Can higher producer prices help revitalize the cotton production in Benin Epiphane Adjovi Director CAPOD UNCTAD Virtual Institute Seminar on Trade and Poverty September 2014 Geneva, Switzerland

 Cotton : a strategic crop for the agricultural sector  The most important cash crop for farmers  Many other agricultural and non agricultural activities are related to cotton  Source of export revenue for the government  But several constrain to the sector  Unfavorable international environment and markets  Farmers complain about the low producer price and late payment  Low yield and poor management of the sector discouraged producers  Higher poverty among cotton farmers The problem of cotton in Benin

What to do?  Contribution of all actors in the development of the cotton sector  Social responsibility of the government in the context of limited resources and International conjuncture  Invest in research, infrastructure, access to input and credit.  Bring in progressively and strengthen the private sector in a PPP model  Reforms in the management of the sector  Pursuit of the diversification of the economy

Researcher/Policy maker cooperation : comments  Research and policy decision: bidirectional relations  Ex-ante and ex-post research to support and evaluate policies  But useful research by academics need to have policy orientations  Opportunities and challenges  Cooperation Policy makers/Researchers to address the gap  Challenges : communication  Application : Political considerations and Unobserved factors at play  Experiences of CAPOD : a research institution for better policy decision making