The Togolese ministry of agriculture and the Teolis Foundation officially launched on May 3, 2022, the “Stations Météos Togo” project. This is a project that will provide weather data to farmers across the country.

Concretely, all over the country, digital stations will be set up to monitor key indicators that influence agricultural cycles.

These digital stations collect, every five minutes, data on temperature, sunshine, pressure, air humidity, wind direction, wind speed, rainfall, soil temperature, humidity, salinity, and conductivity. "This data, which will be available on the farmer's smartphone and through several other digital sources, will help to know where, when, and what to sow, how to maintain the field, and when to harvest," says Michel Bagnah, president of the Teolis Foundation

In all, 120 stations will be deployed, adding to the 12 stations that were successfully launched in January 2021. In the long run, more than 400 of the installations should cover the territory.

This project, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, "helps boost the agricultural sector" which is one of the pillars of the Togolese economy.

Indeed, developing agriculture is one of the Togolese government's priorities, as stated in the Roadmap 2025. Under the 2022 finance law, CFA45 billion has been allocated to the ministry of agriculture.

“Stations Météos Togo'' is part of Teolis’ AGRITEOLIS program. The latter includes several other digital projects, including "digital collars for livestock" which will be launched soon.

Esaïe Edoh

Under the supervision of the Ministry of Health of Togo, the Industrial Platform of Adétikopé (PIA) launched on April 4, 2022, a campaign for free cataract surgery covering all the regions of Togo. The program, "Vision for All", is fully initiated and financed by ARISE IIP/PIA, and aims to provide ophthalmological treatment to the entire Togolese population.

In effect, the beneficiaries will get free consultation and surgery.

Started in the Savannes region on April 4, 2022, the program continued in the Kara region on April 25, followed by the Central and Plateaux regions respectively, and will end in the Maritime region, precisely in the greater Lomé area on August 06, 2022.

So far, 1,410 people have been operated, over a target of 10,000-15,000 people by August.

For the program, the Indian doctors deployed by ARISE IIP/PIA brought in cutting-edge equipment, and collaborate perfectly with the Togolese army doctors on the ground.

After the surgeries, the ARISE IIP/PIA medical team will train Togolese doctors on the new techniques of ophthalmology and surgery.

ARISE IIP/PIA places sustainable development at the heart of its strategy and has, since its inception, been launching social actions for the good of the Togolese people.

From renovating schools to donations to orphans, from checks to NGOs to the construction of a septic tank, PIA is strongly committed to the socio-economic development of Togo.

The Togolese people, whether they are PIA employees or not, have always been a great support in our operations and it remains our duty to support them in the daily challenges they face.

About PIA

The Industrial Platform of Adétikopé (PIA) was born from a public-private partnership between the Togolese Republic and Arise IIP. With a total investment of CFA130 billion, it has been operational since January 2021, and was inaugurated on June 6, 2021 (Phase 1).

About Arise IIP

Arise Integrated Industrial Platforms (IIP) is a joint venture between Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and Olam International Ltd (Olam). It specializes in integrated industrial zones and its portfolio currently includes GSEZ, GDIZ, PIA and SAG.

Last Friday, Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General AfCFTA, met with Togo’s President, Faure Gnassingbe. On the occasion, he presented the leader with a project aimed at digitizing custom procedures along the Abidjan-Lagos corridor.

"We have already secured the funds needed to achieve this agenda. Currently, we are ready to work with ECOWAS and the Togolese government. The thing now is to see to what extent we can consolidate all this for an efficient customs process,” Mene said following the meeting.  

He also lauded the progress made in implementing the AfCFTA’s strategies aimed at helping its member states lift trade barriers and boost trade between African countries. 

Let’s note that the new digitization project comes in a context where work on the Abidjan-Lagos highway (connecting five countries in the subregion: Togo, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Benin, and Nigeria) is continuing, to accelerate trade on this important trans-African road axis that spans 1,081 km.

The Abidjan-Lagos corridor is a flagship project of the Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA) and is part of the major Dakar-Lagos coastal sub-regional axis.

Launched four years ago, Togo’s Employment Opportunities for Vulnerable Youth (EJV) project has come to an end. It received a "Highly Satisfactory Rating" from the World Bank, which supports the initiative, on April 29, during a closing workshop in Lomé.

Besides the World Bank and the Ministry of Grassroots Development, the meeting brought together various actors and beneficiaries, including representatives of beneficiary communities.

Throughout its deployment, the initiative, implemented by the National Agency for Support to Grassroots Development (Anadeb), has impacted 14,500 young poor or vulnerable people, helped create 225 literacy centers, and launch 200 micro-projects, according to the meeting’s report.

Based on the project’s results, its resource distribution model, and the way it boosted social cohesion in target communities, the World Bank believes that it deserves to be institutionalized by the government, like the school canteen program.

For her part, the Minister in charge of grassroots development, Myriam Dossou d'Almeida, was pleased with the "important achievements" of the initiative.

"The success of the project is no longer to be demonstrated. The living testimonies are there. And these testimonies come from the beneficiaries themselves, their relatives, and the beneficiary and non-beneficiary communities. The EJV project, through the THIMO (High-Intensity Labor Work), training, grants, and coaching, has transformed lives," she added.

Overall, CFA9 billion was spent to finance the EJV project.

In Togo, the 50-kg fertilizer bag (151515 NPK; 46% N Urea) will be sold at CFA18,000 during the upcoming agricultural season. Set by the government, the price was disclosed by the minister of agriculture, Antoine Lekpa Gbegbeni.

Though it is 44% more than the price set last year (CFA12,500), the new price is lower than the region’s average – between CFA19,000 and CFA25,000, depending on the formula).

This is owed to the government’s subsidy which is aimed at “supporting our brave farmers in these difficult times,” said Miniter Gbegbeni, refering to the current global and local inflation.

Togo retained CFA33 billion from investors in its latest issue on the WAMU securities market, on April 29, 2022.

Overall, Lomé mobilized 40 billion from 14 regional investors, while it was seeking CFA30 billion–thus representing a 133% subscription rate.

For this operation, the treasury issued recovery bonds with a nominal value of CFA10,000, a maturity period of 120 months, and a fixed interest rate of 5.9%.

Including this latest issue, Togo has raised CFA225 billion from the WAMU securities market this year, through seven issues.

Esaïe Edoh

Between 2020 and 2021, the waiting time of ships in port on the Togolese coast, ie, vessels that anchor in territorial waters around the port infrastructure waiting to call or not, has fallen from about 27 hours to 22 hours. This is according to data provided by the Ministry in charge of the maritime economy.

Over the period, container transit time fell from 13.4 to 11.45 days for containers bound for Togo, and from 16.95 to 15.5 days for containers in transit. The improvement was due to "the optimization of traffic management processes and cargo handling procedures," according to the Port of Lome.

While processing time of ships has reduced, there was a slight increase in the number of ships that did not enter the port; it rose from 1,239 in 2020 to 1,329 in 2021, up 7.26% YoY, according to the port authorities.

The same source added that the number of ships called at the autonomous port of Lomé during the same period rose by nearly 11%, from 967 in 2020 to 1,073 in 2021 (with an increase of 0.41% recorded for container ships).

It should be recalled that, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, overall traffic at the port grew by 14.17% annually between 2020 and 2021. Over the period, TEU container traffic grew by 14.72%, while the maritime service increased from 1,510 vessels to 1,629 vessels in 2021, a growth of 7.88%.

In total, 29.6 million tons of cargo were unloaded in 2021, almost 3.5 million tons or 14.18% more than the previous year.

Overall, the improved figures translate the sustaining of trend started five years ago. Indeed, from 2017 to 2021, the turnover of the Autonomous Port of Lomé (PAL) has increased by 34%, from 26 billion FCFA to 35 billion FCFA.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Consequent to receiving the parliament’s approval last Friday, April 22, the Togolese government said it will officially apply to join the Commonwealth next June.

The application will be submitted during the Commonwealth Summit in Rwanda. Christian Trimua, the Togolese minister of human rights, said the move would mark the beginning of a new phase in the adhesion process, which Lomé intends to “carry through to its end, for the good of every Togolese”. 

If Togo effectively becomes a member of the Commonwealth, it would have access to a market of 2.5 billion people. Also, this would allow the West African nation to open up more to the rest of the world, attract foreign investments, and bolster foreign trade.

However, Togolese authorities stressed that joining the Commonwealth does not mean breaking away from the Francophonie, but instead reinforcing the position of English in its education system.

Esaïe Edoh

The Togolese government has spent in April alone more than 12 billion CFA on fuel subsidies. “Regarding petroleum products subsidies, we have exceeded CFA12 billion for April alone,” Kodjo Adedze, Minister of Trade, told journalists during a press conference on April 28, 2022. He co-hosted the conference alongside his peers, the minister of human rights, the minister of communication (spokesperson of the government), and the secretary-general of the government.

In detail, "based on current global market rates, unleaded super would be sold at CFA851 per liter,” said Kodjo Adedze, noting that "the State pays nearly 256 additional francs to ensure that this product is available at the pump at the current price (595 CFA francs, editor's note)”.

Adedze emphasized supply issues, caused by oil scarcity. “Price is not the only the issue, availability is as well,” the official noted.

A month ago, the government raised fuel pump prices, amidst global inflation. There was a 16% increase in the price of super unleaded and a 13.8% increase in the price of the two-stroke mixture.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi