Impact Of Agricultural Market Reforms On Smallholder Farmers In ...

The purpose of this section is not to generate estimates of national production; for this type of
information, it would be preferable to rely on statistics from the Ministry of Rural Development.
Rather, the purpose is to examine the patterns of agricultural production, storage, and marketing at
the household level and relating these patterns to the characteristics of the household.
The survey confirms the importance of maize in the agricultural economy of Bénin. First, maize is
the most widely grown crop, being produced by 89 percent of the farm households. By
comparison, no other crop is grown by more than half the households. The second most widely
grown crop is cowpeas, grown by 48 percent of farmers, followed by manioc, yams, cotton, and
sorghum/millet, each of which is grown by 30-40 percent. At the other extreme, rice and sweet
potatoes are produced by less than 10 percent of farm households in Bénin. These results imply
that the average Bénin farmer grows about four of the 14 main crops (see Table 4.1.100).
Second, maize occupies about 37 percent of the area cultivated by farm households 12 . This is twice
the area of the second crop, cotton, which accounts for about 18 percent of the total. Manioc,
cowpeas, sorghum/millet, and groundnuts each represent 5-10 percent of the total area.
Third, maize is the most valuable crop, representing 27 percent of the total value of crop
production. Cotton is second, contributing 22 percent, followed by manioc and yam. According to
the survey results, the average value of crop production is 880 thousand FCFA (see Table 4.1.100).
Regional differences in production
Of course, these national average hide considerable regional variation in crop production.
For example, cotton is grown by two-thirds of the farmers in Borgou and Zou, 37 percent in
Atacora, 25 percent in Mono, and very few in Ouémé and Atlantique. Similarly, sorghum/millet
and yams are grown by a large majority (at least 79 percent) of farmers in Borgou and Atacora, but
only by small numbers of farmers in other departments. Cowpeas, rice, and groundnuts are also
grown by a larger percentage of farmers in the north than in the south. In fact, manioc is the only
crop grown more widely in the south than in the north. Maize, which used to be primarily a
southern crop, has become widely grown in the north as well. At least three-quarters of the farm
households in every department grow maize (see Table 4.1.101).
12
This refers to the total sown area, summing the areas planted in the two agricultural seasons.
70