The seasonal mobility of certain communities in the West African subregion is dynamic. This reality benefits both countries of origin and host countries, despite existing fears and apprehensions.

For the past few weeks, customers of this maquis bar on the outskirts of Cotonou have not seen the ‘tchatchanga’ vendor, who sells a speciality of grilled meat made from chicken, mutton or beef and served with chilli pepper and other seasonings that spice up their evenings.

One evening, much to their surprise, they saw a young man tending the embers and spreading the meat over the grill. When customers express concern and ask where their usual vendor has gone, they are told that he has left. The young man will replace him until he returns.

Like this vendor, who has been temporarily replaced by a young man from Niger, many of his compatriots work in small-scale trade in Cotonou and the surrounding area — or across Benin as a whole — following a similar operating pattern.

A quest for resources to boost agricultural production back home

In central Benin, they are often itinerant fabric and clothing vendors who travel by motorcycle between hamlets and markets. Between August and October, many of them return to their home countries, where their families live, to work in their fields.

Mariam Adjibola rents some of her premises to people from Niger. In her village, she is known, like many others, as the ‘house owner’. “Every year, they go back home to farm. After the harvest, they return depending on their activities,” she tells Dialogue Migration.

Inoussa, who runs a kiosk selling clothes and accessories in a shopping centre largely operated by Nigeriens on the outskirts of Cotonou, says, “Soon my brother will come and I will leave.”

That morning, we met Habib in the heart of Cotonou, not far from Étoile Rouge Square. Within sight of a mosque, merchants were setting up their stalls for the day. “I’ll be going to Lomé in Togo soon,” he said, “and then I’ll continue on to Niger. We are farmers; we come here only to earn a little money.” 

Climate impact and search for economic opportunities

In Benin and other neighbouring countries such as Togo or Côte d’Ivoire, the long dry season in the Sahelian climate is ideal for economic activities. Sahelian nationals grow their resources through a variety of activities or within a specific sector, and then return home for agricultural production. It is also a period during which some people, depending on their savings, start families.

Some people stay for four or six months and then return to their villages. Others come with livestock, while some simply come to work. It all depends on the job they find through an employer, an older brother or an uncle. Some work as security guards and then return to do farm work, generally producing food crops. There are two seasons, and they come to work during the dry season, returning during the rainy season which starts around August or September,” says Abdourazack, a young Burkinabè, in an interview with Dialogue Migration. He was interviewed at a livestock trading centre where Nigeriens, Burkinabè, Malians and others interact.

In the Sahel, the rainy season generally falls between June and September or October and lasts for about three to five months. The long dry season extends over seven to nine months, from October to May or June. This period is characterised by very high temperatures and low humidity.

Agro-economic and sociological dynamics

Cotonou is a destination for onions — the ‘red gold’ of Niger — and livestock from Sahelian countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. Fluctuations in the cost of these Sahelian products are reflected in Beninese trade depending on the season. “Currently, there are no onions from Niger, which is why they are expensive. The onions on the market now are from Benin — their size and price speak for themselves,” says Béatrice Adjakpa, an onion producer in Grand-Popo in southern Benin. This reality is also clearly visible at the food stalls.

A similar situation can be observed with the cost of livestock sold in Cotonou that originates from Sahelian countries.

Mobility within the West African subregion, particularly between Benin and the Sahelian countries, is at the heart of a social dynamic. This helps to ensure a balanced and interdependent economic value chain and agricultural production system between the communities of both countries.

‘If we consider Niger and Benin, for example, border closures have a significant impact on people’s activities, including agricultural activities. This forces them to use indirect routes, which can also lead to exploitation. This is because certain fees have to be paid to access other vehicles or to transport goods,” says Jérôme Wagou, an official of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), when speaking to Dialogue Migration about this interconnected issue.

The organisation states that ‘communities are separated by imaginary borders and live on either side’. Indeed, some people may have fields in one country but live in a neighbouring one, or have family on the other side of the border. The ways in which people bypass official borders mean that this reality is not always taken into account, but it does reflect a social reality.