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Abstract
This paper presents empirical evidence to show how socioeconomic factors affect the
adoption of and investment in agrochemicals in the cocoa sector of Côte d’Ivoire. The
analysis uses primary farm-level data collected in 2002 from a nationally representative
sample of more than one thousand cocoa farmers. The study describes the status of the
adoption of various chemical inputs and uses a multiplicative heteroscedastic Tobit model
to identify and quantify the impact of the socioeconomic environment on the incentive to
invest. The results generally show that farmer, household and village characteristics are all
important in explaining the farmers’ decisions. The paper concludes by outlining a number
of implications for strategic targeting of farmers and locations. These should serve as entry
points for a successful diffusion of efficient pest, disease and soil management programs.