Seventy thousand (70,000) cocoa pods and 445,000 coffee cuttings were formally handed over to cocoa and coffee producers on Thursday by the Togolese Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Colonel Ouro-Koura Agadazi.
According to the agriculture authorities, the goal of this action from the government is to renew the plantations, to increase cocoa production to 25,000 tons per year and coffee to 20,000 tons in three (3) years and in turn to enable farmers to sustainably increase their income generation.
The Minister of Agriculture Ouro-Koura Agadazi took the opportunity to call on the beneficiaries to make good use of the products to achieve the support project objectives for agriculture (PASA), one of the three (3) components of the National agricultural investment and food security program (PNIASA).
“We want to increase the production of cocoa and coffee. The primary role of this sector is to strengthen the national economy and to generate funds to Togolese cocoa and coffee producers. “He said.
In 2014, only fifteen thousand (15,000) cocoa pods were distributed to farmers. Ghana, one of the first cocoa farmers in Africa, has helped the Togolese State with 50,000 pods.
Since 2010, the Togolese cocoa production is between 11,000 and 13,000 tons per year. Togo was classified 8th small producer over fifty countries in the world classification. Cocoa is the third export product after phosphate and cotton.