The European Union and Germany announced on November 18, 2022, additional financing to support the Emergency Program for the Savannes Region (PURS) in Togo. 

In detail, the EU will disburse €5 million while Germany will increase bilateral funds for its ProEnergie project.

The EU allocation, a grant, will be mobilized under the crisis response component of the new "Global Europe" tool. As for Germany, it will disclose the exact amount during bilateral negotiations at the end of November 2022 in Berlin.

The new financing should help extend access to basic social services for the most vulnerable population in the Savanes region, which is facing a terrorist threat.

Specifics

Over 2,500 households, across 17 localities in the Savannes region, will have access to power as a result of the project. A statement also claims that about 10 peripheral health care units will be electrified by solar technology and get medical equipment such as autoclaves for sterilization, blood analyzers, centrifuges, microscopes, and other ICT equipment (laptops, printers).

Part of the new funds will also finance vocational training for youth and women on entrepreneurship and the productive use of electricity.

It should be noted that last January, the EU signed with the Togolese authorities the joint document of multi-year programming (DCP) which provides for the actions it will carry out to support Togo’s development over the period 2021-2027.

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Togolese soybean actors officially launched the 2022-2023 sales campaign last Tuesday, November 15. The campaign will end on June 30, 2023.

This season, over 200,000 tons of soybeans will be sold, according to the national federation of soybean producers.

"We have agreed to set up a safety stock for the benefit of processors. The moratorium period that was given last year will not be granted this campaign, but all buying traders will put in place a safety stock for processors," said Komlan Kadzakade, President of the Interprofessional Council of the soybean sector (CFIS).

This season, the on-field purchase price at the field is up by about 7%. –CFA280 to CFA300 per kg.

Let’s note that soybean has performed well in the past few years. During the 2016-2017, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020 campaigns, respectively, the sector posted an output of 39,000 tons, 44,700 tons, and 46,700 tons.

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Over 40,000 tons of pineapples were produced in Togo during the 2021-2022 season. The exact figure–44,391 tons—was reported last September by the PROCAT, a project that supports Togo’s pineapple sector.

Out of the volume produced over the period reviewed, 33,737 tons were grown organically.

Compared to 2019 when the country produced 30,149 tons, the recent output is up by 47%. In 2017, Togo produced even fewer pineapples: 27,000 t.

The improvement is attributable mostly to the PROCAT which supported, in several ways, rural and agricultural actors, as well as micro, small, and medium businesses active in the pineapple sector.

The PROCAT is financed by the European Union and backed by the German Ministry of Cooperation (BMZ). In 2020, the two partners gave Togo’s national federation of pineapple producers CFA30 million to help local pineapple-processing businesses be more competitive.

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Over 99% of land titles have been digitized in Togo and this means all land procedures, including transfers, can now be completed online. This was disclosed two weeks ago (November 3) by the Commissioner General of the Togolese Revenue Office (OTR), Philippe Kokou Tchodie, during a virtual conference

"The procedures have been simplified to the maximum and the OTR has quickly adapted," Tchodie said.

The digitization of the land registry, besides procedure completion, should make it easier to collect land and accommodation taxes, for the State and municipalities.

Five months ago, Togo’s tax office reported that it was now possible to check the request for land registration online. 

The government, let’s recall, wants to dematerialize 75% of its administrative procedures by 2025.

A week ago, on November 10, the national forum for social dialogue closed in Kara (420km north of Lomé). Participants, during the meeting, adopted a roadmap to reorganize and revitalize social dialogue in Togo. 

Actions laid under the roadmap should foster conditions for “sustainable social peace which will support the productivity of businesses and public administrations and consolidate social progress.”

In detail, the document defines the government's support to the social partners for the training of workers, particularly in the sectors of health, mobile telephony, public works, the free zone, construction and public works, and national education, which have faced several challenges over the past decade.

According to Gilbert Bawara, Minister of Work and Social Dialogue, adopting the roadmap aligns with ongoing reforms in the work sector. The official also reiterated the government’s commitment to implement projects in which all stakeholders will be involved.

The national forum for social dialogue was organized in partnership with the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). It was also an occasion to assess social dialogue and its prospects in Togo.

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Togo is no more the country with the cheapest internet offers in the WAEMU. According to the ARCEP, the country’s telecom regulator, it was dethroned by Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso. 

In a press release issued on November 15, 2022, the ARCEP stated that Canalbox (Groupe Vivendi Africa, GVA) and Togocom (operating in Togo) were outpaced by Moov Africa’s subsidiaries in Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso.

In addition to fixed internet access, Moov Africa’s subsidiaries have the cheapest offers in all ranges thanks to the many advantages. "These advantages are characterized by unlimited fixed-line intra-network calls, fixed-line inter-network voice packages, mobile voice packages, or mobile data packages, offered free of charge to subscribers," ARCEP said.

According to the ARCEP, Moov Africa Ivory Coast and Moov Africa Burkina Faso charge respectively CFA15,000 and CFA30,000 for their 50 Mbps and 200 Mbps offers – the same as Canalbox and Togocom. However, in addition to these offers, there are other advantages such as a mobile package of 60 minutes in Burkina and unlimited fixed-line calls on-net, 60 minutes of fixed-line calls to any network, 150 minutes of mobile calls, and 3 GB of mobile data.

Commenting on the new ranking, Yaovi Galley, head of ARCEP, “strongly encourages Internet service providers in Togo to be more generous and innovative with their offers, emulating the best rates in the sub-region and the rest of the world.”

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Togo’s Prime Minister, Victoire Tomegah-Dogbe, met with around 20 western businessmen mobilized by the Tony Blair Foundation. She presented them with business opportunities her country has to offer.

Among others, the PM told the businessmen about the more attractive business climate, the better legal and tax regulation, natural potentialities, as well as the peace, stability, and security that the country enjoys. 

Several ongoing projects – notably in the energy, telecommunication, and industrialization sectors – at the Adetikope Industrial Platform (PIA) were also presented, in the presence of other officials. 

Kayi Mivedore, Minister for Investment Promotion, who also attended the meeting, said at its end: “These are investors who have been identified because they have a strategy of relocating their investments in Africa. For us, it is a good opportunity to meet them, to show them what is being done in Togo.”

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This year, the Inter-African Coffee Organisation (IACO) is holding its annual meetings in Lomé. The five-day event was launched on November 14 by Togo’s Minister of Trade and Local Consumption, Kodjo Adedze.

"African coffee has a major role to play in our State's development. It will, if we can set up here, on the continent, all the chains of value that it generates," said Minister Adedze at the opening. "Unfortunately, Africa keeps exporting 2/3 of its production without added value and imports the equivalent of a third in the form of finished products, that is soluble coffee and ground coffee. It is therefore clear that the added value of African coffee production, or rather the sweat of our African sisters and brothers, benefits mainly foreign industries," he added.

Empowering women

This year’s meetings focus on growing female entrepreneurship in the coffee sector, as the theme picked is “Empowering Youth and Women in the African Coffee Industry”.

According to the Togolese Minister of Trade, this theme “sufficiently demonstrates that issues related to inclusion, women, and youth empowerment are important pillars for the revival of the coffee sector in Africa.”

Among others, stakeholders present will lay the foundations for strengthening women’s position in the coffee sector, which in Togo is one of the main cash crops.

Also, the meeting includes the High-Level Political Forum on Coffee, the 5th Scientific Conference on African Coffee, the 62nd General Assembly of the IACO, and the 10th African Coffee Symposium.

Togo does not only host the event this year, but it also chairs it as well and next year, a Togolese, Enselme Gouthon, will take over the International Coffee Council (ICO). Gouthon, who is currently the Executive Secretary of the Coordinating Committee for Coffee and Cocoa of Togo (CCFCC) and President of ACRAM (the Agency for Robusta Coffee of Africa and Madagascar), was appointed last month.

A week ago, the international airport of Lomé inaugurated its new power plant and lighting system. The installations, which cost CFA4 billion, were commissioned by the Togolese Minister of Road, Air, and Rail Transport, Affoh Atcha-Dedji.

The new plant and lighting system were set up by the Agency for the Safety of Air Navigation in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA). They aim to boost air safety in Africa and improve the Agency’s navigation services, as well as “ensure optimal air safety in our country,” according to Minister Atcha-Dedji. 

The project is part of ASECNA’s Services and Equipment Strategy. It should also contribute to the Togolese government’s ambition to make Lomé’s airport a West African logistics hub.

Esaïe Edoh