The dataset described in this data article represents four agricultural zones in West-Africa that are located in three countries: Benin, Mali and Sierra Leone. The dataset was created through a research collaboration between the Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice), Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute (SLARI) and the Institute for Rural Economy (IER). The dataset was compiled to investigate the potential for rice production in inland valleys of the three countries. The results of the investigation were published in Dossou-Yovo et al. (2017) and Djagba et al. (2018). The dataset describes the biophysical and socioeconomic conditions of 499 inland valleys in the four agricultural zones. In each inland valley data were collected through a focus group interview with a minimum of three farmers. In 499 interviews a total of 7496 farmers participated. The location of each inland valley was determined with handheld GPS devices. The geographic locations were used to extract additional parameters from digital maps on soils, elevation, population density, rainfall, flow accumulation, and distances to roads, market places, rice mills, chemical input stores, and settlements. The dataset contains 65 parameters in four themes (location, biophysical characteristics, socioeconomic characteristics, and inland valley land development and use). The GPS coordinates indicate the location of an inland valley, but they do not lead to the location of individual fields of farmers that were interviewed. The dataset is publicly shared as Supplementary data to this data article.