Agricultural production would experience an increase over the 2020-2021 campaign compared to the statistics for the previous campaign, particularly in terms of cotton, cereals and market gardening, reveals the economic note for the second quarter of 2020, published on Saturday in Cotonou. .

According to this note produced by the Economic Affairs Department of the Beninese Ministry of Economy and Finance, at the end of this agricultural campaign, the production of cotton and cereals would both increase by 2.4% and that of market gardening by 1.7%.

From a source close to the Beninese Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, during the 2019-2020 agricultural campaign, the quantity of seed cotton marketed on April 15, 2020 was estimated at 712,000 tonnes, largely at above the 678,000 tons of the 2018-2019 campaign, thus leaving a good chance that Benin will retain its rank as the leading cotton producer in Africa.

Similarly, during the previous campaign, cereal production was estimated at 2,177,800 tons against 2,109,400 tons in 2018-2019, an increase of 3.2%.

In Benin, it was recalled, agriculture is a key activity for this country where more than 7,000,000 Beninese, or just over 70% of the population, work in this sector which contributes to more than 34 % of national gross domestic product (GDP). End