Poverty among Cotton Producers: Evidence from West and Central Africa

World cotton prices have been declining in the past decade and farmers in West and Central Africa have been especially hard hit. This has led to heated policy debates and difficult trade-offs for governments, as their desire to help producers is constrained by the need to avoid large subsidies that could lead to important budget deficits and ultimately threaten macro-economic stability and future growth. Using very simple statistical analysis, this short dissemination note shows how newly available household surveys have permitted the estimation of measures of poverty among cotton producers in West and Central Africa, as well as simulations of the impact that changes in producer prices may have on poverty.