Comparative analysis of the production costs of the main agricultural products in Benin

Abstract

The competitiveness and quality of products are essential elements of trade both locally and between nations. In Benin, the competitiveness of agricultural products is hampered by low productivity, which results in high production costs. In addition, the unavailability of data that could cover all agricultural food products throughout the country in the same year led to this study, the objective of which is to determine the production costs of the main agricultural food products in Benin. Based on 620 randomly selected producers in the country's eight agro-ecological zones, production costs were explicitly estimated by product, by agro-ecological zones, and for the whole, based on crop yields and the costs of production factors used. The results showed that these costs vary from one product to another, from one producer to another and from one agro-ecological zone to another. The higher the yields, the lower the production costs per kg of these main products. Thus, the average overall production costs per kilogram of maize, rice, sorghum, cassava, yams, groundnuts, cowpeas and soybeans are respectively 105 FCFA, 52.83 FCFA, 119.17 FCFA, 8.94 FCFA, 20.25 FCFA, 153.13 FCFA, 155.37 FCFA and 139.49 FCFA. This study deserves to be deepened and frequently repeated on the whole national territory by research programs elaborated for all the agricultural products of the country in order to fill the noted gap.

JEL Classification : B21 ; D24

Paper Type: Empirical Research