West Africa: OCP Group and World Bank partner to boost food security and agriculture in Togo, and three more

Agriculture

Friday, 13 October 2023 07:04

West Africa: OCP Group and World Bank partner to boost food security and agriculture in Togo, and three more

(Togo First) - Morocco’s OCP Group and the World Bank have signed, on Oct. 11, a partnership agreement to boost food security and agriculture in West Africa.

The agreement, a memorandum of understanding, was signed by Ousmane Diagana, World Bank Vice President for West and Central Africa, and OCP Group Chairman Mostafa Terrab in Morocco.

In detail, the deal will support programs targeting five million farmers in Togo, Benin, Guinea, and Mali, over ten million hectares. It will also speed up investments and reforms aimed at helping farmers access fertilizers, more easily and at cheaper prices

The agreement will focus on improving soil health and fertility, training small farmers, developing digital agriculture programs, building ECOWAS capacity, and creating a Regional Soil Health Center for West Africa, among others.

"This partnership between the World Bank and OCP Group puts the Lomé Declaration into action.", said Ousmane Diagana, adding that "our two institutions believe in the need to accelerate reforms and investments for resilient agriculture, the promotion of sustainable development and job creation."

"This project is a crucial step in unlocking Africa's potential for global food security," said Mostafa Terrab, Chairman and CEO of OCP Group. "The aim is to foster an equitable and sustainable agricultural transition by giving West African farmers access to specially designed fertilizers to improve their yields and incomes, thereby contributing to the region's development," he added.

This partnership is thus intended as continuity, to support the commitments made by the Ministers of Agriculture and Food Security of ECOWAS member countries, as defined in the Lomé declaration on fertilizers and soil health in West Africa and the Sahel.

It should be noted that the World Bank has pledged to raise its agricultural investments in West and Central Africa from $4 billion to $5.5 billion by 2024.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

REFORMS OVERVIEW

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At the fifteenth position, worldwide, and first in Africa, under the Starting a Business index of the 2020 Doing Business ranking, Togo sustains its reformative dynamics with more reforms….

ENFORCING CONTRACTS (more info)

Compared to some years ago when it was one of the lowest rankers under the Doing Business’ Enforcing Contracts indicator, Togo, leveraging many efforts to improve its business climate, was able to jump significantly on the index in the recent years... .

CONTRACT EXECUTION (more info)

Creation of special chambers of commerce for small debts • Creation of chambers of commerce at the Court of Appeal • Civil and commercial cases now handled by distinct clerks • Establishment of commercial courts in Lomé and Kara • Lawyers and bailiffs now have access to the FORSETI COMMERCIAL platform • A maximum period of 100 days was fixed to settle a commercial dispute .

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In comparison to previous years,Togo has significantly improved its ranking under the“Trading across borders” indicator by adopting multiple reforms that focus mainly on the digitization and reduction in delays, for import and export procedures related to import and export.

In comparison to previous years, Togo has significantly improved its ranking on the “Trading across borders” index by adopting multiple reforms that focus mainly on the digitalization and reduction in delays, for import and export procedures related to import and export.

CONSTRUCTION PERMIT (more info)

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GETTING ELECTRICITY (more info)

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Out of all the 'Doing Business’ indicators, Property Registration is where Togo has improved the most since 2018. Indeed, after spending years in the lowest part of this ranking, the country now seeks to beat Rwanda which is the best performer on this index in Africa. To do so, Lomé has been introducing many reforms, with the latest batch implemented this year.

PUBLIC PROCUREMENT (more info)

From professionalization to digitization, through legislative regulations, Togo’s public procurement framework is constantly being modernized. Several reforms have been implemented to improve the sector much to the benefit of the private sector, which is the focus of the National Development Plan.

PAYING TAXES AND DUTIES (more info)

To improve its business environment, Togo introduced some important reforms related to the payment of tax and duties. From the replacement of some taxes to the cancellation of others through exemptions, the country has only one objective: offer the most attractive tax framework to investors and economic operators. To achieve this, the authorities relied on digitization.