@article{Mahofa:134490,
      recid = {134490},
      author = {Mahofa, Godfrey},
      title = {Economic Analysis of Factors Affecting Cotton Production  In Zimbabwe},
      address = {2007-07},
      number = {634-2016-41533},
      pages = {110},
      year = {2007},
      abstract = {Improving cotton production is undoubtedly one of the  greatest challenges facing the Zimbabwean government today.  Since cotton is an important cash crop for the country and  for individual households, it has important implications  for livelihoods of rural people. In order to achieve this,  several interventions in the sector were done since  independence in an attempt to improve production.
The main  objective of this thesis was to identify factors affecting  cotton production in the country during the period  1965-2005.Nerlovian supply response function was used to  conduct the study. Empirical findings reveal that the major  factors were government expenditure on research and  extension and short-term credit extended to farmers by  commercial banks and Agribank.The elasticity of supply  response with respect to research and extension was 0.17  and 0.4 in the short-run and long-run respectively. The  elasticity of supply response with respect to agricultural  credit was found to be 0.32 in the short-run and 0.74 in  the long-run. Simulation experiments reveal that a 10 per  cent increase in the provision of short-term credit will  result in a 3.2 per cent increase and 7.4 per cent increase  in area planted to cotton. And also it was found that a 10  per cent increase in government expenditure on research and  extension will result in a 1.7 per cent increase in area  planted to cotton in the short run and 4 per cent in the  long run. The study also documented low elasticities of  supply response with respect to own price and that of  competing products (maize in this case).
A comparative  analysis of domestic and international cotton marketing  reveal that there is some relationship between the two  markets. A Spearman correlation coefficient of 0.72 was  found between world price (Cotton-A Index) and the domestic  lint price expressed in US dollars and was significant at 1  percent. Nominal protection coefficients were also computed  for the period and it was found that the degree of  protection in the domestic sector was declining over the  years, but generally farmers have been taxed.
Important  policy messages from the empirical findings were that there  is need for the government, private sector and NGOs to  increase extension and training programmes to farmers and  also they should continue to lobby for scrapping of  policies in the developed world that depress lint prices in  the world market. It was recommended that measures should  be put in place that enables financial institutions to  increase their provision of credit to cotton farmers.  Empirical findings also reveal that in the presence of some  institutional mechanisms, policies that have negative  effect( producer price fall) on production, cotton  production will not fall as much than in the absence of  such institutional mechanisms.},
      url = {http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/134490},
      doi = {https://doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.134490},
}