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Farm productivity and market structure : evidence from cotton reforms in Zambia

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Author Info
Brambilla, Irene
Porto, Guido G.
Abstract

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. The authors'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 productivitysignificantly increased.

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Paper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 3904.

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Date of creation: 01 May 2006
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Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:3904

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Keywords: Crops&Crop Management Systems Economic Theory&Research Livestock&Animal Husbandry Rural Poverty Reduction Rural Development Knowledge&Information Systems

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