| This study has examined the economic efficiency of cotton production for the export market from Zambia. The analytical approach used in the study, weighs up, both from the farmers' and the nation's perspective, the profitability of producing cotton relative to maize, the major competing and food crop. Two farm categories of cotton and maize for the crop year 1988/89 are analyzed; these are the smallholder and small commercial farmers. In addition, the incentive or disincentive effects of the pricing system, the importance of the cotton by-product, cottonseed, and the international market for cotton are analyzed.;Results of the analysis have shown that, assessed by 'financial' and 'economic' criteria, it is more profitable for smallholder farms to produce cotton than for small commercial farms. Measures of net financial profit, resource cost ratio and net economic profit are used to reach this conclusion. A comparison of cotton and maize production indicates that it is more financially and economically profitable for both categories of maize producers than for cotton. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
