The coffee and cocoa marketing campaign kicks off on Tuesday.

A ceremony took place in Kpalimé in the presence of the Ministers of Trade, Agriculture and the Secretary General of the Coffee and Cocoa Sector Coordination Committee (CCFCC), Enselme Gouthon.

The latter acknowledged that the pandemic had affected the sector for more than 7 months.

'At the level of the coffee and cocoa economies, this pandemic has affected all the producing countries, including Togo, particularly in relation to collection and marketing. While the cocoa marketing campaign was able to largely escape the health crisis, that of coffee was hard hit. For the specific case of Togo, most of the green coffee production is intended for export (nearly 98%),' he said.

In terms of exports, Togo recorded a drop in the tonnage of coffee leaving the territory, i.e. 2,600 tons against 4,500 tons in 2018-2019.

Cocoa, on the other hand, experienced a remarkable increase of 10,200 tonnes against 7,200 tonnes for the 2018-2019 campaign.

Thanks to the combined action of the various actors, enormous progress has been made in the development of the coffee and cocoa sectors, underlined for his part the Minister of Commerce, Kodzo Adedzé.

Coffee and cocoa are, after cotton, Togo's second and third traditional export crops which provide significant foreign exchange in the agricultural sector, the main source of income for more than forty thousand (40,000) families, underlined the Minister of Agriculture, Antoine Lékpa Gbégbéni.

He recalled that the government had always prioritized these two sectors in all agricultural development programs.

The National Development Plan (NDP) should offer new perspectives to farmers and those belonging to the coffee and cocoa sector.