Togo, June 2024
The Annual rice sector review meeting in Togo
In order to assess the level of implementation of the National Rice Development Strategy (NDRS 2) for accelerating its implementation, the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Rural Development (MAEDR), organized on June 13th and 14th 2024 in Lomé (Mirambeau Hotel), with the support of the Coalition for the African Rice Development (CARD), the first annual rice sector review meeting (ARSRM).
Chaired by the Director of Cabinet of the Ministry of Agriculture, this meeting was attended by all actors and development partners who discussed the evolution of the indicators selected by the baseline study on monitoring and evaluation of the NRDS 2, on the Sub Sector Intervention Element Matrix (SIEM) to determine the gaps between the needs and the supply among the rice value chain and how to take them into account.
Analysis of the needs and intervention along the rice value chain, by using the SIEM indicated that needs are well-distributed along all segments of the value chain. Interventions affect some segment of the value chain such as access to inputs, irrigation and water management, diffusion of technologies in the field but they are insufficient in quantity and are non-existent in segments related to policy instruments, financing, market access and research. The confrontation between supply and demand shows that, in general, the 9 sub-sectors need to be strengthened to improve the performance of the rice sector in order to achieve self-sufficiency by 2030. Priority should be given to actions relating to:
- Improved access to finance along the value chain;
- Rice seed development;
- Research and dissemination of technologies in the field;
- Irrigation and mechanization;
- Development of the fertilizer subsector (organic and chemical);
- Improvement of quality and market access (import regulation mechanism).
Regarding the implementation of the concept notes, it was indicated that out of 50 selected activities, about the third have been implemented. Unimplemented activities that could be implemented based on the various actions in progress were identified and submitted to partners for future support. In this sense, actions related to inputs will be subject to IFDC financing and actions related to political and institutional needs will be submitted to the FRSP. It was also agreed to add three new concept notes on seeds, the monitoring and evaluation system and good governance.
The examination of the indicators showed a slight increase in production from 2019 to date. This increase is explained to both the increase in areas and the slight improvement in yields following the support of the Ministry of Agriculture’s projects, in inputs and technical advisory. Looking at the data by ecology, it appears that the increase in rice production is due to the growth of production in the lowlands first which contributes 55% in the total production followed by rainfed production which contributes 34%. Thus, on the basis of the analyses, it appears that in order to increase production and move in the direction of achieving the objectives, priority should be given to intensifying rainfed production, particularly in the lowlands, and to extending irrigated areas in order to increase their contribution to national production, which currently stands at 11%.
Regarding the indicators related to resilience, it appears that rice irrigated areas have not changed between 2022 and 2023 and are around 4,813 ha. The implementation of current project such as PATA Oti with 3,710 ha as well as the operationalization of the irrigation development strategy (SDAI) which aims to extend the irrigated areas by nearly 2,000 ha/year could improve the situation. As far as industrialization is concerned, it seems that the number of processing units has increased, and the same is true for agricultural machinery. Indicators related to competitiveness and empowerment have not been closely monitored.
Based on the results of the several analyses, it appears necessary to accelerate the pace of production of paddy and quality white rice to achieve the objectives. This is why it was decided to improve the monitoring and evaluation system as well as access to financing