Farm productivity and market structure
Subtitle: evidence from cotton reforms in Zambia
By: Irene Brambilla, Guido Porto.
Contributors: Porto, Guido G.; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series ;; working paper 11804; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) ;; working paper no. 11804.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Subjects: Cotton growing -- Zambia.; Agricultural productivity -- Zambia.; Agriculture and state -- Zambia.
Description: "This paper investigates the impacts of cotton marketing reforms on farm productivity, a key element for poverty alleviation, in rural Zambia.  The reforms comprised the elimination of the Zambian cotton marketing board that was in place since 1977.  Following liberalization, the sector adopted an outgrower scheme, whereby firms provided extension services to farmers and sold inputs on loans that were repaid at the time of harvest.  There are two distinctive phases of the reforms: a failure of the outgrower scheme, and a subsequent period of success of the scheme.  Our findings indicate that the reforms led to interesting dynamics in cotton farming.  During the phase of failure, farmers were pushed back into subsistence and productivity in cotton declined.  With the improvement of the outgrower scheme of later years, farmers devoted larger shares of land to cash crops, and farm productivity significantly increased"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
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