Cashew nut trading is an activity with growing economic importance in the north of Benin. Among the cost categories supported by the trading actors are transaction costs to which rare empirical studies have been devoted. Therefore, based on the theoretical concept this article empirically analyzes the importance of the transaction costs generated by cashew nut trading in the north of Benin. The empirical data were collected in two villages. Using a paired‐sample T test this study shows that the transaction costs are relatively important, but are not the major cost category. The average “production cost” is higher than the average transaction cost incurred by the trading actors. Although the transaction costs are on average lower than the other costs category, they are viewed by most actors (82 percent) as a serious constraint in the trading system due to moral hazard problems arising from the existence of these costs. By analyzing the specific factors that influence the magnitude of the transaction costs borne by the actors, the article shows that some socio‐cultural and environmental characteristics of the actors are determinant of the level of transaction costs incurred.

Climate change is currently one of the most important global environmental issues that negatively affect agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa. This importance has resulted in a great interest to understand both the farmers' perception of and adaptation to observed climate change. A good number of previous studies did explicitly focus on several adaptation strategies. Nevertheless, a better understanding of the socio-economic drivers underlying specific adaptive measures to climate change is crucial to inform specific adaptation components that will fall into a wider adaptation plan. In this respect, the present study focuses on the use of multiple cropping systems consisting of growing two or more crops on the same field either at the same time or one after another as climate change adaptation strategy. Accordingly, this paper examines different strategies commonly used to intensify agricultural production in tropical agriculture. These include crop rotation and association in the center of Benin.Data were collected in central Benin through interviews with 80 farmers selected by using a multistage random sampling technique. Data analysis was carried-out by using descriptive statistics and a Probit regression. The results showed that the major drivers of multiple cropping systems as adaptive strategy to climate change include contacts with extension services, education level, and farm size. Major constraints to the use of multiple cropping systems are gender, adult literacy, perception of adaptation to climate change, experience with climate change impacts, and farmer location. Policy options should include, among others, production of information related to impacts of climate change and their dissemination through formal services such as extension services; identification of potential ways to greatly improve returns on extra agricultural activities, and investigating on the effects of past adoption strategies on the different cropping systems.

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Face au défi de la dégradation de l’environnement et des problèmes sanitaires liés à la production du coton conventionnel au Bénin, la production du coton biologique initiée depuis quelques décennies peine à se développer. Cet article s’intéresse à l’analyse de l’effet des coûts de transaction (CT) sur la performance économique et l’adoption du coton biologique au Centre et au Nord du Bénin. Basée sur un échantillon aléatoire de 408 producteurs dont 168 adoptants du coton biologique, l’étude a utilisé l’approche d’estimation des CT, la régression logistique et le test t de Student pour l’analyse des données. Les résultats montrent que les CT, plus élevés dans le système du coton biologique réduisent considérablement la performance économique de ce système et affectent négativement la probabilité de son adoption. Outre cet effet, il ressort également l’influence négative d’autres facteurs tels que le sexe, le niveau de rendement, la distance domicile-exploitation, le nombre d’années d’expérience dans la production cotonnière et le mode de faire valoir direct sur l’adoption du coton biologique. La formation technique dans la production du coton biologique et la situation géographique exercent par contre une influence positive sur l’adoption du coton biologique.Mots clés : Déterminants, système de production, économie néo-institutionnelle, agriculture biologique English Title: Effect of transaction costs on the economic performance and the adoption of organic cotton in central and northern Benin Regarding the environmental degradation challenge and health problems due to the production of conventional cotton in Benin, organic cotton production initiated several decades ago is struggling to develop. This paper focuses on analyzing the effect of transaction costs on the economic performance and the adoption of organic cotton in central and northern Benin. The study is based on a random sample of 408 producers, including 168 adopters of organic cotton. The transaction costs estimation approach, the logistic regression and the Student's t-test were used for data analysis. The results show that the high transaction costs in the organic cotton system significantly reduce the economic performance of this system and negatively affect the probability of adoption of organic cotton. In addition, there is the negative influence of other factors such as gender, the level of yield, the distance from home to farm, the years of experience in cotton production as well as the direct tenure mode in the adoption of organic cotton. On the other side, technical training in the production of organic cotton and the geographic location have a positive influence on the adoption of organic cotton.Keywords: Determinants, production system, new institutional economics, organic production.

Low sheep productivity in North Benin hampers economic development, and improvement can contribute to reduction of rural poverty and food insecurity. To reduce one of the constraints to the productivity of Djallonké sheep, high mortality during suckling in full rainy and start dry season, we tested hygienic measures and medication in improved housing. The effect of the two treatments and their combination on lamb performance and the internal rate of return (IRR) were compared to a control. For each treatment, survival and growth were observed in 20 lambs, living in 38 herds. Good housing and hygiene (daily cleaning and fortnightly disinfection of stable and water and feed troughs) reduced mortality and increased growth of suckling lambs until 3 months. Good housing plus medication (unique injection of vitamins and amino acids and with ivermectine for deworming, weekly tick treatment by spraying, and in case of diarrhea, antibiotic treatment) reduced mortality, but growth was not higher than the control. Accounting labor opportunity, the IRR was about equal for both, but capital investment was lower for the hygiene treatment which is thus more accessible to poor farmers. The combination of both treatments increased growth and benefits compared with the hygiene treatment, but decreased the IRR.