Sugarcane is an important food and cash crop in Benin. In order to gather information that will help preserving its diversity and to identify best performing varieties that could meet the needs of both producers and consumers in Benin, fifty-two (52) villages were surveyed. The survey focuses on diversity inventory and varietal preferences, two key elements for breeding programs. Subject to synonymy, a total of 89 sugarcane accessions were collected in the villages surveyed. The number of accessions ranged from 1 to 5 (2 on average) per village. The analysis of the distribution and extent of the farmers’ named varieties revealed that only one variety is cultivated by many households on large area. The average rate of varietal loss loss was 45.90% and the reasons reported by farmers were either of agronomic (61.88% of responses), economic (23.76% of responses) and technological (14.36% of responses) nature. The participatory evaluation of 66 varieties recorded (subject to synonymy), revealed a variation in the number of performing varieties according to the parameters considered. Eleven varietal preference criteria that can be used for breeding programs were identified and prioritized. Agronomic trials and biochemical analysis were proposed to confirm the performance of the varieties identified.