In Togo, the cost of the Covid test for those traveling by air was reduced from CFA40,000 (about $70) to CFA25,000 ($45). The decision was validated by the government on July 7 in a decree signed by the minister of health,  Moustafa Mijiyawa, and the minister of finance, Sani Yaya.

“The subsidized price of the SARS-CoV2 diagnostic test is set at CFA25,000. Payment terms will be set by decision of the Minister of Finance,” the decree reads.

Effective May 1, 2021, the new price was fixed by the Heads of State of the West African Economic Union (WAEMU). Togo is the 6th country in the Union to implement it. Lomé was preceded by Guinea Bissau, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, and Senegal. 

In Togo, the six institutions that do Covid tests are the National Institute of Hygiene of Lomé and Kara, the national hygiene laboratory of Lomé and Kara, the national reference laboratory for mycobacteria of the Sylvanus Olympio University Hospital, the mobile laboratory of the Gnassingbé Eyadéma International Airport of Lomé, the BIOLIM/FSS laboratory of the University of Lomé, the laboratory of the University Hospital of Kara, and the laboratory of the regional centers of Dapaong and Sokode.

 Esaïe Edoh

Ecobox, a project that aims to keep Aneho and its surroundings clean was launched on July 5, 2021. This project, initiated by Africa Global Recycling and financed by Togocom, contributes to sustainable development, improves living standards, tackles pollution, and fosters eco-entrepreneurship in Togo. 

“The sustainable management of waste in our municipalities must imperatively go beyond collecting and eliminating landfill waste; it must factor in the assets but also the weaknesses of the territory, and use new economic and social models as a basis for performance,” said Edem D'Almeda, Managing Director of Africa Global Recycling.

“Our goal is to offer the Togolese population solutions in terms of sanitation, sustainable development, and youth employability,” said Paul Alazard, CEO of Togocom.

After Aneho, the Ecobox project should be extended to other towns all over the country.

Adetikope Industrial Platform (PIA), a joint venture between the Togolese State (35%) and Arise IPP (65%), will become MIFA’s major stakeholder. The move was announced at the end of the council of ministers held yesterday, July 7. 

The PIA’s stake in the MIFA is yet to be disclosed but the State, however, said it would head the company’s board of directors. 

The State itself should keep a 43.5% stake, according to the draft decree setting “the terms and price at which the State sold part of its shares in the company’s shareholding.” “The State’s position will enable it to be fully associated with the governance of MIFA SA. For example, the board of directors’ chairman will be appointed on recommendation by the Togolese State.”

Besides the PIA and the State, the FNGPC - the national federation of cotton farmers’ associations - will be MIFA’s third shareholder. 

The MIFA’s privatization follows the acquisition, by the Singaporean Olam, of the Nouvelle société cotonnière togolaise (NSCT). Olam is one of Arise IPP’s shareholders, alongside Africa Finance Corporation (AFC).

The MIFA was launched three years ago. It is a risk-sharing-based incentive mechanism to finance agriculture in Togo. Inspired by Nigeria’s NIRSAL mechanism, the Togolese initiative aims to boost financing in agriculture, professionalize its sub-sectors by structuring value chains, and put in place adapted and innovative technological and insurance products.

Since it was established, in 2018, CFA27 billion were loaned to agricultural actors. Over the past three years, the mechanism helped create and consolidate more than 274,000 jobs, including 240,000 seasonal ones. Also, more than 200,000 farmers were supported, and 1,450 cooperatives were structured. Nevertheless, agriculture remained the least-financed sector in the country. Indeed, agricultural actors got less than 1% of overall loans that banks granted to the economy in 2020; despite the fact that the sector contributes nearly 40% of Togo’s GDP and employs 60% of its active population. 

Fiacre E. Kakpo

Togo produced more than 1.26 million metric tons (Mt) of grains in 2020, up from nearly 1.19 million metric tons in 2018 (+6.5%). The figures, disclosed by the BCEAO, only cover the corn, millet, and sorghum sector.  

In detail, the country’s corn output grew by 7% between 2018 and 2020 - from over 886,000 Mt to nearly 950,000 Mt (it passed 900,000 Mt in 2019). Corn, it should be noted, is the most consumed crop in Togo. 

Regarding millet and sorghum, which are mainly grown and consumed in the northern part of the country, growth in their combined output was less significant than corn but noticeable. From about 303,000 Mt in 2018, the figure increased by around 5% to 318,000 Mt in 2020 (and around 309,000 Mt in 2019). 

Across the WAEMU, shows the data from the BCEAO, corn production rose by 7.24% in three years. Burkina Faso was the crop’s leading producer in the region over the period, with an average output of 1.7 million Mt. 

For sorghum and millet, the region recorded an average production of nearly 14 million Mt in 2018-2020, with Niger as the leading producer. This country produced 40% of the region’s total millet and sorghum output in 2020 alone. 

Klétus Situ

Last week, on July 2, Togo and Gabon signed a memorandum of understanding to make it easier for the former to import wood products from the latter. The MoU was signed in Libreville, Gabon, by the Togolese Minister of forest resources and environment, Katari Foli-Bazi, and Gabon’s Minister of water and forest resources, Lee White.

The five-year agreement will mutually open up the countries’ wood industries and bolster cooperation regarding the sustainable management of the environment and forest resources. 

On the Gabonese side, the deal will enable businesses operating in the country’s wood industry to access the Togolese real estate market. As for Togo, it should take advantage of the opportunity to emulate Gabon’s forest conservation and protection models. 

“We are moving from a model of conservation of our forest resources to a model of protection, conservation, and exploitation. We want to learn from the Gabonese model to attract many investors in the timber sector and boost trade between our countries,” said the Togolese minister, Katari Foli-Bazi, after the agreement was signed.

Togo, let’s emphasize, has doubled down on efforts to protect its timber industry and preserve its vegetation cover which has been degraded in recent years. To this end, the government on May 12, 2021, prohibited the export of sawn and semi-sawn wood products.

Esaïe Edoh

New irrigation systems and superstructures will be built in about 50 planned agricultural development zones (ZAAP), spread across 13 prefectures of Northern Togo. Related construction works should be completed within six months.     

In line with the project, the Togolese ministry of agriculture and development recently launched a tender, closing on July 30, 2021, to select skilled contractors to carry out the works. The tender notice was issued in the local newspaper, Togo Presse, on July 5, 2021. 

The ZAAPs, it should be noted, was established a few years back to help farmers grow as cooperatives, but also boost their productivity and yields. With ‘agropoles’, they are structural pillars of Togolese agriculture. 

Klétus Situ

Nearly 79% of Togolese citizens say there are good opportunities to start a business in the region where they live. The figure is from the 2020-2021 report of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), an international research center that studies entrepreneurial activity in several countries, worldwide. 

The ages of the sample population of Togolese citizens covered by the study range from 18 to 64 years. The survey was carried out on site by the National Coalition for Youth Employment (CNEJ) and the Centre autonome d'études et de renforcement des capacités pour le développement au Togo (CADERDT).

In detail, around 60% of Togolese citizens believe it’s easy to start a business in Togo and 69% claim they know someone who recently started their business. Meanwhile, around 92% of the surveyed are confident they have the skills needed to start and run a business - this is the highest rate among the 43 countries featured in the report. However, only 48% of them plan to take the plunge in the next few months; against 44% who are hesitant to follow the entrepreneurial path. 

Asked about the pandemic’s impact on entrepreneurship in Togo, about 90% of the respondents said it has brought down household income and dimmed Togolese’s entrepreneurial spirit. In detail, over 50% of the respondents said the health crisis forced entrepreneurs to cease all activities, while 27% of them affirmed they know someone who took advantage of the pandemic to launch their business.

Klétus Situ

Lomé’s Court of Appeal sanctioned, last Monday, nine pirates with heavy jail sentences and fines. The culprits were brought to justice for trying to hijack - on the night of May 11-12, 2019 - the G-Dona 1 tanker, a Togo-flagged vessel owned by a Beninese shipowner.

The crew’s leader - a Nigerian named Peter Paul - received a 15- year sentence, a five-year entry ban in Togo, and a CFA 50 million fine. 

Six other members who took part in the attempted hijacking were each sentenced to 12 years in jail. In addition, the non-Togolese among them received a five-year entry ban in the country while the Togolese were deprived of their civil rights. The six of them also have to pay a CFA 25 million fine, each, for damages caused. 

One of the pirates, a Ghanaian, still at large, was sentenced in absentia to 20 years in prison and a CFA 50 million fine. The last of the nine pirates, a Togolese, was acquitted.  

As this trial affirms, Togo remains committed to curbing maritime insecurity - an objective which had led its government to hold, in October 2016, an African summit on maritime security, safety, and development.

Esaïe Edoh

For the second consecutive year, Togo meets the US requirements relative to budget transparency. This was disclosed in the US Department of State's latest Fiscal Transparency Report. The latter assessed fiscal transparency in over 140 countries, throughout 2020. 

The West African has, over the period reviewed, made available to the public all information related to its budget, forecast details, revenues and expenditures. 

It has also been transparent regarding tender processes and signed contracts for exploiting natural resources. 

Togo has been making efforts to publish information relevant to operating permits and licenses awarded by the government. These reforms, however, are struggling to be implemented, at least according to several civil society organizations. 

The Fiscal Transparency report is published every year and covers countries that get aid from the US. “It helps,” the US Department of State says, " to ensure that US taxpayer funds are used appropriately."

With this new ranking, Togo, which has met the three eligibility criteria for the MCC (Millennium Challenge Corporation) Compact for five (5) consecutive years, is “theoretically” getting closer and closer to the U.S. funding program. Two years ago, let’s recall, it gained access to the MCC Threshold program.