Togo produced during the 2018-2019 agricultural season 886,630 metric tons of maize, making it the country’s first food crop.

According to the Office of Agricultural Statistics which disclosed the data, nearly a million and half people cultivate the crop.

In addition to being consumed by households (rural and urban), maize is also a major source of income. Indeed, it generates a net average income of XOF223,000 per ha. This makes it Togo’s primary agricultural source of income after cash crops (coffee, cocoa, cotton and soybeans).

In Togo, maize is grown over more than 700,000 ha, that is 40% of all lands dedicated to crop farming. Since the 1990s, maize output has been on the raise, with peaks recorded in the northern regions especially.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Over the past two days, actors of the telecom sectors and regulators of this industry from Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Senegal and Togo gathered in Guinea for the third Free Roaming evaluation meeting.

On this occasion, participants assessed what didn’t work out with the agreement signed in 2016 to cancel roaming fees between these seven countries, and what can be done to improve the procedure, said Antigou Chérif, MD of the Guinean Post and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ARPT).

While the assessment revealed satisfying results, it also pointed out corrective measures to take to ensure that free roaming benefits populations of signees and eases their movement from one country to another. 

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Maize, Rice and Cotton. These are the three agricultural sectors that are most insurable in Togo.

This was disclosed by a recent feasibility study conducted in order to put in place agricultural insurance for Togolese farmers.

The report of the study ordered by the ministry of agriculture and steered by MIFA SA was reviewed on August 29, 2019, in Lomé, at a meeting which regrouped actors of the agricultural sector, officials, insurers, banks, microfinance institutions and entrepreneurship-promoting entities.

The three sectors mentioned earlier meet all conditions required for the start of pilots for insurance. However, these pilot stages will be carried out based on the main types of risk to which the culture is exposed, such as drought or excess water.

The study also serves as a roadmap to launch a sustainable insurance program for agriculture in Togo. The move was technically and financially backed by the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Through a new tender issued last Wednesday, Togo yet seeks to raise XOF20 billion on the UMOA-securities financial market by next September, 6^th.

According to the related communiqué from the UMOA-securities agency, the funds should be raised by issuing fungible treasury bonds. Proceeds are to be used to cover part of the State budget for this year.

Regarding its features, the operation has a maturity period of five years, a nominal value of XOF10,000 per unit and an interest rate of 6.5% paid yearly, starting next September 9.

Let’s recall that since the second quarter of this year, Togo has had strong returns, some oversubscriptions even, for all its issuances on the regional market.

Séna Akoda

Excluding the year 2012, Japan has invested from 2011 to 2018 close to $72.8 million in Togo. The figure was disclosed by the Togolese Presidency, on the sidelines of the ongoing seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7).

The funds were spent on the renovation of the fishing port, the community development emergency program (PUDC) and the construction of bridges across the Kara and Koumongou Rivers.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) also gave XO14.4 billion for the construction of the new fishing port of Lomé. For this project, the State itself provided about XOF6 billion.

However, despite all these investments, Japanese private investors are not really active in Togo so far.

Séna Akoda

A Togolese delegation is presently in Japan for the seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7) where it hopes to secure funds from Japanese private investors for its 2018-2022 national development plan, in a context where the country expects XOF3,000 billion from the private sector for this plan.  

In this framework, Togolese authorities are already preparing for the post-TICAD7, inviting to Lomé next November Japanese businessmen “for talks, focused on public development aid, which will be organized in partnership with the Japan International Cooperation (JICA).”

Let’s indicate that presently, the Toyota Tsutso Corporation operates in Togo through its subsidiaries, CFAO Motors and CFAO Technologies, while Mitsubishi is soon expected to enter the country’s energy sector, through the CIZO government initiative to be precise.

Séna Akoda

CFAO Group and its mother company Toyota will support Togo in its process to digitalize administration and achieve transition to renewable energies.

On the sidelines of the seventh international Tokyo Conference on African Development (TICAD 7), Togo’s minister of digital economy, Cina Lawson, said a memorandum of understanding has been signed between the two firms in this regard.

According to the official, the decision of CFAO and Toyota aims at making Togo’s public administration more efficient through digital technologies and also make the country itself a leader, in terms of development and exploitation of clean power.

CFAO, let’s recall, is already active on the Carrier Hotel project in Lomé and has also helped the nation establish its first-ever IXP. This partnership aligns with the government’s efforts to reinforce its digital industry, through the E-gouv project namely.

In regards to renewables promotion, Togo is presently a member of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and has initiated CIZO, a rural electrification scheme under which solar kits are provided to households all over the country. An initiative that is in line with Togo’s goal to make renewables contribute to 50% of its energy mix by 2030.

Séna Akoda

Ghana and Togo are on the right track to settle their dispute over their maritime border. This is suggested by conclusions of the fifth round of talks between the two countries in this regard, held last week in Accra.

According to Stanislas Baba (photo), President of Togo’s High Maritime Council, the meeting in Accra helped exchange on technical data and transitory measures to resolve the issue of maritime border delineation between Togo and Ghana.

“Between coming September 10 and 20, technical teams from both sides are to meet to complete the task,” he added.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Recently, 1,500kg of beeswax, produced by local beekeeping cooperatives, was sold to Koster Keunen West Africa (KKWA).

The transaction, worth a little more than XOF5 million, is the fruit of a partnership agreement signed six months ago by MIFA SA, Togo’s national beekeeping association, and US Group Koster Keunen which specializes in the production of natural ingredients for the cosmetics, pharmaceutical and agro-food industries.

The volume recently sold to KKWA is only 42% of the expected quantities for this year, under the agreement (Togolese beekeepers agreed to deliver 3.5 tons per year).

Still under the deal, MIFA SA should facilitate the supply of beeswax from Togolese producers to the American firm, over four years.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

The International Finance Corporation has completed the sale of its 14.1% stake in Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) to Africa-focused Investment Fund Arise BV (“Arise”).

“This transaction with ETI will see Arise collaborate with Ecobank to advance financial inclusion on the continent,” commented Deepak Malik, Chief Executive Officer of Arise.

As for the World Bank’s private sector arm, the exit falls in line with its “ordinary asset portfolio rotation.”

Arise BV thus joins in Ecobank’s shareholding the Qatar National Bank, the South African Public Investment Corporation and Nedbank (from South Africa also). This, in a context where the pan-African group tries to regain the trust of its shareholders.

Indeed, this is the second consecutive year where Ecobank has not paid dividends. The group, whose returns remain weak, still recovers from the 2014 drop in oil prices which highly impacted Nigeria, its largest market.