IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wodepe/v23y2021ics2452292921000680.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Relational governance, equity and social spill-over of agricultural value chains: Cotton case in Cameroon and beyond

Author

Listed:
  • Fok, Michel

Abstract

It is often claimed that cotton production is of significant economic and social importance in the French-speaking African countries (FSACs) but indicators of socio-economic impact are often not precisely measured, not based on updated data, and equity concerns are usually not addressed. Studies of the cotton value chains in Africa seldom account for the impacts of governance on value creation and income distribution. This paper showcases the relationship between governance and equity within the cotton sector in Cameroon in the 2017–18 season, through the concept of relational governance. It was found that the studied cotton chain was well-suited to the notion of relational governance. The interlinking between the key stakeholders (cotton company, cotton producers and their representative bodies, the State) was materialized by a combination of several types of coordination in which contracts prevailed, state intervention was kept minimal and market coordination restrained to the domain of interaction with the world market. Producer organizations were contractually compensated for performing many tasks that were traditionally completed by the cotton company Overall, the governance rules were favourable to the incomes of farmers, regardless of farm size and resources. The governance of the cotton sector in Cameroon, while not optimal in terms of equity, did lead to remarkable social impacts in villages through support to children’s education and the provision of cash credit to the most needy. The study findings could be valid for other FSACs because of similar governance measures and little local valuation of cotton fibre. This paper points out the policy implication that a relational governance model should be promoted in most agricultural value chains in Africa. In the specific case of the cotton value chains in Cameroon and FSACs, the involvement of donors in the enhancement of relational governance should result in improved social impacts from cotton production.

Suggested Citation

  • Fok, Michel, 2021. "Relational governance, equity and social spill-over of agricultural value chains: Cotton case in Cameroon and beyond," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 23(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wodepe:v:23:y:2021:i:c:s2452292921000680
    DOI: 10.1016/j.wdp.2021.100352
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2452292921000680
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.wdp.2021.100352?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mr. Louis M. Goreux & Mr. Paul R Masson & Mr. Dhaneshwar Ghura & Mr. Ousmane Badiane, 2002. "Cotton Sector Strategies in West and Central Africa," IMF Working Papers 2002/173, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Jennifer Bair & Florence Palpacuer, 2015. "CSR beyond the corporation: contested governance in global value chains," Post-Print hal-02009049, HAL.
    3. Salem Y. Lakhal & Hamadoun Sidibe & Souad H'Mida, 2008. "Comparing conventional and certified organic cotton supply chains: the case of Mali," International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 7(3), pages 243-255.
    4. McWilliam, Sarah E. & Kim, Jung Kwan & Mudambi, Ram & Nielsen, Bo Bernhard, 2020. "Global value chain governance: Intersections with international business," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(4).
    5. DABAT, Marie-Hélène & ORLANDONI, Olimpia & FABRE, Pierre, 2018. "Bridging research and policy: evidence based indicators on agricultural value chains to inform decision-makers on inclusiveness and sustainability," 166th Seminar, August 30-31, 2018, Galway, West of Ireland 276197, European Association of Agricultural Economists.
    6. Stefano Ponte & Timothy Sturgeon, 2014. "Explaining governance in global value chains: A modular theory-building effort," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(1), pages 195-223, February.
    7. Michel Fok, 2006. "Ajustements nationaux de mécanismes prix face aux fluctuations du prix mondial : les leçons du coton en Afrique Zone Franc," Working Papers halshs-00009153, HAL.
    8. Akiyama, Takamasa & Baffes, John & Larson, Donald F. & Varangis, Panos, 2003. "Commodity market reform in Africa: some recent experience," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 27(1), pages 83-115, March.
    9. Aboudou, Faridath & Fok, Michel, 2019. "Women's empowerment in cotton growing: a case in Northern Benin," Journal of Gender, Agriculture and Food Security (Agri-Gender), Africa Centre for Gender, Social Research and Impact Assessment, vol. 4(1), October.
    10. Liena Kano, 2018. "Global value chain governance: A relational perspective," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 49(6), pages 684-705, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nguepi Tsafack Elvis & Hua Cheng & Buregeya Ingabire Providence, 2023. "Exploring the Optimistic Approaches and Directives of Cameroon’s Textile Sector for Reliable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-20, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cuervo-Cazurra, Alvaro & Pananond, Pavida, 2023. "The rise of emerging market lead firms in global value chains," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    2. Gary Gereffi & Hyun-Chin Lim & Joonkoo Lee, 2021. "Trade policies, firm strategies, and adaptive reconfigurations of global value chains," Journal of International Business Policy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(4), pages 506-522, December.
    3. Claire Delpeuch & Antoine Leblois, 2013. "Sub-Saharan African Cotton Policies in Retrospect," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 31(5), pages 617-642, September.
    4. Christina Stringer & Steve Hughes & D Hugh Whittaker & Nigel Haworth & Glenn Simmons, 2016. "Labour standards and regulation in global value chains: The case of the New Zealand Fishing Industry," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(10), pages 1910-1927, October.
    5. repec:hal:cepnwp:hal-01368948 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. McWilliam, Sarah E. & Kim, Jung Kwan & Mudambi, Ram & Nielsen, Bo Bernhard, 2020. "Global value chain governance: Intersections with international business," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(4).
    7. Delpeuch, Claire & Vandeplas, Anneleen, 2013. "Revisiting the “Cotton Problem”—A Comparative Analysis of Cotton Reforms in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 209-221.
    8. Zahoor, Nadia & Khan, Zaheer & Shenkar, Oded, 2023. "International vertical alliances within the international business field: A systematic literature review and future research agenda," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 58(1).
    9. Paul MAKDISSI & Quentin WODON, 2004. "Price Liberalization and Farmer Welfare Under Risk Aversion: Cotton in Benin and Ivory Coast," Cahiers de recherche 04-09, Departement d'économique de l'École de gestion à l'Université de Sherbrooke.
    10. Zicheng Ma & Liang Wang & Xin Zheng & Jianqi Zhang, 2022. "National Innovation Systems and Global Value Chain Participation: The Role of Entrepreneurship," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(2), pages 897-920, April.
    11. Han, Xiaomin & Goxe, François & Freeman, Susan, 2024. "Internationalization through social networks: A systematic review and future research agenda," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(4).
    12. Paul Makdissi & Quentin Wodon, 2008. "Can Risk Averse Competitive Input Providers Serve Farmers Efficiently in Developing Countries," Working Papers 0808E, University of Ottawa, Department of Economics.
    13. Bodas Freitas, Isabel Maria & Gonçalves, Ricardo & Sousa, Rui, 2023. "Governance of new product design: The influence of national institutions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    14. Rong (Ratchel) Zeng & Birgitte Grøgaard & Ingmar Björkman, 2023. "Navigating MNE control and coordination: A critical review and directions for future research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 54(9), pages 1599-1622, December.
    15. Stefano Ponte & Valentina De Marchi & Marco Bettiol & Eleonora di Maria, 2023. "The horizontal governance of environmental upgrading: Lessons from the Prosecco and Valpolicella wine value chains in Italy," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 55(8), pages 1884-1905, November.
    16. Liena Kano & Eric W. K. Tsang & Henry Wai-chung Yeung, 2020. "Global value chains: A review of the multi-disciplinary literature," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(4), pages 577-622, June.
    17. Bruno Carballa Smichowski & Cédric Durand & Steven Knauss, 2016. "Uneven development patterns in global value chains," Working Papers hal-01368948, HAL.
    18. Islam, Mohammad Tarikul & Chadee, Doren, 2023. "Stuck at the bottom: Role of tacit and explicit knowledge on innovation of developing-country suppliers in global value chains," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(2).
    19. Theriault, Veronique & Sterns, James A., 2012. "John R. Commons and the Evolution of Institutions: The Case of the Malian Cotton Sector," 2012 Annual Meeting, August 12-14, 2012, Seattle, Washington 124460, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    20. Roger Strange & John Humphrey, 2019. "What lies between market and hierarchy? Insights from internalization theory and global value chain theory," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(8), pages 1401-1413, October.
    21. Dimitropoulos, Panagiotis & Koronios, Konstantinos & Sakka, Georgia, 2023. "International business sustainability and global value chains: Synthesis, framework and research agenda," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(5).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wodepe:v:23:y:2021:i:c:s2452292921000680. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/world-development-perspectives .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.