In Togo, the 2020-2021 Coffee-Cocoa marketing campaign was launched on Tuesday in Kpalimé (120km from Lomé), in the presence of the ministers in charge of agriculture and trade. This launch occurs in a context made particularly difficult for the two sectors, due to Covid-19, which has greatly affected these value chains, in particular coffee.

Indeed, coffee exports fell by 42% from one year to the next: from 4,500 tonnes in 2018-2019, they fell to 2,600 tonnes.

"This health crisis has dealt a severe blow to the coffee economy", laments Enselme Gouthon, Secretary-General of the Coffee and Cocoa Sector Coordination Committee (CCFCC), noting in particular a 2019-2020 campaign which started late.

The sector has also been severely affected by the collapse in international demand, due to the drop in activity of large processors, and the disruption of global trade flows, due to the pandemic.

Conservation and local processing

To overcome this major challenge, the public authorities are relying in particular on good preservation of the surplus (keep the unsold to dispose of it next year), and on local processing (as proposed by the renovated PND), by strengthening local consumption. The challenge remains, knowing that 98% of the coffee produced in the country is intended for export.

Cocoa (on the other hand) is doing well

Contrary to this downward movement, cocoa was able to get off relatively lightly, with exports up by more than 40% annually, i.e. 10,200 tonnes for the 2019-2020 campaign against 7,200 tonnes for the previous one. (2018-2019 campaign).

As a reminder, coffee and cocoa are respectively Togo's second and third export crops, behind cotton, and occupy more than forty thousand (40,000) households.