delays in payment, and discordance between farmers and their union‘s leaders. Based on these findings, policy recommendations to revitalize the Malian cotton sector are drawn

Maize Yield Response to Fertilizer under Differing Agro -Ecological Conditions in Burkina Faso

Achieving food security in Sub- Saharan Africa depends on raising the productivity of smallholder farmers, and in Burkina Faso, there is no option for enhancing crop productivity other than intensification. The soils in the Sahel and Savanna of West Africa are old, deep and poor in soil organic matter, with low capacity to retain nutrients, while this region is also the most densely populated in the continent. Yet, as in other countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, the national agricultural research system formulated fertilizer recommendations during the 1970s and 1980s, but these did not, and still do not, take differing agro-ecologies into account. The heterogeneity of agro-ecological and soil conditions has led to a diversity of farming systems and cropping patterns. This heterogeneity, along with incomplete input markets, creates highly variable economic incentives for smallholder farmers