Togo teamed up with Morocco’s Phosphate Office (OCP) to carry out its agricultural development project, via mechanization and local fertilizer production. 

The two parties signed two agreements in this framework on May 31, on the sidelines of a top-class meeting on fertilizer security that Lomé recently hosted. The agreements respectively aim to bolster agricultural mechanization in Togo and improve fertilizer supply by setting up a phosphate fertilizer plant in the country. 

The documents were signed by the Togolese ministers of agriculture and mining, Antoine Lekpa and Mila Aziablé, respectively, and the head of the OCP for Africa, Mohamed Anouad Jamali. 

The Presidents of Togo, Niger, and Guinea Bissau launched on May 31, 2023, a regional call to improve access to fertilizers in West Africa. 

The leaders did so in the Togolese capital at the close of a top-level meeting to enhance fertilizer security in West Africa. The roundtable was organized by Togo, ECOWAS, and the World Bank. Several West African key players and development partners attended.

During the meeting, delegations from the participating countries approved a soil health roadmap. A move that should pave the way for greater collaboration between West African countries to make fertilizers more accessible in the region.

"Without vision, without a strategy, fertilizers quickly become the source of degradation of soils, rather than restoring them,”  said Faure Gnassingbé, President of Togo. “To strike the right balance, planning, and state involvement are key. That's why I'm in favor of regional planning. As illustrated by the Roadmap presented today, our vision must above all be sub-regional, " the leader added.

"By adopting a shared roadmap, ECOWAS countries are committed to improving access to mineral and organic fertilizers for small-scale farmers, with a focus on crop production which ensures food security and sovereignty for populations, as well as implementing priority actions," stressed Omar Alieu Touray, President of the ECOWAS Commission.

Sub-regional coordination

"One of the key elements in the fight against desertification and soil impoverishment is, of course, the management of agricultural inputs", said Gnassingbé, ahead of the launch of 'La déclaration de Lomé'. "Producing more, now and in the future, is, therefore, the great imperative for our agriculture," he added.

After the meeting, industry leaders and development partners from the Regional Agency for Agriculture and Food in West Africa (ECOWAP) reiterated their support for an innovative, integrated approach to sustainable soil fertility management.

According to the roadmap issued at the end of the event, the initiative should be based on three pillars: production, scientific research, and supply and marketing.

World Bank increases its support

On the sidelines of the meeting, the World Bank announced additional financing of $1.5 billion for developing agriculture in West Africa by 2024, bringing the Bank’s total support for this sector to $5.5 billion, adding to the $4 billion already committed and being deployed. Similarly, the Netherlands announced a €100 million financing to support the sector in West Africa, over the next decade.

"In favor of ECOWAS member countries, and in collaboration with development partners, the World Bank is committed to increasing its financial and technical support for resilient agriculture that brings sustainable development and creates jobs. We are working with African institutions to promote soil health and combat food insecurity", said Ousmane Diagana, World Bank Vice President for West and Central Africa.

The top-level meeting in Lomé took place amidst several challenges in the region, such as difficulties in getting fertilizer due to the war in Ukraine. According to the latest projections, if appropriate measures are not taken quickly in the sub-region, it is estimated that 41.9 million people could face food insecurity between June and August 2023.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

In Togo, the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (ARCOP) just started a team-training course for officials in charge of awarding public contracts at the municipality level.  The course began yesterday, May 30, and will end on June 3. Over 500 participants from the Plateaux-Est, Ouest, and Maritime regions are participating.

They will learn about public procurement management procedures and the preparation of simplified tender documents. The training modules explored during the course are designed to help the municipality representatives better tackle fraudulent practices in the procurement process.

The training should also bolster local players’ expertise, equipping them with the tools they need to meet the challenges they face in preparing tender documents.

"This training is ARCOP's response to various requests and recommendations to overcome the deficit in the mastery of procedures," said Elom Aziadekey, administrative and financial director of the public procurement regulator.

The capacity-building session will continue in the northern part of the country from June 13.

Esaïe Edoh

A delegation from the Union des Conseils économiques et sociaux et Institutions similaires des Etats et gouvernements membres de la Francophonie (UCESIF) is in Togo since May 28. They recently met with the country’s Prime Minister, Victoire Dogbé. With her, they talked ways to help Togo get its Economic and Social Council (ESC) running as soon as possible. 

Thierry Beaudet, president of the UCESIF, said during the meeting with PM Dogbé that France was ready to provide Togo support for the operationalization of “the Economic and Social Council of Togo". Beaudet is also the president of France’s Economic, Social, and Environmental Council, CESE-France.

Togo started establishing its ESC in 2019, almost 10 years after the parliament greenlit the project. 

The ESC is an institution that will advise Togo’s public bodies, including the Presidency and the Parliament, and contribute to the elaboration of social and economic policies. Last year,  the Togolese Council secured CFA500 million for its operationalization. 

Esaïe Edoh

Next Friday, June 2, Togo will proceed to a new issue on the WAEMU market. Lomé will try to raise CFA30 billion on the regional stock market. 

The operation is a simultaneous issue of fungible treasury bonds  (OATs) and fungible treasury bills (BATs). 

According to the tender notice, the country will seek CFA20 billion via the bonds and CFA10 billion via the bills. The OATs have a nominal value of CFA10,000, and interest rates of 6% and 6.25% on the respective maturities of 3 and 5 years. The BATs’ nominal value is CFA1 million. They will mature over 182 days and have a multiple interest rate.

The operation’s proceeds will finance Togo’s 2023 budget. 

Isaiah Edoh

Fracht, the logistics Swiss group, is opening an office in Lomé, Togo. The group’s president for West Africa and the Indian Ocean, Lionel Tristan, made the announcement last week in a meeting with Togolese Minister of Maritime Economy, Edem Tengue.

Fracht picked the Togolese capital for its dynamism and the importance of its port platform on the West African coast. According to Tristan, the move is proof that the company believes in the port of Lomé and its development potential.

Lomé’s port has indeed expanded its activities in recent years and, very recently, MSC, the Italian-Swiss company, has acquired Bolloré Africa Logistics. 

Though it opened its office in Lomé only last week, Fracht started operating in the country last month, according to the group.

Based in Basel, Switzerland, Fracht has over 145 offices spread across 50 countries and more than 2,000 employees. Togolese authorities believe that the new office will reinforce the country's status as a sub-regional port player, and support its ambition to become a sub-regional logistics hub.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) launched Togo’s Investment Policy Review (IPR) today, May 30, in Lomé. The meeting is organized by the Ministry of investment promotion.

Today and tomorrow, participants will learn about the strengths and weaknesses of projects launched to bolster investment in Togo.

This review, carried out by UNCTAD's Investment Policy Review Section, assesses the country’s development policies, its business climate, and institutions that play a role in investment.

The review’s results will enable the country to improve its actions and initiatives to improve the business climate, following recommendations aligning with the government’s ambitions.

Esaïe Edoh

Togo is currently hosting a regional meeting on fertilizer security in West Africa. Held at the 2 Février Hotel in Lomé, the meeting is organized in collaboration with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the World Bank.

The two-day roundtable regrouped West African and Sahel leaders as well as key players in the agricultural sector, such as the Dangote Group. They will establish a common roadmap for improving access to fertilizers in the region.

Opening the meeting, Togo’s minister of agriculture, Antoine Lekpa Gbegbeni, emphasized the country's efforts in enhancing agricultural productivity and promoting fertilizer, notably by creating a soil fertility map to bolster access to fertilizers.

West Africa, according to the World Bank, presently faces "the worst food crisis it has ever experienced in ten years". The Bretton Woods Institution stressed that over 41 million people would deal with acute food insecurity this lean season (June-July). 

At the moment, to tackle the fertilizer supply challenge, regional actors are looking to boost the fertilizer processing capacity at national levels, especially in Togo and Nigeria

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Last week, The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) celebrated ECOWAS Week. The event, which closed on May 26, was hosted at the Bank’s headquarters, in Lomé. 

En:
Day 2 of #ECOWASWEEK! Discover how #EBID commits to catalyzing regional economic development. Interested in our projects? Visit ? https://t.co/LIeZfybc1u

1/2 pic.twitter.com/7L2db5rICd

— ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development (EBID) (@BIDC_EBID) May 23, 2023

The ECOWAS Week gathered key banking leaders who engaged with targeted audiences, including students, media, and financiers, via a webinar, an open house, and a conference that brought together several actors of ECOWAS’ finance industry. The meetings focused on EBID’s actions and achievements targeting the populations, across the Community and its 15 member States.

"It would not be superfluous to say that the future of ECOWAS depends on the BIDC," said George Agyekum Nana Donkor, President of EBID, on May 26. "We will continue to invest in essential sectors for the development of our states (agriculture, energy, infrastructure, health), with a strong emphasis on industrialization," he added.

Since it launched, the EBID, a founding shareholder of Asky Airlines and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), has disbursed more than $1.7 billion for more than 200 projects across all ECOWAS countries. The funds, according to available data, were invested in infrastructure (54%) and services (25%). rural development (9%), industry (5%), and social initiatives (5%). 

Besides promoting the EBID, ECOWAS Week underlined the Bank's ongoing commitment to boost the regional economy by providing much-needed funding for essential sectors, demonstrating its pivotal role within the ECOWAS community. The ECOWAS Week also commemorates the establishment of the Community on May 28, 1975.

Octave A. Bruce