AfDB and FAO grant Togo a million dollars to fight fall armyworm invasion

Economic governance
Monday, 11 March 2019 15:31
AfDB and FAO grant Togo a million dollars to fight fall armyworm invasion

(Togo First) - The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) granted Togo a million dollars to better fight the fall armyworm invasion to which it is presently exposed.

Togo, like many African nations suffers an invasion of fall armyworm,” says George Bohoussou, acting country head of AfDB in Togo. Statistics show that during the 2018-19 agricultural campaign, 53% of maize fields (160,581.5 hectares) were under the insect’s attack.

However, many efforts were made to mitigate the invasion’s consequences. For example, “since 2017, the government spent more than 177 million CFA to purchase insecticides, phytosanitary treatment equipment and protection equipment which were distributed freely to the invasion’s victims.” This was declared by Sani Yaya, Togo’s minister of economy and finance.  

The loan now provided by AfDB and FAO will help support these efforts. It comes in a context where the “State needs $3,2M or nearly CFA1.9 billion for its five-year strategy to fight the pest,” the minister said.

This plague could destroy 13.5 million metric tons of maize across 14 African countries, thus more than 20% of their total output.

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