Cotton Policy Research Articles

Cotton Policy of Tsarist Russia in the Lower Reaches of Amudarya (Late 19th — Early 20th Century)

Cotton Policy of Tsarist Russia in the Lower Reaches of Amudarya (Late 19th — Early 20th Century)

“Turkestan Native Newspaper” as a Tool for Promoting the Cotton Policy of the Russian Empire in Turkestan

“Turkestan Native Newspaper” as a Tool for Promoting the Cotton Policy of the Russian Empire in Turkestan

Cash crop or food crop? socioeconomic and geopolitical factors affecting smallholder farmer crop selection in times of crisis in southwestern Tajikistan

Tajikistan's agricultural sector, primarily dominated by cotton cultivation, has experienced significant changes since the Soviet era. Although farmers introduced food crops into agricultural production to ensure food security after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the government still mandates that cotton cultivation occupy a considerable portion of Tajikistan's limited irrigated land. However, following the recent Covid-19 pandemic crisis, farmers have encountered the need to reassess their agricultural practices, given constrained governmental assistance and a range of socioeconomic considerations. This research adopts resilience as a conceptual framework to examine the coping strategies of smallholder farmers in the Khatlon region of Tajikistan, with a specific emphasis on the period spanning from 2019 to 2022. At the outset, our research employed the snowballing technique to increase respondent participation, later transitioning to a representative sample size that facilitated the collection of qualitative data from around 100 semi-structured interviews, 10 focus groups, and personal visits to agricultural fields over the course of four years. The paper not only demonstrates the overall creativity of Tajikistani farmers in growing and selecting non-cotton crops in this most recent period of crisis, but also points to wealthier farmers’ generally greater willingness to adopt technological innovations and gain new knowledge to apply to them. Although these strategies have been taken in order to address farmers’ immediate needs in troubled times against the backdrop of the existing state cotton policy, their sustainability remains uncertain. While the qualitative focus of this study bears certain inherent limitations, the data collected nevertheless show that this period of crisis has been generative for many farmers as they seek out new methods of subsistence.

The Transmission Effect Test of China’s Rotation Mechanism on the Cotton Reserve Market

As an important strategic material in China, cotton policy has positive significance in stabilizing the safety of domestic cotton, ensuring cotton income, and stabilizing cotton output. At the same time, affected by the future market price, the cotton industry supply chain cost management is particularly important. Based on the data of China’s cotton price, consumption, yield, and wheeling-in and wheeling-out from 1978 to 2016, the simultaneous equation model is used to empirically analyze the transmission effect of the rotation mechanism of reserve cotton (RMRC) on cotton supply and demand. Studies have shown that China’s cotton reserve policy and the RMRC play a positive role in balancing the supply and demand of the domestic cotton market and preventing excessive fluctuations in cotton prices. The transmission effect of the RMRC on domestic cotton yield and consumption is significant and there are certain differences. The transmission effect of domestic cotton yield is stronger than the transmission effect on domestic cotton consumption. The difference is owing to the transfer path of the RMRC being different. We should improve the regulation and control effect of the RMRC on cotton demand, realize the normalization of the RMRC, and clarify the policy objectives of the RMRC.

Directions of U.S. Farm Programmes under a Freer Trade Environment

For the new round of WTO multilateral trade liberalisation negotiations to be successful, the world will need to be more enthusiastic and flexible about opening markets. Partisans will need to submerge their self-interests, and the U.S. will need to take the initiative for more open markets. This paper makes the case that only modest changes in the U.S. domestic grain, oilseed, and cotton programmes are needed for compatibility with global free trade. The Federal Agricultural Improvement and Reform (FAIR) Act of 1996 and related policy changes in the 1990s brought fundamental reforms compatible with freer domestic and foreign markets. Chief among these were a shift from coupled deficiency payments to decoupled direct payments, an end to supply management, and less engagement of government in commodity stock accumulation and export subsidies. Converting commodity price support to recourse loans while ending all but administrative cost subsidies to crop insurance would go far to liberalise grain, oilseed, and cotton policies. Unilateral termination of commodity programmes including direct payments totalling 42 percent of net cash farm income in year 2000 would appear to be traumatic to producers. However, reduction of direct payments could be offset (for farm income) by rising farm commodity prices and receipts resulting from (1) less farm output attending lower loan rates and crop insurance subsidies, and (2) world farm commodity price-enhancement from freer global trade.

Weather index insurance for transition to sustainable cotton production under climate change in Xinjiang, China

Assessing climate-induced reductions in cotton yields is critical to developing weather insurance for sustainable agricultural development. Climatic factors such as frost, hail, and drought severely constrain the sustainable development of cotton production in Xinjiang. In this study, based on cotton production and meteorological data from 1988 to 2019 in Aksu, Xinjiang, the H-P filtering method, correlation test, and regression analysis were used to develop a weather index model of cotton yield reduction rate and key meteorological factors. The results showed that the trend yield separated by the H-P filtering method was more stable. The correlation analysis between cotton fertility and meteorological factors concluded that there was a strong positive correlation between precipitation and cotton yield, i.e., the more rainfall, the more unfavorable environment for cotton growth and development. The results of the empirical analysis to determine the net premium rate under different disaster registrations based on the logistic probability distribution model showed that the highest probability of meteorological disasters in the Aksu region was 22.36%, the premium rate was 1.79%, and the net premium was 34.01 RMB per mu. It is found that climate change is closely related to the environment, and human production activities are compatible with the carrying capacity of the environment, otherwise, climate change leads to frequent meteorological disasters, which is not conducive to the sustainable development of agricultural production. It is expected that these research results can provide a relevant basis for the implementation of cotton policy weather insurance in Aksu and other regions and promote the sustainable development of cotton production.

Cotton Policies in the Democratic Party (DP) Period and Their Effects on the Weaving Industry (1950-1960)

14 Mayıs 1950 tarihinde Demokrat Parti (DP)’nin iktidara gelmesinden hükûmet darbesiyle iktidardan uzaklaştırıldığı 27 Mayıs 1960’a kadar Türkiye’de uygulanan pamuk politikalarıyla bu politikaların dokuma sanayisine etkileri makalenin konusunu teşkil etmektedir. Çalışma, DP Dönemi’nde pamuk politikaları (1950-1960); pamuk tarımında izlenen politikaların dokuma sanayisine etkileri (1950-1960) şeklinde iki başlık hâlinde verilmiştir. DP Dönemi’nde pamuk politikaları ve bu politikaların dokuma sanayisine katkıları sayısal verilerle ortaya konulmuştur. Makalenin kaynaklarını başta Cumhuriyet Arşivi belgeleri olmak üzere Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi kanunlar ve tutanak dergileri, Zabıt Ceridesi, Resmî Gazete, Ayın Tarihi, istatistik yıllıkları, ekonomi ve tarım dergileri teşkil etmektedir. Konu araştırılırken Türkiye ve dünyanın pamuk yetiştiriciliği hususunda meydana gelen gelişmeleri dikkate alınarak gerekli yorumlamalarda bulunulmuştur. Çalışmadan elde edilen sonuçlar şunlardır: DP’nin iktidara gelmesinden sonra pamuk ekim alanlarında artış yaşanmış, pamuk tohumu üretim, dağıtım ve ıslah çalışmaları düzenli bir biçimde yürütülmüş, akabinde de ulusal ve uluslararası düzeyde gerçekleştirilen konferans ve toplantılarla pamuk sorunları ele alınarak çözüm yolları aranmıştır. Buna zararlılarla yapılan mücadeleler de eklenince üretim ve ihracat artmış, Türkiye dünya pamuk üretiminde yedinci, ihracatta da beşinci sıraya yükselmiştir. Ülkenin üretim ve satışta dünyada sıralamaya girmesi, pamuk dokuma sanayinin gelişimini de tetikleyip millî ekonomiye önemli katkılar sağlanmasına yol açmıştır.

Impact of cropping pattern shift on livelihood assets of the farmers in Punjab, Pakistan

Cotton area is shrinking in Pakistan as the farmers have started adopting sugarcane for many reasons such as increasing number of sugar mills in core cotton areas. This study aimed at exploring the impacts of this cropping pattern shift on livelihood of the farmers. This study was conducted in district Rahim Yar Khan, one of the cotton core area of Punjab province. Total 400 farmers participated in the study. A well-structured interview schedule was administered in the field to conduct face to face interviews of the respondents. Descriptive statistics were applied to analyze the collected data through the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to form conclusions and to make recommendations. The results indicated that knowledge and skills about production of other crops, linkage with research and development institutions, livestock possession and cash income of the respondents increased in result of cropping pattern shift. Conversely, land fertility and water conservation were compromised after shifting from cotton to sugarcane crop in the study area. This study urges further exploration of merits and demerits of cropping pattern shifts followed by the impacts on agricultural system in the country. It is further recommended that the government should revamp the cotton policy for the coming year. For instance, announcing and sustaining a minimum support price of cotton for cotton growers could reinstate the growers to cotton cultivation.

US–Brazilian cotton policies

AbstractBrazil filed a lawsuit with the WTO against the United States for providing cotton production and export subsidies, and the WTO ruled in favour of Brazil. Brazil threatened to impose retaliatory tariffs if the United States does not comply with the WTO rulings. After a prolonged litigation stretching from 2002 to 2010, both countries agreed to a negotiated settlement wherein the United States paid Brazilian cotton producers to compensate for any adverse effects. This study develops a political economic model to theoretically analyse US cotton policies, Brazil's threat of retaliatory tariffs and the negotiated settlement between the two countries. The theoretical results show that the volume of cotton output, supply price response, politicians' apathy for the public welfare, elasticities of excess supply/demand and the magnitude of US transfers play a crucial role in determining US policies. This study contributes to the literature by being the first to model political economic aspects of the complex system of trade and domestic policies in the cotton industry using a three‐country framework, tariff retaliation and transfers between the countries.

A select list of articles on Africa appearing in non-Africanist Periodicals: (July - September 2013)

Awortini, N. The riddle of community development: factors influencing participation and management in twenty-nine African and Latin American countries. Community Development Journal48, 1 (2013), pp. 89–104. Barnes, T. D. and Burchard, S. M. ‘Engendering politics’: the impact of descriptive representation on women's political engagement in sub-Saharan Africa. Comparative Political Studies46, 7 (2013), pp. 767–90. Christiaensen, L. and Deverajan, S. Making the most of Africa's growth. Current History112, 750 (2013), pp. 181–7. Clarke, C. R. Pan-African and Pentecostalism in Africa. Black Theology11, 2 (2013), pp. 152–84. Delpeuch, C. and Leblois, A. Sub-Saharan African cotton policies in retrospect. Development Policy Review31, 5 (2013), pp. 617–42. Firsing, S. and Williams, O. Increased Chinese and American defence involvement in Africa. Defense and Security Analysis29, 2 (2013), pp. 89–103. Haggblade, S. Unscrambling Africa: regional requirements for achieving food security. Development Policy Review31, 2 (2013), pp. 149–76. Keane, J. Rethinking trade preferences for sub-Saharan Africa: how can trade in tasks be the potential lifeline? Development Policy Review31, 4 (2013), pp. 443–62.

Sub‐Saharan African Cotton Policies in Retrospect

Calls for liberalising cash‐crop sectors in sub‐Saharan Africa have been voiced for decades, yet the impact of reforms remains elusive in empirical studies. This article offers new opportunities for solving this problem by creating precise and consistent market organisation indices for 25 African cotton markets from 1961 to 2008. The aggregation of scores reveals interesting trends: markets are no more competitive today than in the late 1990s, 50% of production still originates from markets with fixed prices and reforms are giving rise to a new type of regulated market in both East and West Africa.

Evaluation of effects of cotton policy changes on land and water use in Uzbekistan: Application of a bio-economic farm model at the level of a water users association

Various agricultural policies have been implemented in post-Soviet countries as they move from centrally planned to market economies. In the agriculture sector of Uzbekistan, Central Asia, several reforms have been implemented to increase the operational autonomy of agricultural producers. However, land and water use in agriculture remains directly linked to the centrally regulated cotton production. Still partly resembling the design of the state orders imposed during the planned economy, cotton production policy is used to ensure the stability of national export revenues at the expense of farm incomes. In this paper we argue that modifying the cotton policy may improve the situation with farm incomes and food production, and reduce pressure on water resources, the availability of which in Central Asia is expected to decrease. To conduct an ex ante analysis of cotton policy modifications intended to improve rural incomes, a bio-economic optimization model was developed at the level of a water users association in the Khorezm region of Uzbekistan. Policy simulations showed that abolishing the current cotton policy would be a more economically attractive option for farmers and also increase grain production rather than various forms of this policy modification. However, abolishing the current cotton policy can present pressure on irrigation water resources as farmers would opt to cultivate water-intensive crops, thus requiring supplemental policies and institutions for sustainable resources use.

A Retrospective View of the EU's Cotton Production, and Future Perspectives

The expansion of the European Union (EU) to include Greece and Spain in 1981 and 1986 respectively led to an expansion of sectors protected under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which included cotton. In the subsequent decades, the EU's cotton policy has undergone several revamping attempts. By bringing cotton production and processing under the EU umbrella, EU policy makers admitted the role and significance of its production for the agriculture and economy of southern Europe. Nevertheless, the course of this policy has been highly contentious, and will probably remain so for years to come. This paper offers a retrospective view of the EU's cotton policy and then considers current and future perspectives of the cotton sector, as cotton, a commodity that is produced worldwide and a basic input for the textile and clothing industry, attracts the interest of both EU and world agriculture.

Politique cotonnière en Syrie : adaptation partielle et progressive à la mondialisation

Syria is a rather important cotton producing country but its cotton policy is seldom appraised and remains little known outside the country. This policy is quite particular given a strong and stable commitment from the State and powerful administrative control of cotton production, even after some shift to a more liberalized economy. The pricing system has remained unchanged for more than forty years to guaranty producers an attractive income. Syria provides a rare example of a cotton policy based on a controlled offer, integrating more recently the concern of sustainable water use. With regard to the policy objectives, the Syrian cotton policy is proving effective at increasing cotton production while developing a textile industry the raw material requirements of which are fully covered. The investment in research and technical assistance to producers has enabled Syria to be a rare cotton country achieving substantial reduction of insecticide use. It is not possible to assess the extent of policy effectiveness and efficiency because of difficult access to the needed data. However, concern for a sustainable use of water appears quite insufficient. The Syrian desire to join the WTO implies the challenge of drastic change of its cotton policy while maintaining an effective role of the State.

U.S. Cotton Subsidies: Drawing a Fine Line on the Degree of Decoupling

The impact of the U.S. cotton policy depends on several interrelated factors: how input subsidies interact with producer price supports, producer price expectations, and the extent to which price supports are decoupled from production. Cotton subsidies have a direct impact on world cotton prices, depending on the extent to which price supports are coupled to production. At one extreme, there is a price impact of 12.4% when producers make decisions at the loan rate, but the average price impact is 20.9% when producers make decisions based on the target price. Results are presented for intermediate cases of decoupling.

Radical Rudeness: Ugandan Social Critiques in the 1940s

This article asks how the people of colonial Uganda, especially the kingdom of Buganda, understood themselves in the 1940s not just as imperial subjects, but as citizens capable of mobilizing for change. To understand activism and agency in such a context, I explore how power in the protectorate was encoded in manners, politeness, and conventional rituals of sociability—built from complementary Ganda and British expectations—that could be disrupted by activists using tactics of rudeness. Activists lacked a clear issue-based politics, or the resources to engage in active state-building. Instead, they performed a rude, publicly celebrated strategy of insults, scandal mongering, disruption, and disorderliness that broke conventions of colonial friendship, partnership, and mutual benefit. They sought to delineate and make public the real clashes of interest both among Baganda, and between Baganda and Britons, as a way of opening up to public scrutiny the covert practices of negotiation that had produced land deals, cotton policy, bureaucratic appointments, and power within the kingdom and protectorate. By juxtaposing cultural analysis and political history, and using concepts, such as rudeness or manners, that are rooted in local practices, we can gain insights into big historical concepts such as popular activism and nationalist mobilization.

Texas, Cotton, and the New Deal

In the early 1930s, cotton was produced in 223 of the 254 countries in Texas and was a central element in the state's economy. The Great Depression created a major distruption that threatened to destabilize the entire Lone Star State. Keith J. Volanto relates the story of the New Deal's efforts to aid Texas cotton farmers, specifically with the production-control policies introduced by the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA). He explores the reasons the AAA cotton programs in Texas were instituted, the implementation problems the AAA encountered and how they were resolved, and the results of the programs. He draws conclusions concerning how well Texans benefited from the AAA cotton programs and about those who were actually harmed by them. In addition, Volanto also examines the role of Texas politicians and bureaucrats in formulating the policies in Washington and the importance of Texas to New Deal cotton policy broadly. Volanto's account of the AAA cotton programs in Texas is a study not only of agriculture policy but also of the New Deal itself. The experience of the AAA - the political, economic, and legal constraints it faced - provides new insight into the nature of New Deal commodity programs. Very little has previously been written on farm subsidy programs and their impact on Texas during the 1930s and the AAA's cotton programs that were implemented at the state level. Texas, Cotton, and the New Deal fills this void.

The Political Economy of Interwar Egyptian Cotton Policy

The optimal tariff was a central concern to economists and policymakers in interwar Egypt. The government took the position that Egypt conformed to the small-country assumption in world cotton markets. Using time-series and panel data for the period 1895–1939, this article demonstrates that Egyptian long-staple cotton commanded significant market power in international markets. An optimal export tariff would have encouraged economic diversification and generated huge government revenues, making it possible to finance industrialization plans. However, the burden of taxation would have been shared by Egyptian landlords and British interests. Thus, an optimal export tariff was incompatible with the goals of Egypt's ruling elite, who dictated the orientation of trade policy until the 1950s.

Rocklea Spinning Mills Pty Ltd v. Anti-Dumping Authority and Another

Economics, trade and finance — General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade — Subsidies — Imposition of countervailing duties to offset effects of subsidies — Whether a financial burden must be borne directly or indirectly by a government or a public body for a measure to be a subsidy — Whether a government’s price-fixing policy indirectly assisting domestic manufacturers by permitting them to buy raw materials at price lower than world price constitutes a subsidy — Imposition of compulsory export prices for raw cotton by Pakistani Government — Pakistani cotton manufacturers benefiting from lower price of raw cotton — Whether cotton policy can be subject to countervailing duties under domestic legislation implementing 105Australia’s obligations under gatt and the Countervailing Code — The law of Australia

Cotton, Colonialism, and Social History in Sub-Saharan Africa

Part One Cotton policies and African realities: note on cotton and climate the cotton campaign in northern Nigeria 1902-14 - a planning failure cotton in german Toogoland 1800-1914 cotton and colonial order in Sudan - the Gezira system the Portuguese colonial cotton regime in Angola and Mozambique 1946-74. Part Two Struggles over labour/struggles over markets: forced cotton cultivation in northern Mozambique peasants and the struggle for labour in cotton regimes of the Rufiji Basin, Tanzania 1890-1918 forced cotton cultivation and social control in the Belgian Congo cotton, peasants and the colonial state in the French Soudan 1924-32. Part Three Cotton, food security and reproduction of rural communities: cotton in Cote d'Ivoire 1912-46 ritual and resistance cash cropping in colonial Tanganyika 1920-40 the conflict between cotton and food in colonial Malawi.