This paper is based on a detailed assessment of cotton sector performance in nine countries of West-Central Africa (WCA) and East and Southern Africa (ESA): Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The paper builds on earlier work in ESA by Poulton et al. (2004), asking whether the findings in that research stand up to the passage of five years time, to the inclusion of WCA with its vastly differing history and institutional setup, and to the richer set of performance indicators used in this paper. We find that the fundamental contentions in that earlier work, that increased competition will not necessarily improve performance, and that the appropriate role of government depends on the specific market structure and regulatory regime of the sector, are strongly supported. Additional new insights are generated that provide useful guidance to policy makers and stakeholders as they work to improve productivity and ensure an equitable division of benefits within the sector.