• My stuffs (Michel FOK)

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Complete list of my publications 

This list can be reached through the following link but documents could not be downloaed there

 Liste CIRAD des publications de Michel FOK

Download of the pre-print versions of the publications is made possible through the following sections

Access to downloable pre-print versions

The access to pre-print files (via open archives) is under construction and will take some time to be completed. In case you are interested in getting the pre-print file of one of my communications you have identified in my publication list, please let me know through email.

Thesis on cotton development and the role of State  

•   Thesis defended in 1997, written in French under the title :"State, cotton production and exportation, textile industry and economic development. An economic history of cotton/textile in the world". To have a glance, see  abstract, or the general conclusion.
• The file of the whole thesis is up to 27 Mo, it has been split into several sub-files some of which might nevertheless reach up to 5 Mo. In case of low connection speed, display might be difficult. If so, it remains asking me to send you the CD-ROM of the whole file
• To download : the introductive part P1, component  1 of the Part 2, component  2 of the Part 2, the part P3, component  1 of the Part 4, component  2 of the Part 4, component 1 of annexes, component 2 of annexes, component 3 of annexes

Publications related to Genetically Modified Cotton (GMC)

Effectiveness and chemical pest control of Bt-cotton in Yangtze River Valley, China

•  09/2008. Paper published in Crop Protection Journal, dealing with a region less addressed by most papers concerning Bt-cotton in China and where cotton is transplanted with hybrid varieties. For the first time, it is contended that the non-optimal effectiveness of Bt-cotton in China is at least due to the constraint in manually producing hybrid seeds. Article in English
  

Lessons learnt from using Bt-cotton under unfavorable conditions: the case of South Africa 

•  01/2008. Paper presented to the Cotton Beltwide Conferences, Nashville, Tennessee (USA). Bt-cotton has not prevented from the decline of cotton production within a context of institutional instability and lack of agriculture attractiveness. The economic results of Bt-cotton use were furthermore penalized in a year of bad rainy season.   Article in English.

 

Contextual appraisal of GM cotton diffusion in South Africa

• 10/2007: Analysis of an experience of GM cotton adoption taking in to account the local context of agriculture so as to understand why cotton production keeps on declining and why the smallholders' share remains marginal, even after the adoption of GM cotton. Journal article in English  

Technology integration and seed market organization: The case of GM Cotton diffusion in Jiangsu Province (China).

• 01/2007: GMC along the Yangtze River Valley : the diffusion of GMC has benefited from a phenomenon of technology integration, making profit of pre-existing conventional technologies. Document in english

GM Cotton in China: Innovation integration and seed market disintegration

• 07/2007: The dissemination of GM cotton has certainly led to modernize the seed market but its disintegration resulting from lack of coordination is troublesome. Document in english

Multiple-factor adoption of GM Cotton in China: Influence of conventional technology development and rural change in Jiangsu Province

• 09/2007: In China, the large adoption of GM cotton has benefited from the strucutral change in farming activities. Document in english

Genetically Modified Seeds and decommodification: An analysis based on the Chinese cotton case

• 12/2006: An exception which confirms the general rule of decommodification. Very early Preprint version of a book champter, in english

Impact of Bt cotton adoption on pesticide use by smallholders: A 2-year survey in Makhatini Flats (South Africa)

• 2006: little advantage observed in an unfavorable year. Document in english

Diffusion du coton génétiquement modifié en Chine : leçons sur les facteurs et limites d'un succès

• 12/2005: Lessons learnt from the diffusion of GM cotton in China. Document in french 

Conditions, résultats et perspectives d'utilisation du coton génétiquement modifié (coton Bt) dans les PED

• 12/2006: Conditions, results and propspects for GM cotton use in developing countries. Document in french

Diffusion du CGM dans une filière instable en Afrique du Sud et les leçons pour l'Afrique Zone Franc

• 12/2006: Lessons learnt form the diffusion of GM cotton in an unstable cotton sector. Document in french

Differentiated management of GM diffusion in China: Further hampering the self-sufficiency in cereal production?

• 08/2004: Particularity of differentiated management of GM varieties between fond and non-food crops. Document in english 

 

Publications related to cotton trade

Coton africain et marché mondial : une distorsion peut en cacher une autre plus importante.

• An analysis of the impacts of the liberalisation of the cotton trade in African cotton countries. In addition to the distorsion implied by the cotton subsidies of a few countries, the African countries now are submitted to the oligopoly of international cotton traders Document in french

Globalization, Trojan Horse for the domination of Multinational companies of cotton trade in Africa,

• text of a poster presented to the AIEA international conference (2006)

Presentation of the  Private systems of rules governing the international transactions of cotton

• and analysis through the Game theory (2004)

A vision of the information

• that one could extract from the  price indicators of public access in français, or in English (2000)

About the requirements of the world cotton market  (1999)

 

Publications related to cotton sectors in Africa and in the World

 Around the world of cotton issues in ten months: a guide for navigation

•  05/2008. Communication presented to an international conference on cotton policies. This paper summarizes the cotton sector stakeholders' interactions between April 2007 and March 2008, as they are captured through a watch of online newspapers. Many issues are common to many cotton countries, a few countrieshave settled up original solutions.In most cotton countries, governments have to intervene, even in Brazi, in terms of financial support to producers. Article in English

An approach to appraise the  dynamics of the African cotton sectors by the Theory of networks

 

• which were carried out to address the big networks of service distribution and their deregulation (2007) so as to draw out lessons to amend the reform of cotton sectors in Francophone Africa. The build up of networks has required state regulation through allocation of monopoly. Deregulation still call upon regulation the State.

• with an English presented at the Cotton Beltwide Conferences, Nashville, Tennessee (USA° in January 2008. Text available

   

Extent and limitations of the success of cotton sectors

•  in Francophone African countries: the challenges ahead within an exacerbated globalization.

An analysis of the  construction of the African cotton sectors 

• based upon reduction of uncertainties to farmers (2004)

Cotton production in a specific area in China, 

• a part-time agriculture mainly monitored by women (2004)

An application of an analytical framework to assess the performance of cotton sectors to a set of six countries,

• synthesis report of the Resocot Project in french, or in English  (2003),

• article on the method of performance analysis based upon coordination failures (2003),

• article on the non-fatality of coordination failures (2003)

Reflections on the issue of purchasing price mechanisms

• to warn against the illusion of any perfect mecanism for the setting of purchase price of cotton  to adapt to the fluctuation of the world market price, hence proposing the concept of acceptable mechanism. Communication Slideshow (2003)

• to draw lessons from the changes of price mechanisms observed in Francophone Africa since mid-1980s.
  

Analysis of the  threat of the institutional instability on the vaibility of the cotton sectors

•  in Francophone Africa (2003)

Presentation on the  functioning of cotton sectors in Africa,

• slideshow of the communication made before the Board of Administrators of AFDI (2002) 

Diagnosis of the cotton sector in Mozambique, structure and performance (2002)

Reflection on the  role of instituonal innovations in the development of cotton sectors

• and about their constructive feature (1999)

About the  role of farmers

• in the development of cotton sectors in Mali (1994)

about the concept of cotton system

• involving players and their diverging interests to conciliate,

• about the dynamics of this cotton system in Mali, in français and in English

An analysis based on a simple model

•  to understand the  synergy between cotton and food crops (1994)

A visit of a century of cotton development

•  through the analysis of players and crisis (1993)

Publications related to the markets of cotton products

An analysis of the factors impacting on the offer and demand of cotton in the world market

•  and about the  possible manoeuvre of African countries,  communication slideshow (2005)

A pre-faisibility study of biodegradable plastic film 

• made from proteins of cottonseeds, implemented in the framework of a European Project (2005)

Analysis of the promise and limitations of the markets of cotton by-products (2001)

A  presentation of the cotton market ,

• slideshow of the communication made before the Board of Administrators of AFDI (2002)

An article in an economic daily newspaper

•  to point out the need to initiate actions to comply with the qualitative requirements  of the cotton market

An analysis of the phenomenon of yield stagnation worldwide

• nevertheless with differentiated causes between countries (1998)

Publications related to cotton, globalization and WTO

Role of the crop protection improvement to help gaining productivity within a distorted cotton world market

•  10/2007. Paper presented to the World Crop Protection Congress, Glasgow, Scotland. Title of the paper:  "Challenge of improving Cotton competitiveness in a distorted market: Analysing the role of crop protection in Francophone Africa". It is notably pointed out the "lever effect" resulting from the improvement of crop protection, in particular through using Bt-cotton. Texte available, as well as the presentation made in ppt.

An analysis of the process of the adaptation to globalization

• through adjustment of national pricing mechanisms (2006)

An analysis of the factors

• associated to the  crisis of the African cotton sectors leading to question the issue of support to cotton (2006)

Reflection on the  negotiation approach at the WTO 

• to take profit of the advantage obtained at the Ministerial Meeting of the WTO in Cancùn, paper in an economic daily newspaper (2004)

Reflection on the various areas of actions beyond the sole claim for phasing out subsidies,

• hence raising the issue of  adapting the type of fuel to relaunch the cotton motor for development (2004)

Reflection on the need to 

•  target at economic efficacy of the cotton sectors beyond the sole aspect of ethics in the world trade (2002)

Reflection of the possible  strategic positions the African cotton countries could consider at the Doha Round Negotiations,

• in French, with a shroter version  in English, translation made by ICAC (2002)

Analysis of the outcomes of the agricultural sector liberalization 

• in developing countries, through the example of cotton in Africa (2001)

Analysis showing that the development of cotton production in Africa has little depended on the sole coordination by the market

Reflection on the difficulties to successfuly liberalize the supply of inputs

• in African cotton countries (1998)

Analysis of the collapse of cashewnut sector in Mozambique

• following the liberal-orientated policy changed

Publications related to farmers behaviours and practices

A snapshot on the Cotton Production système in Mozambique a few years after the return to peace 

An analysis of the Farmers' behaviours in producing cotton in response to imperfect markets (2003)

An analysis of the farmers' behaviours 

• in reducing the intensification degree as a response to globalizationtion (1999)

An analysis of the change in intensification level in growing maize

• in the Malian cotton zone as an answer to the changes in incentives notably through price incentive (1999)

An analysis of the  farmers' cultivation practices 

• pointing out the gap with recommended techniques and proposing the concept of management of yield expectancies (1999)

Revisiting the success of the Francophone African cotton

•   not as an example of Green Revolution but the outcome of institutional evolution (1995)

proposal for a new mechanism of setting the purchase price of seedcotton

• associated to price incentives for more crop intensification, as a move to locally adapt to the international price fluctuations (1994)

Publications related to technical research for productivity gain

Analysis on the factors beneath the yield decline in Mali

• study implemented in the first semester of 2007, on request of the Malian cotton company (Compagnie Malienne pour le Développement des Textiles, CMDT)
• the sub-title of the report is "from physiology to ideology"
• the right of the report diffusion belongs to the client and not to the expert having implemented it.

Analysis for an approach to relaunch cotton research within a context of liberal economy in Tanzania

• study implemented in 2006, on request of the Ministry of Agriculture of Tanzania through funding by the European Commission Delegation in Dar es Salam
• the study report also deals with the prospects and limitations of research privatisation through the cases of tea, coffee and tobacco.
• the right of the report diffusion belongs to the client and not to the expert having implemented it.

  

 

Vision of the needed combination of technical and institutional innovation

• to actually achieve technical progress (2002)

Discussion about Varietal research, one component of the solution to meet the implicit demand of producers,

• introduction of the notion of demand transciption and clarification of the specifications of the technical solution to address (2000)

Synthesis of the applied research activities 

• in Mozambique, in the area of Montepuez (2003)

Prospective analysis of the Room for productivity gain for African cotton sectors (2003)

Rationales and requirements to relaunch cotton research in Africa

• in order to meet the demands from the cotton market and producers (2000)