@article{1,
address = "3 Plan des chanterelles",
abstract = "In West and Central Africa, the economic and social importance of cotton production used to be claimed, but the indicators put forward were not updated and seldom connected to a governance analysis. This paper compensates for that lack by analysing the governance and the value distribution of the cotton chain in Cameroon in the 2017-18 season. The cotton chain operated under explicit contractual agreements between the cotton company and the cotton producer organizations at village and national level, covering the aspects of the marketing of farmers’ production, the provision of production inputs, the fixing of prices for inputs and outputs, as well as compensation of the producer organization for taking over the tasks traditionally assumed by the cotton company. Overall, in a chain contributing 0.6% to GDP, governance rules were favourable to farmers/villagers in terms of income and task remuneration. However, the mostly small-scale farmers were the only actors bearing the cost of their landlocked situation. Social spill-over resulted from villagers’ initiatives in using their collective income, notably in favour of their children’s education. The case studied highlights the relevance of the concept of relational governance that could involve more than two entities and give rise to social spill-over.",
author = "Michel FOK",
journal = "Submitted to Journal of Development Studies",
note = "Paper under review",
title = "Relational governance and value distribution of the cotton chain in Cameroon",
year = "2021?"
}