Gender perspectives in the adoption of organic cotton in Benin

Cotton crisis in West African countries is not only a matter of trade but also sustainability and gender equity. The introduction of organic cotton in Benin, while offering a mood of solution to the problems faced by the cotton sector in terms of gender equity, generates new dilemmas at household level regarding land and family labor allocation between husband and wife. In the present thesis, the author analyses the determinant factors of the adoption of organic cotton by household and how profitable is cotton production on men and women’s field related to the intra-household productive resource (land and family labor) sharing mechanism in central Benin. Through some simulation exercises by using a nonlinear programming model, the author came to the conclusion that, there are still some possibilities to improve gender equity in income distribution in cotton producers’ household by reallocating the household’s land resource in favour of women. For this land reallocation policy to be more effective, some credit facilities should be given to organic cotton farmers, especially to women.