As of 2024, Sudan was the North African country with the highest contribution share of the agriculture, forestry, and fishing sector to the gross domestic product (GDP), with this industry constituting around **** percent of the economy. Overall, the agriculture sector plays a vital role within the North African countries, contributing at least **** percent to each national GDP of the region. The only exception was Libya, where agricultural activities only made up *** percent of the GDP, respectively. In Sudan, the contribution of agriculture to GDP dropped sharply between 2021 and 2023, largely due to climate-related challenges and the ongoing conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces since April 2023. However, in 2024, the share rebounded to over ** percent, likely because the war severely weakened the industrial and service sectors, shrinking overall GDP and making agriculture’s relative share appear larger. Additionally, as urban jobs disappeared, many Sudanese turned to rural areas and subsistence farming, boosting informal agricultural activity. Agriculture and Economics Across Africa, agriculture is a core pillar of the economy, representing ** percent of Sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP in 2023, led by Niger and Comoros. In addition to its economic presence, the sector also plays an important role in contributing to the job market. In fact, the number of people employed in agriculture in the continent reached almost *** million in 2023. While Central and Western Africa boasted large shares of the agricultural workforce, North Africa recorded the lowest share of employment in the industry, due to the region’s heavy reliance on industrial and service sectors. Harvest and Land
The primary crops grown in Africa are roots and tubers, along with cereals. In fact, Egypt and Morocco led the North African region in 2023, with the highest amounts of cereals produced. Within the continent, Sudan and South Africa possess the largest agricultural land areas, with around *** million and **** million hectares, respectively. However, Burundi dedicated the largest share of land to growing crops at ** percent, with Rwanda following close behind at ** percent.

The number of people employed in the informal sector in South Africa reached a peak point at over 7.8 million in 2023. In the period under review, the number of people with jobs outside formal institutions has generally been following an increasing trend.

Abstract

The informal sector is predominant across Sub-Saharan Africa. In Benin, informality is particularly high: in 2009, the national statistics agency estimated that the informal sector represented up to 70 percent of the GDP and 95 percent of employment.

In April 2014, the Government of Benin launched the pilot phase of Entreprenant Status, a simplified and free legal regime offered to small informal businesses to enter the formal economy. Entreprenant Status provision was added to General Commercial Law of OHADA (Organisation for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa) in 2010. The law does not mention the specific combination of incentives that will be included in the Entreprenant Status (for example, tax, credit, business registration, social security benefits), allowing instead each country to fill in the gap. Benin, a member of OHADA, with the support from the World Bank, has been working on legal and administrative regulation that will define the Entreprenant Status.

From 2014 to 2016 experts from the World Bank Group, carried out a randomized impact evaluation, testing three different versions of the entreprenant status. 3,600 informal businesses were randomly allocated between three treatment groups and one control group. The research team tested such incentives as facilitating businesses' links to government training programs, support to open bank accounts, and tax mediation services.

Formalizing in Benin means to choose a legal status and register at the chamber of commerce, GUFE (Guichet Unique de Formalisation des Entreprises).

The entreprenant pilot program was completed in February 2015. The team carried out a baseline listing survey and data collection in September 2014. The midline data was collected in April-June 2015, and endline data - in May-June 2016. Administrative data and focus groups were also used in the study.

Upon completion of the impact evaluation, the package of incentives that result in the highest number of business formalizations will be scaled up and adopted by the government as the official entreprenant status. New insights gained from the project will also inform the shaping of the entreprenant status in other OHADA member countries. The study will also explore whether the granting of the entreprenant status is more effective for women entrepreneurs, thus contributing to women’s empowerment, and inclusive growth.

Geographic coverage

Cotonou, Benin's largest city

Analysis unit

• Informal business

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

A listing survey was conducted in Benin's largest city of Cotonou in March and April 2014. This survey was designed in order to obtain a representative sample of all businesses operating in Cotonou, including Dantokpa market. All businesses with fixed location, except international and nationwide companies and liberal professions, were targeted. Overall, 19,246 businesses were listed, of which a sample of 7,945 were surveyed. Researchers then dropped businesses which were already formal, and which had very high or very low profits and sales to arrive at a sample of 3,596.

The randomization was done in the office using STATA and the following methodology was used for stratification: - 16 strata were created using the following variables: business owner gender, business operating in Dantokpa market, trader, and business owns a bank account. - Inside each stratum a Z-score was created as the average of standardized profits, turnover and number of employees. Based on this Z-score, triplets of businesses were created and inside each triplet, businesses were randomly allocated to 3 groups, each of 1,200 firms. - The 1,200 businesses in one group were then randomly allocated further into a first treatment group with 301 businesses, and second treatment group with 899 businesses.

As a result, 301 businesses were allocated to receive package A (treatment group 1), 899 to receive packages A and B (treatment group 2), 1,199 to receive packages A, B, and C (treatment group 3), and 1,197 to the control group.

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument

Baseline Listing, Midline Survey Questionnaire and Endline Survey Questionnaire in French and English translation.

Response rate

Among those 19,246 businesses, 9,938 businesses were randomly selected to be surveyed. 7,945 (80%) businesses were successfully surveyed, 1,000 (10%) businesses refused to be surveyed, and 995 (10%) businesses were dropped because the business owner was not available or not reached after 4 attempts.