Cash credit to cotton producers in Central Benin: Modalities and implications[Crédit de trésorerie des producteurs de coton au centre du Bénin : modalités et conséquences]

While the requirement for cash has been increasing along the need to pay labor external to family, the provision of cash credit is little taken into account in the management of cotton sectors in French speaking African countries. Our study is the first one to address the conditions and impacts of the informal provision of cash credit to cotton producers in that region. The study is based on the appraisal of a particular policy implemented in Benin, in 2012, to formally provide cash credit to cotton producers. It is focused on the center of Benin where the implementation of the policy has attracted informal operators to join in, hence revealing the conditions on how they operated. Thanks to the collaboration of 537 cotton producers involved in 15 cooperatives, our study showed that very few farmers have escaped from the intervention of informal players operating at interest rate that could exceed 200% per year. The amount to reimburse cash credit, whose various destined usages were not monitored, could reach if not exceed that for input credit, hence almost swallowing the monetary margin from cotton growing. The observed conditions of the cash credit by informal operators were capturing farmers into a trap of debt and poverty, to the benefit of hidden players and ignored by the cotton sector organization. The lack or the inaccuracy of formal provision of cash credit to cotton producers could mainly lead to pass the main benefit of cotton cultivation to players of informal and usury credit. The recourse to cash credit by cotton producers should be further analyzed and integrated into the organization and management of cotton sectors in African countries.