Typology and Economic Profitability of Farms in Mali: Case of Cotton Producers in the CMDT Zones of Fana and Koutiala

Abstract:

This paper reports an analysis of the operating account and the economic profitability of farms according to the typology of cotton farmers in the CMDT zones of Fana and Koutiala in Mali, highlighting the causes of the level of profitability. The methodological approach adopted was first of all a descriptive and inferential analysis of the socio-demographic characteristics of the farms, the farm account and the economic profitability by type of farm (well-equipped, equipped and less equipped). It has been found that only well-equipped farms make a positive profit if we value family labour and organic manure. The other types of farms had difficulty covering the costs involved in seed cotton production. Cotton farmers use far too much family labour (10 people on average) without seeing their profits increase exponentially. As a result, the productivity of family labour is extremely low (almost 216 FCFA of Average Labour Remuneration Rate on average overall), making the activity economically unprofitable from this point of view. Moreover, producers of the equipped or less equipped type have negative IRRs (respectively -15% and -36%) as opposed to the well-equipped type with an IRR of 26%. Therefore, only producers of the well-equipped type have an economically profitable activity from the point of view of capital productivity, considering the 12% threshold set by credit institutions. At the end of this investigation, we propose to train cotton farmers in farm management by helping them to better optimise their production costs; reorient some active members of the household towards other income-generating activities; grant access to equipment credit for both well-equipped and less-equipped farms so that they can increase their yields and net cotton profits; and easily grant access to land to farms, especially well-equipped ones, so that they can sow more land.