Agricultural and Biological Research

Adoption and technical efficiency of organic and fair-trade cashew production in Benin (West Africa)

Gerard C Zoundji*, Fifanou Vodouhe, Joel-Franck D Houngbeme and Jacob A Yabi

The global demand for raw cashew nuts has been growing steadily over the years and has led to a sharp rise in the use of chemical inputs, becoming the only alternative to improve production. As a result of many environmental and health problems related to the use of chemicals, but also due to their marginalization on the international market, some small producers in Africa; particularly in Benin (West Africa) have embarked on the fair-trade, organic production of cashew nuts to meet the ever-increasing global demand. This research identifies factors determining the adoption of fair-trade organic cashew and estimates producer’s technical level efficiency in central Benin. Two-stage random sampling was used to select 160 cashew producers. The study used the student’s “t” test, logistic regression and the method based on stochastic frontiers of type production Cobb-Douglas function to assess data collected from the research sample. Our investigations revealed that large field size, cotton production and producer’s secondary activities have negative effects on organic cashew fair-trade adoption while the number of agricultural assets, experience in cashew production, land access and frequency of contacts with extension services positively affect organic cashew fair-trade adoption. Women are more likely than men to produce organic, fair-trade cashews. The average efficiency indices of organic fair-trade producers are 0.63, suggesting that farmers have room to improve their technical efficiency, using their existing resources.