@article{1,
abstract = "In Africa, the common concept of cash crops is associated to market failures making that not all crops could be sold regularly at prices close to what has been anticipated. Only traditional export crops (such as cotton, coffee, cocoa…) benefit from the needed organization to generate regular cash as opposed to food crops grown mainly for the farmers’ own subsistence.
The diversification of cash crops on farms in Africa has seldom been studied, in spite of its potential impact on farmers' incomes and wellbeing. Studies are particularly lacking for countries where the success of cotton production has been acknowledged. Our work compensates for this lack by addressing the case of western Burkina Faso, where sesame and soybean cropping has spread in a traditional cotton-growing area.  By interviewing farm heads (men) and their wives, data were collected in 2014 to assess the extent to which cash crop diversification had taken place, as well as the associated causes and outcome.
The results showed a situation of multiple cash crop growing involving both men and women, revealing a phenomenon of cash crop diversification in the study area. The prevalence of new cash crops on farms growing cotton underpinned the diversification feature on those farms. The presence of new cash crops, both on farms growing and not growing cotton, indicated that the observed diversification arose from an income generation strategy by farmers lacking resources to grow cotton, and an income consolidation strategy by those who had these resources. Cotton cultivation was not replaced, but was rather consolidated in favor of producers and the cotton company. Per capita income from cash crops and financial assets —such as livestock capital— were better either in the presence of cotton, or when several cash crops were grown.
Diversification of cash crops is economically and socially sound. Improved income from additional cash crops and increased cotton production goes to producers, their wives and product marketing companies. Additional cash crops provide better agency to women. Such diversification has come about through the extensive production mode of sesame and soybean, which does not compete with cotton for chemical inputs, but mines the soil, hence raising sustainability concerns. Agricultural policy should promote the injection of relevantly selected new crops into farmers’ cropping system, disseminate and adapt their use to local contexts to enhance demand, with the concern of preserving soil instead of mining it. Women are effective receptor and vector of new crops, they could play a particular role in implementing the suggested policy. 
",
author = "Michel FOK and Gaspard VOGNAN",
journal = "Submitted to Journal of Integrative Journal",
note = "Paper under review",
title = "Status, factors and limitations of cash crop diversification in cotton production areas of Burkina Faso",
year = "2021?"
}