Adoption and impact of organic cotton farming practices on households' livelihoods in the central-eastern region of Burkina Faso

Abstract

This study aims to examine the adoption and the impact of organic farming in the specific case of organic cotton farming in Burkina Faso. The adoption and impact of organic cotton production is investigated through an endogenous switching regression model to control for the endogeniety of the adoption decision. The results of the study revealed that factors such as the experience in cotton farming, the education of the head of household, household size, the gender of the head of household and the knowledge provided to cotton farmers through radio emissions affect negatively the decision to grow organic cotton while the age of the head of household has a positive impact on the decision to grow organic cotton. The adoption of organic cotton farming has a significant positive impact on the returns on cotton production of organic cotton farmers but affect negatively their capacity to grow non-cotton crops.