Plant Resources of Tropical Africa

Cotton growers in Togo turn to maize for more benefits

Introduction of new more effective techniques in all key sectors is instrumental to the development of any country. In Togo, the agricultural sector employs 70% of the workforce and contributes to about 40% of the country’s GDP. However, in Africa, agriculture suffers from lack of information on technologies for natural resource management, especially in the ever changing climatic conditions.

In Haho and Noste regions of Togo, the instability experienced in the cotton industry, the main cash crop of the area, forced farmers to turn to food production as a main source of livelihoods. A local agricultural extension agent, ‘Agents Techniques et Commerciales’ (ATC) has been providing training and technical support to the farmers, to boost their agricultural production.

A study conducted to assess the impact of PROTA information on the end users, identified Mr. Wessende, an ATC Coordinator and a subscriber to CTA publications. He had received the PROTA handbook on Cereals and pulses, from CTA. The study involved twenty farmers who are beneficiaries of ATC’s extension services. The main food crops cultivated by these farmers included maize, millet, sorghum, cowpeas, cassava, yam and sesame, in addition to the main cash crop, cotton. Wessende saw an opportunity to improve on the production of both maize and cotton, since cotton thrives very well when grown in association with maize. The information on management of maize crop on the farm from the PROTA book was incorporated into their training materials, to improve on the farmer’s maize yields. Using the ATC extension network, he rallied the old cotton producers (who have abandoned the cultivation of cotton during the crisis) into production of both cotton and maize.

Through the efforts of the ATC, the yield of maize among cotton growers was improved to an average of 1.77 t / ha., well above the national average of only 1.23 t / ha (IDDM, 2006). The improved yields, attributed to good technical information reinforced by PROTA, significantly improved the lives of the farmers in the study area.

Left :Mr. Wessende poses in front of a maize granary. Right: Inside the granary

“The farmers consider me as a member of their family because I share my life with them, advising them…they are so proud of me. I am invites to all social events in their families” - Mr. Wessende, Agricultural extension Coordinator, ATC

As a result, the farmers were economically empowered and contributed to development projects in their localities. In one of the places visited, Kougnowou, members of the GPC Leaders, part of the Village Development Committee (RRC) fund most community projects in the village. For example, a well construction was funded 100% by the group. They also plan to build a school for the village. Farmers in the prefecture of Haho are economically empowered. They come first in the whole country in the repayment of agricultural credit which was granted by the Development of Grain Producers (PDC) project in 2009. They have paid nearly 90% of the credit when other regions have not been able to repay only 30%. This is the place to say that cereal production in this zone is particularly developed and professionalized.

A well constructed at Kougnowou with 100% funding from farmers.

According to Wessende and his colleagues from the ATC, there was need to synergize efforts in training and development of new partnerships with appropriate institutions. It is important to increase awareness of their existence to all rural development stakeholders. This will revive their interest to increase the subscriptions and invite them to make good use of PROTA. In addition, there is need for PROTA to produce simpler and understandable documents such as the book Arbonnier M. (2002). The recipients are individuals with different levels of education and mostly, with little knowledge of botany.