Laboratoire d’Etudes des Dynamiques Urbaines et Régionales (LEDUR), Département de Géographie et Aménagement du Territoire (DGAT), Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Benin
The cross-border spaces of the districts of the Plateau are structured by complex activities, territories that are difficult to define but places that contain significant potential and opportunities for development between neighboring States. The objective was to assess the contribution of cross-border exchanges to the local development of the five communes of the Plateau. The quantitative data used concern, among other things, the collection rates of taxes issued in the Plateau department from 2015 to 2019 as well as the monthly income of cross-border trade actors. A total of 390 households were surveyed and 51 resource persons were interviewed during the study. The results obtained reveal that more than half of the players in the trade in manufactured products (55.90%) make a daily profit of at least 50,000 FCFA; (65.13%) of the traders in petroleum products surveyed earn more than 50,000 FCFA; among foreign exchange traders, 80.77% of them derive at least a profit of 5,000 FCFA from the daily execution of their foreign exchange activity. On the social side, 20.51% of the players surveyed said that this activity allows them to meet their basic needs. These points of expenditure are followed by other destinations of benefits such as schooling (15.38%), the purchase of means of transport (13.08%), the construction of housing on a rental or individual basis (12. 31%), ceremonies (11.54%) and savings in banks and/or micro-finance institutions (7.44%). It also contributes to the revenue of the local community through the taxes paid by the actors.