Togo has recently presented its soil characterization project supported by the Morocco’s Office Cherifien de Phosphates (OCP) Foundation and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P). The West African country’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries presented the projects and major achievements implemented to promote local agriculture, in sideline of the Togolese National Farmers’ Forum, the biggest gathering of Togolese farmers. One of the strategies to boost the local agricultural sector is the soil characterization platform that has made it possible to analyze and map nearly 1.2 million hectares of Togolese soil. This digital platform was designed by the Togolese Agricultural Research Institute (ITRA) with support from both Moroccan partners.
As part of the development of Togo’s fertility maps, initiated by the Ministry, the OCP Foundation provided ITRA with equipment for its soil analysis laboratory based in Lomé, as well as a mobile laboratory and a rapid sampling system for testing soils in more remote areas. The OCP Foundation’s activities in this West African country also aimed at boosting the scientific and technical capacities of the Ministry’s management. A total of 47 Togolese managers were trained by experts from Mohammed VI Polytechnic University. The training modules focused on the appropriate fertilization of Togolese crops, geographic information systems (GIS) for soil mapping, the country’s agronomic recommendation systems and fertilizer quality control.
Thanks to the system implemented by the Ministry in 5 regions of Togo, 1,170,900 hectares of land have now been analyzed and mapped in the Savannah and Kara regions. The platform will allow decision-makers in the Togolese agricultural sector, as well as farmers themselves, to use the information from the fertility maps based on their soils. In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, with the support of the OCP Foundation, organized an agricultural caravan that made 22 stops across the country. The caravan reached more than 20,000 farmers and raised their awareness of good farming practices. Through its various actions on the African continent, the OCP Foundation promotes the creation of strategic decision-making tools for agricultural policies. To date, more than 3 million hectares of land have been mapped, more than 200 managers have been trained and 17 fixed and mobile laboratories have been equipped, with a view to promoting sustainable and resilient agriculture in Africa.
