A Case Study of Regulation in Zambia’s Cotton Sector

David Tschirley () and Stephen Kabwe

No 62145, Food Security Collaborative Working Papers from Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics

Abstract: Cotton is an unquestioned success of Zambia’s turn towards a market economy. After privatization in late 1994, seed cotton production rose from 32,000 metric tons (mt) to about 180,000 mt a decade later (three-year averages centered on 1994 and 2005). The number of farmers involved in the sector grew similarly, yields trended upwards (though slowly), and the country dramatically improved the quality of its lint, becoming the outstanding performer in Sub-Saharan Africa in this regard by the mid-2000s. Yet the sector has experienced two serious crashes since reform, both involving rampant credit default by farmers supported with seasonal input credit by ginning companies.

Keywords: Agribusiness; Agricultural and Food Policy; Agricultural Finance; Community/Rural/Urban Development; Food Security and Poverty; International Development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29
Date: 2010-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-afr
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:midcwp:62145

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.62145

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