Council President Gnassingbé tours northern farm zones, pushes food sovereignty
Monday, 09 February 2026 09:20 
(Togo First) - Faure Gnassingbé, President of the Council of Ministers of Togo, toured Planned Agricultural Development Zones (ZAAPs) last week in the northern prefectures of Dankpen and Binah, where he met directly with farmers to assess conditions in the sector and outline government objectives, particularly food sovereignty.
The discussions focused on the main difficulties facing agriculture in these production zones and on identifying joint solutions to the challenges facing the population, Gnassingbé said, stressing the need for a coordinated approach.
Gnassingbé and the producers identified a shared challenge: increasing production to meet domestic demand sustainably. He said responsibility was shared, noting that neither the government nor farmers alone held all the answers, and called for stronger cooperation between the state and rural stakeholders.
To address this, the government is focusing on the professionalization of the ZAAPs, a strategy intended to sustainably improve producers’ living conditions while reinforcing the national drive for self-sufficiency and food sovereignty.
He argued that food sovereignty must go beyond food security, saying imported products are paid for with domestic resources and primarily benefit other countries, despite Togo’s capacity to produce enough to feed its population.
As part of this effort, Gnassingbé handed over agricultural equipment to operators at the Guérin-Kouka Agricultural Transformation Center (CTA), including 12 tractors and 12 power tillers to support mechanization and boost farm productivity.
The visit forms part of an ongoing initiative. In June 2023, Gnassingbé toured several ZAAPs in southern Togo to meet with producers and assess the implementation of the country’s structural agricultural reform policy.
Esaïe Edoh
