Benin is predominantly a rural society, and agriculture in Benin supports more than 70% of the population. Agriculture contributes around 25.4% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and 80% of export income. While the Government of Benin (GOB) aims to diversify its agricultural production, Benin remains underdeveloped, and its economy is underpinned by subsistence agriculture. Approximately 93% of total agricultural production goes into food production. The proportion of the population living in poverty is about 35.2%, with more rural households in poverty (38.4%) than urban households (29.8%). 36% of households depend solely upon agricultural (crop) production for income, and another 30% depend on crop production, livestock, or fishing for income.
Cotton is the principal cash crop and accounts for 70% of export earnings. Cotton is mostly exported as bales with only 3% of total production processed locally, making the country heavily dependent on world cotton prices. Cashews, shea nuts and shea butter, pineapples, palm products, and some cocoa and coffee also are export crops. Animal and meat exports to nearby countries contribute a significant amount to the agricultural economy, but remains mostly outside official recorded statistics. Corn, beans, rice, peanuts, cashews, pineapples, cassava, yams, other tubers, and vegetables and fruits are grown for local subsistence and for export to neighboring countries through informal cross-border trading activities. Top commodities produced by quantity are cassava, yams, corn, pineapples, tomatoes, rice, cottonseed, cashew nuts, fresh fruit, and groundnuts. Top commodities produced by value are yams, cassava, cotton lint, cashew nuts, pineapples, corn, tomatoes, cattle, hot peppers, and rice.
Since 2008 the GOB has been actively involved in strengthening agricultural development and the staple crop value chains. Benin is a party to commitments made by the heads of government at the various world summits on food and nutrition, including the Millennium Summit. As of 2014, improving agricultural productivity and strengthening diversification were on the top of President Boni Yayi's agenda for agricultural development and overall poverty reduction strategy. The country's long-term vision is to move towards greater diversification in order to become a major exporter of agricultural products by 2025.
To start, the GOB has focused on corn and rice to promote food security and food self-sufficiency. Coarse grains (corn, sorghum, millet) and rice are mostly grown by independent small-scale farmers, who are responsible for producing 90% of the total output while using between 7% and 10% of the total arable land available. Many of the farmers that grow cotton or corn do so on only , with the largest single farm only reaching up to of land. Current national actions are still very weak, and national plans for food security are mostly focused on staple food (calories) production and addressing nutrient deficiencies by supplementation (vitamin A & iron), food fortification, and salt iodization.
While the GOB aims to diversify its agricultural production, Benin remains underdeveloped and dependent upon the world price for cotton and regional trade. Agriculture policy is set and implemented or influenced by a number of ministries, including the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock Breeding, and Fishing (Ministère de l'Agriculture, de l'Elevage, et de la Pêche), Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Economy and Finances, and the Ministry of Transport and Public Works. Extension services are provided at the department level through the CerPA (Regional Center for Agriculture Promotion, Centre Régional pour la Promotion Agricole). Research is carried out at the National Institute of Agriculture Research (Institut National des Recherches Agricoles du Bénin; INRAB) and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). Partners working with the GOB to improve the agricultural sector include the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), SNV Benin, the European Union, the Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), French Development Agency (AFD), and many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and initiatives.
Production Benin produced in 2018:
3.8 million tons of cassava (17th largest producer in the world); 2.7 million tons of yam (4th largest producer in the world, losing only to Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast); 1.5 million tons of maize; 758 thousand tons of cotton (12th largest producer in the world); 598 thousand tons of palm oil; 459 thousand tons of rice; 372 thousand tons of pineapple; 319 thousand tons of sorghum; 253 thousand tons of tomato; 225 thousand tons of peanut; 221 thousand tons of soya; 215 thousand tons of cashew nuts (5th largest producer in the world, losing only to Vietnam, India, Ivory Coast and Philippines);
In addition to smaller productions of other agricultural products, like sheanut (13 thousand tons), orange (15 thousand tons) and coconut (17 thousand tons).Benin production in 2018, by FAO
Food security Benin is one of Africa's most stable democracies but the country is challenged by multiple economic and development factors, and the country ranks 163 out of 189 countries on the 2019 Human Development Index. Economic growth is largely dependent upon agriculture, and fluctuations in the volume of rainfall, the high cost of agricultural inputs, and the low level of mechanization impact the country's food security.
The World Food Program reviewed Benin's situation in 2014 and determined that 23% of households in Benin have limited food security and another 11% suffer severe to moderately bad food insecurity. Only 55% are considered food secure. Among the departments Couffo, Mono, and Atacora are the most food insecure departments, with 29%, 28%, and 25% of their households, respectively, considered food insecure. Within these departments there are pockets where food insecurity is experienced by 35-40% of all households. These same three departments also lead in the percentage of households experiencing the slightly improved situation of limited food security, Mono 49%, Atacora 48%, Couffo 47%, Borgou 34%, Collines 27%, and Donga 25%. Of these departments, Atacora, Donga, and Mono suffer the weakest diversity of diet. This is a seasonal problem in many locations, exacerbated by a lack of income. Anecdotal discussions with Peace Corps volunteers stationed in the Peonga area in Oueme Department indicated that absolute food scarcity is not a common problem, but that the lack of diversity in diets, especially during the hungry seasons just before harvests, brought a lack of micronutrients and insufficient nutritional benefits from the available foods. Heavy reliance upon staple crops for starches was common as well, with sauces important to the daily diet, vegetables, vegetable oils, and sugar next in importance, and animal proteins less a common ingredient in the daily meals.
Most food insecure households consume primarily cereals and tubers, with legumes and vegetable oil. Slightly better off households introduce animal proteins and sugar into their diets when they can afford to do so. There are varying levels of household wealth among the departments, here listed from wealthiest to poorest: Littoral, Ouémé, Atlantique, Mono, Zou, Plateau, Donga, Collines, Borgou, Couffo, Alibori, Atacora. More than 85% of households obtain most of their food in local markets, as opposed to being self-sufficient. Most of these households grow crops for consumption, but rely upon the market for diversity and during the famine times.
Regional and international agribusiness and trade
Benin serves as a delivery corridor for West Africa reaching more than 100 million people in the landlocked countries of Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, and the northern states of Nigeria. Goods landed in Cotonou get placed on trucks first heading north to the border towns of Malanville in Benin and Gaya in Niger and then onto the rest of the Sahel. Parakou is the major crossroad town in Benin, where goods going west to Togo, Ghana, and Burkina Faso pass, and goods going into Nigeria transit before heading to various border crossings. The Sèmè/Kraké border crossing with Nigeria along the coastal road is a major trade nexus for many of the agricultural products imported into Benin.
Benin's traditional trade links with the European Union, in particular France and Belgium, remain strong. There is presence of Chinese foodstuffs in the open-air markets and supermarkets. Benin's major trade partners include Nigeria, France, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Argentina, Brazil, the United States, China, and the United Arab Emirates.
The major regional trading partners include Niger, Togo, Nigeria, and Burkina Faso. Estimates of annual trade with these countries are extremely hard to determine, but some sources indicate that as of 2014 Benin exported about 15,000 tons of corn and 1,500 tons of rice to Nigeria, 6,000 tons of corn to Niger, 1,400 tons of corn and 2,000 tons of rice to Togo. Vegetables and animals move across these borders in large amounts in regular patterns. In “crisis years” where local crops are underproduced, Benin has sourced as much as 9,500 tons of corn and 950 tons of rice from Togo, and 6,000 tons of rice and 1,800 tons of corn from Nigeria. Nigeria's 170 million people and the country's income from oil also influence the economy of Benin significantly. Informal trade between Nigeria and Benin is substantial. Importers take advantage of Nigeria's high tariff changes and porous borders to export unrecorded rice, poultry products and other food and agricultural products to Nigeria. Trade sources estimate that more than 85% of these types of products that are shipped to Benin are meant for onward sales into Nigeria through informal cross-border trading activities. While Nigerian brokers can travel up to farms in Benin to buy vegetables, local buyers often transport their fruits, mostly pineapple and oranges, to markets on the Benin-Nigeria border. The Sèmè/Kraké border market is the best known market of the country for pineapple and orange transactions, where Nigerian brokers load up vehicles bound for Nigeria. This border crossing is also where the majority of other imported agricultural products leave Benin for Nigeria, including palm oil, rice, refined sugar, and poultry meat. According to border-based sources, Kalalè, Caldel, and Onazal in Benin are the three major border towns for the routes of cross-border trade with Nigeria. However, women carrying baskets filled with yams and other items regularly pass over the border at Chikandou in central Benin heading to the Nigerian town of Tchikanda.
Production Commercial crops Cotton
Cotton accounted for nearly 40% of GDP and roughly 80% of official export receipts as of 2014, and so cotton exports are vital to Benin's economy and an integral part of the country's development plans and poverty reduction strategies. Cotton seed production is concentrated in the north and center of Benin in an area known as the cotton belt. About two thirds of the farmers of Borgou department grow cotton, 37% of those in Atacora department and 64% of those in the central department of Zou. By contrast, in the three departments in the south (Atlantique, Mono, and Ouémé), the percentage ranges from zero to 25%. Cotton is grown by small-scale farmers and sold to ginning companies, which transform it into cotton lint and/or produce other by products such as cotton seed, cake, and oil.