Dryland Farmer Diversify and Succeed Over a decade ago many dryland farmers in northern Togo considered migrating to Lomé in search of a better life. Over-cultivation, long dry periods and flooding made their land increasingly difficult to grow maize, the staple crop. To encourage young farmers to remain home, RAFIA, an IFDC partner, successfully intervened to improve the farmers’ maize harvests and introduced tomato-growing, a new source of revenue for Togo’s poorest and most challenging region for agriculture production.
and later assisted with radio and other publicity efforts. Another cooperative, Kanlanfei Provende, tested their provenderie, made from the locally grown maize and sorghum. RAFIA’s technicians helped produce three new formulas for different types of livestock. The milled grain is sold in small plastic sacks at five locations and training is also offered to livestock owners on its optimal usage.
Farmers’ coops
in northern Togo
IFDC’s 1000s+ project partnered with RAFIA again to further empower local farmers, help increase their incomes and process their commodities. To achieve this, farmers chose to test two products – sun-dried tomatoes and animal feed, or provenderie. Altogether the cooperatives grow over 1,000 hectares of tomatoes and maize. “We had so many tomatoes at harvest time that they would rot in the fields,” says cooperative member, Kombate Fatima. “Usually when the tomatoes are finished, we have no work and we sit,” says Fatima.
profit by adding tomato processing and developing an affordable maizebased animal feed.
“Processing the tomatoes will help us earn income when there are no longer fresh tomatoes for sale,” says cooperative member, Mama Azara. Thinking like true entrepreneurs, the women strategically decided to sell their new product when tomato supplies are low and prices are high. 1000s+ provided materials to start the venture, including specially built equipment for dehydration and plastic bags for packaging. 1000s+ also arranged for the product’s chemical analysis to allow for distribution in Togolese supermarkets,
“It was a struggle for us to raise healthy animals because of the harsh environment and the lack of feed,” says cooperative treasurer, Layeme Kampatine. However, farmers in the drylands cherish their livestock since mature animals can be used to feed their own families or sold for relatively large amounts. This reality prompted a small group of farmers to request assistance from RAFIA to produce highquality affordable feed to increase their livestock’s survival rate. “Processing the maize helps the farmers increase incomes because maize prices rise with the increased demand,’” explained Kantami Koumou, president of the small cooperative.