Farmers' strategies in Central African cotton, growing areas

In Central Africa, cotton development is tightly linked with the role of governments in providing technical support, credit for farmers and ensuring that farmers' harvested produce will be purchased at a fixed price. These government interventions began being questioned in the 1980s, however, because of the financial deficits, just at the time of the world cotton market crisis. Since then, cotton subsectors have been restructured, governments have withdrawn from their commitments, national cotton companies are being privatized and farmers are forming an increasing number of professional organizations. CIRAD and PRASAC, its Central African research and development partner, thus conducted an analysis of farmers' adaptation strategies within this setting. (Résumé d'auteu