Agriculture, between cotton and cashew nuts
Today, agriculture still accounts for some 27% of GDP. Food crops (yams, manioc, potatoes, maize, millet, sorghum, cowpeas, groundnuts) ensure relative self-sufficiency in food, but generate very little cash income, due to the small size of farms. Cotton, on the other hand, is grown mainly in the north and east, and to a lesser extent in the center, and is more lucrative, accounting for over 75% of export earnings. Cashew nuts, another industrial crop, are exported to India and Pakistan. As for oil palm, which was the basis of the trading economy in colonial times, today it is only of importance on family farms in the south, where women use palm nuts to make red oil. Finally, artisanal fishing supplies a small export stream of shrimps.
An industry dominated by... cotton
Industry is a slow-growing sector in Benin, still limited to a few cement factories, cotton ginning plants and small businesses producing consumer goods, such as Possotomé water. It will contribute around 22% of GDP in 2023, thanks in particular to record cotton production. This figure is rising sharply, but remains low compared with the tertiary sector. While Onigbolo limestone (used to make cement) is mined, other deposits are still underdeveloped, such as iron from Lombou-Lombou, gold from Perma, phosphates from Mékrou... Long live white gold! In Benin, cotton is the main resource. Roughly half the population lives from its cultivation. The crop generates almost 40% of rural jobs and will account for 45% of the country's tax revenues by 2023. After becoming Africa's leading producer in 2021 (when it was still only4th in 2016), Benin was overtaken by Mali in 2023 and now ranks2nd. In fact, the sector has come a long way since then. With a long tradition in the country, production fell dramatically between 1995 (when 600,000 tonnes of seed cotton were produced) and 2010 (195,000 tonnes), its lowest level ever.
Then, with the creation of Sodeco (Société de développement du coton), the State partly privatized Sonapra's (Société nationale de production agricole) industrial facilities. Sodeco is responsible not only for buying seed cotton, ginning and selling by-products, but also for improving yields and, downstream, for processing finished products. These changes have led to a significant upturn in production, which reached 230,000 tonnes in 2013. Since the election of Patrice Talon in 2016, who made his fortune in cotton, the Association interprofessionnelle du coton (AIC) has made a comeback and factories have returned to the private sector. After the 450,000 tonnes of 2017, production has reached... 728,000 tonnes in 2021, before turning to 553,787 tonnes in 2023.
A very dynamic service sector
In Benin, the tertiary sector accounts for around 51% of GDP (in 2023), thanks above all to the Autonomous Port of Cotonou, which concentrates much of the country's economic activity. It is a veritable hub and maritime entry (and exit) point for neighboring countries such as Burkina Faso, Niger and Nigeria. These trade flows are considerable. Trade with Nigeria, most of which is unaccounted for because it is informal, accounts for a large share of GDP. Contrary to foreign trade statistics, Nigeria also exports petroleum products, electrical and electronic equipment, fabrics, etc. to Benin, often clandestinely... It has to be said that the informal economy is highly developed in Benin.
Very common in West Africa, this phenomenon is almost palpable in Benin. On almost every street corner, you can see large glass bottles filled with petrol smuggled in from Nigeria, either by lagoon or by road. Even if the government, by easing formalities, has encouraged service stations to multiply on the roads. But prices are still higher, so the choice is quickly made for most motorists.
Transformations and future prospects
The election of Patrice Talon marked a political breakthrough. Throughout the country, construction sites are multiplying, roads are being created or renovated, and the face of Benin is changing radically. But the political landscape is also changing. While there were over 200 political parties at the time of Talon's election, the president changed the electoral code to reduce their number, gradually extinguishing the opposition. In the 2019 legislative elections, only two lists, both favorable to the Beninese president, were on the starting line. Talon won parliamentary support in an election that drew just 23% of Beninese to the polls (compared with 75% in 2015). The lowest turnout in the country's history. In 2021, he was re-elected with 86.30% of the vote in the first round. It has to be said that, following a constitutional revision, at least 10% of deputies and mayors had to sponsor the candidacy. Virtually all of these elected representatives supported the presidential cause. The 2023 legislative elections saw the return of the opposition, with Yayi Boni's Les Démocrates group taking 28 of the 108 seats in Parliament.
While political upheavals regularly shake public opinion, the government continues to reform at every turn and launch new projects.
One of the challenges over the next few years will be to develop agriculture. It has to be said that Benin has immense potential that has yet to be exploited, as today barely 25% of arable land is farmed. This need has been reinforced by the war between Russia and Ukraine, as Benin used to buy 100% of its wheat from Russia before the conflict.
Industrial projects are also underway. For example, 45 km from Cotonou, a public-private partnership has enabled the construction of the Glo Djigbé industrial zone (GDIZ), which opened in 2023. "This special economic zone is designed to be a modern industrial park meeting the highest environmental and social standards. It is intended to provide services to various industries, making it an integrated multi-sector zone focused on the agri-food industry around the local processing of cashew nuts, pineapples, shea nuts and soybeans, as well as local cotton into textiles", explained Laurent Gangbes, Managing Director of Benin's Investment and Export Promotion Agency (APIEx). In 2024, the executive even stated that "the site's objective is to create 300,000 direct jobs by 2030" and that GDP "will rise from US$4 billion to US$7 billion by 2030".
Tourism, a real axis of development
Although growth has been quite strong in recent years, the population's standard of living remains low. Demographic growth remains high. It should be noted, however, that by 2023, Benin's minimum monthly wage had risen by 30%, from 40,000 FCFA to 52,000 FCFA (€80). Benin belongs to the group of "least developed countries" (LDCs, 45 countries in 2024, including 33 in Africa). To remedy this situation, tourism and the promotion of Benin's history and culture have been among the priorities of Patrice Talon's government since the first months of his first mandate. After all, there was a lot of work to be done. After a long period of isolation, Benin had already opened up somewhat to tourism. But hotel and tourist infrastructures (travel agencies, domestic transport) were limited and unevenly distributed across the country.
Major tourism projects. The Talon government has therefore taken matters into its own hands to revitalize this sector by launching major projects, notably as part of the "Benin Revealed" project. In the south of the country, a major project to clean up the lagoon at Ganvié began in 2018, and Club Med is to open an Eco-Resort on the Route des Pêches, towards Avlékété. This opening (a priori in 2025 or 2026) should be accompanied by the creation of an underwater dike to limit erosion and make the coastline swimmable there. With 330 rooms planned and a 25-hectare golf course set between sea and lagoon, this promises to change the face of tourism on the Route des Pêches. Half of the Route des Pêches has already been paved, and is due to be completely paved from Cotonou to Ouidah shortly. As a result, beaches, bars and restaurants have multiplied in the rapidly expanding Fidjrossè district. Ouidah is now just a few dozen minutes from Cotonou. And the historic city promises to have changed a great deal by then. At the time of writing, the Fort Portugais, now closed and undergoing major restructuring, will be home to the Musée international de la mémoire et de l'esclavage (Mime) by the end of 2024 or early 2025. This brand-new 662 m² museum will aim to explore the slave trade "from the African point of view". In Abomey, the Royal Palace was undergoing major renovation in 2024, and will house the 26 royal treasures of Abomey, which were returned by France at the end of 2021, 129 years after their theft, and initially displayed with great pomp in the presidential palace. They had been looted by the French colonial troops of General Alfred Dodds. This is the first major restitution of its kind to an African country. In terms of tourism, the stages of the Slave Route will be better showcased, and a Banyan Tree hotel is planned near the Porte du Non-Retour in the future La Marina tourist complex. Elsewhere, in the administrative capital Porto-Novo, a Museum of Vodoun Arts and Civilizations is to be built. In the North, there's also talk of the identical reconstruction of the Nikki royal palace and the construction of an arena for the Gaani Festival. In short, these are major projects set to have a lasting and positive impact on the tourism sector.
Unfortunately, the two northernnational parks, Parc de la Pendjari and Parc du W (managed by the South African NGO African Park), have been closed to tourists for several years for security reasons. The Pendjari, in particular, serves as a rear base for jihadists. At the time of writing, in the summer of 2024, no reopening date had been set.
