Interview with Antoine Lekpa Gbegbeni, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Rural Development, a priority sector for Togo. Contributing 23.51 trillion TEUs to the gross domestic product, the agricultural sector is a priority for Togo and attractive to national and foreign investors.
What are the main challenges you need to address within the framework of the Togo 2025 strategy?
Placing emergence at the heart of its ambition, Togo has made remarkable progress over the past ten years and has set itself high economic growth and social and human development goals for the years to come.
The agricultural sector is a pillar of the Togolese economy, employing 701.3 million people of the active population and contributing 23.5 million to the GDP. The country has abundant land, estimated at 3.6 million hectares of arable land, of which only 451 million are currently cultivated, and 15 million hectares of forest. The soils are rich and well-suited to agriculture. The area of irrigable land is estimated at 536,800 hectares, and the annual water availability is 10 billion cubic meters of surface water and 5.7 billion cubic meters of groundwater. The country enjoys a tropical climate conducive to agriculture, with rainfall ranging between 1,000 and 1,500 mm per year.
The speculations produced are:
– cereals: maize, paddy rice, sorghum, fonio, millet
– Legumes and oilseeds: cowpeas, bambara groundnuts, soybeans, peanuts, sesame seeds, cashew nuts
– Root and tuber plants: cassava, yam, sweet potato, potato, taro, etc.
– fruits: orange, grapefruit, pineapple, lemon, guava, papaya, mango, mandarin, avocado, banana, etc.
– market garden produce: tomato, onion, chili pepper, carrot, lettuce, cabbage, etc.
– cash crops: cotton, coffee, cocoa, shea, oil palm, coconut, etc.
– the animal sectors: poultry, cattle, goats, sheep, pigs,
– fishery production with 4 types of fishing: artisanal maritime, industrial, continental, fish farming.
With the ambition of giving new impetus to the Togolese economy and society, the Togo 2025 strategic plan has been developed by the government. The vision of the Togo 2025 strategic plan for Togolese agriculture is "A productive, high value-added agriculture, driving economic value for farmers and national growth." To achieve this, three projects and one reform have been defined as priority projects for the agricultural sector by 2025. These projects are: improving agricultural productivity and yields; accelerating the Incentive Mechanism for Agricultural Financing based on risk sharing (MIFA); expanding the Kara agropole in partnership with the private sector (the country's pilot agropole, one of ten planned by 2030); and reforming agricultural land policy.
The implementation of these projects, outlined in the new roadmap adopted by the government in October 2020, aims to ensure food security in Togo by sustainably meeting the population's food and nutritional needs through domestic production and by strengthening the agro-industrial sector. Specifically, it seeks to encourage the production and processing of high value-added sectors, improve incomes and living conditions, balance the trade deficit, and create sustainable jobs.
To improve productivity and yields on farms, a soil fertility map with recommendations for appropriate fertilization has been developed. This map will facilitate the establishment of a specialized fertilizer production unit to help optimize the use of agricultural inputs on farms. Furthermore, particular emphasis is placed on agricultural infrastructure, water management, mechanization, the promotion of quality inputs, harvest/post-harvest management, and the intensification of phytosanitary and animal disease monitoring.
To facilitate access to land for vulnerable populations and boost agricultural production, the establishment of planned agricultural development zones (ZAAPs) has begun in each canton of the country, with the objective of developing 400 ZAAPs by 2025. ZAAPs are developed sites with an average area of 100 hectares, equipped with facilities for mechanization, irrigation, good agricultural practices, and marketing of produce. The expansion of some ZAAPs to at least 500 hectares is being considered to create larger production areas.
In an effort to support the development of sustainable livestock production in Togo, a diagnostic study of the livestock sector was conducted to develop a strategy aimed at increasing the national availability of meat and dairy products. Similarly, the establishment of cattle production development zones (ZAPB) was launched. Furthermore, the creation of vocational training institutes for development (IFAD), the development of livestock slaughter areas in the various regions of the country, and the implementation of the artificial insemination project will contribute to the sustainable development of the different livestock sectors.
Is the agropoles project the operational arm of your ministry?
In order to accelerate economic growth, facilitate job creation, and generate wealth, particularly in rural areas, Togo has opted for a strategy of strengthening the link between agriculture and industry based on agropoles. Thus, the strategic plan for the development of agropoles in Togo, adopted by the government on September 29, 2017, structured the entire country into ten agri-food processing zones (APTs), or "agropoles.".
Through this instrument, the government aims to mobilize private investment in agri-food processing by establishing agro-industrial parks equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure, a one-stop shop, and harmonized, incentive-based procedures. The agropole is a large-scale production and agri-industrial processing area focused on promising sectors. It is a model designed to promote private investment through attractive incentives.
The 10 planned agropoles in Togo are: Kara, Oti, Haut-Mono, Centre, Moyen-Mono, Forest Zone, Peneplain, Bas-Mono, Littoral, and Lake Zone. The pilot project in the Kara region, called the Kara Agropole, is currently being implemented with support from the African Development Bank (AfDB), the West African Development Bank (BOAD), and the South Korean Saemaül Foundation. The Kara Agropole focuses on a range of promising sectors, including soybeans, maize, rice, sesame, cashew nuts, poultry, and fish.
What role do organic farming and sustainable agricultural financing play?
Organic farming is playing an increasingly important role in Togo's agricultural sector. In 2020, Togo became the world's leading exporter of organic products to the European Union market, supplying 51,000 tons and generating revenue of 50 billion CFA francs. This performance is driven by soybeans, whose production increased from 25,000 tons in 2015 to 154,000 tons in 2020, reaching 250,000 tons in 2021.
It is proven that organic sectors have high potential for developing the agri-food industry, especially for fruits and vegetables, and for contributing to increased export revenues. To ensure the sustainability of agricultural production systems, a synergy is being developed with agroecology to, on the one hand, contribute to integrated soil fertility management and, on the other hand, contribute to building an optimized food and nutrition system by reducing, or even eliminating, risks related to food quality.
Indeed, beyond market aspects, there is also the health of the population at stake, taking into account the pathologies which are in some cases attributed to the presence of pesticide residues in food as well as water used in households.
To develop organic farming in Togo, measures are being taken. These include:
– the development and validation of a traceability system in agro-industrial value chains in Togo, with the support of UNIDO and UNDP; ;
– the project to set up a reference laboratory for innovations and analyses of agro-industrial products; ;
– the definition of participatory guarantee systems (PGS) to bring to market products that meet minimum levels of quality standards and whose conformity is jointly assessed by the actors.
– the development of a strategy for the development of organic farming and agro-ecology to frame all interventions within these two complementary sectors.
What can external aid contribute to the development of the national agricultural sector?
The priorities of the agricultural sector are known and development partners will be able to support agricultural production, processing and marketing as well as rural development as a whole.
Beyond development aid, the agricultural sector roadmap places particular emphasis on private sector investment. Investment opportunities in Togo's agricultural sector remain:
– the development of agricultural production areas through the development of planned agricultural production areas, including agropoles and irrigated perimeters; ;
– agricultural inputs with the mass production of certified high-yield seeds as well as chemical and organic fertilizers in connection with the soil fertility map and fertilizer formula recommendation sheets; ;
– agricultural mechanization including manufacturing, assembly and distribution, agricultural mechanization centers, rental of agricultural equipment; ;
– irrigation with the installation of water reservoirs, hydro-agricultural dams, boreholes, irrigation equipment and materials; ;
– infrastructure to support production, including access roads and facilities for opening up isolated areas, stores and warehouses, etc.; ;
– beef production, site development for livestock farming and dairy production; ;
– integrated poultry farms (60% of the demand not met by national production); ;
– fish farms (75% of the demand for fish not met by national production).
The incentive measures provided by the State to support the private sector include, among others, tax advantages with a special tax provided for imports and a tax credit depending on the size of the investment; land mobilization and security with the implementation of the agro-land reform; the structuring of producers and the facilitation of their access to financing through a dedicated public-private body, in particular the incentive mechanism for agricultural financing based on risk sharing (MIFA).