In this paper we assess the performance of farmers adopting an improved sorghum technology package in the Maradi region of Niger. A propensity score matching method is used to address self-selection bias into the program. First, we estimate a propensity model to participate in the extension...

A need in Sahelian agriculture is to transform from traditional farming to more modern systems. This paper presents a safety-first type of risk programming model, using complementary programming, to assess the impacts of new agricultural technology. Model results indicate that some new...

Micro and farm level data are used to analyze issues of pesticide use, declining fertilized grass-legume pastures, land resource degradation, and intensification and specialization. Health Costs and Externalities of Pesticide Use in Locust and Grasshopper Control in the Sahel Victorin Houndekon,...

Replaced with revised version of paper 07/21/08.

In Niger as in most of semiarid Sub-Saharan Africa the fallow system has become a historic event as a result of increasing population pressure and has not yet been replaced with increased input use due to low product prices. As a result nutrient mining is becoming prevalent and cereals yields...

During the last decade, cotton production and area have been declining as a result of depleting soil nutrients and low cotton prices in the cotton zone of Mali. This paper shows that the Malian government’s 2011 policy to increase the farm gate cotton price as a response to world cotton price...

Cotton has been a success story in West Africa since independence swept the region in the early 1960's. Today, however, 'white gold' is struggling to maintain its allure. Recent declines in world cotton markets have created a crisis in the region's cotton sectors. Cotton is still being produced...

In the 1990s, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) granted assistance to developing countries that faced severe financial crises in South America. Disbursements of financial assistance were conditioned on the fulfilment of a set of requirements. Conditions were described in the letter of intent...