DIFFERENTIATED GEOGRAPHY OF INSECURITY-RELATED AGRICULTURAL LOSSES IN ATACORA, ALIBORI AND BORGOU (NORTHERN BENIN)

Armed violence spreading from the Sahel since 2021 has reached the farming systems of northern Benin, but we know little about where agricultural losses are heaviest and why. This study measures them at household level in three departments. A multisectoral survey interviewed 350 households in Alibori (116), Atacora (110) and Borgou (124) between 29 August and 4 September 2026: hosts, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees. Fourteen binary indicators covering production, land, productive capital and markets were averaged into an agricultural loss index (ALI) running from 0 to 1. The index is 0.413 in Borgou, against 0.297 in Alibori and 0.297 in Atacora, and the average household reports 4.6 of the 14 losses. The gap is driven by land dispossession (45% of households in Borgou, 12% in Atacora and 7% in Alibori), by fields destroyed during violence and by productive assets lost. The share of households with an index above 0.5 is 35.5% in Borgou against 6.9% in Alibori and 10.0% in Atacora (χ² = 40.1, p < 0.001). Market disruption is more evenly spread. Within departments, Kalalé stands out, and mean ALI is higher for refugees (0.383) than for hosts (0.288). A Kitagawa decomposition shows that 91% of the Borgou–Alibori gap comes from differences within status groups and only 9% from the mix of statuses. Territory matters more than the legal situation of the household. Responses should therefore be designed by commune and by type of loss: land security in Kalalé, livestock and equipment replacement, and market support in the departments where it is the main loss.