SAA | Sasakawa africa association

Togo’s SG 2000 project started in May 1990 under the directorship of Dr Marcel Galiba. The project was integrated with United Nations Development Programme activities, including the guinea worm eradication. «Guinea worm disease in Togo, particularly in the Kara region seriously affects the food production » Dr Galiba said, «so its eradication is clearly important for our project ».

«We are starting with ten farmers in each Togo’s five regions. We intend to build gradually from a sustainable and successful base. »
The programme was following the one in Benin—which began one year earlier—both countries being neighbours and Dr Galiba their Director.

In 1991 approximately 500 maize PTP have been planted in Togo. Togo’s Minister of Rural Development Koudjooulou Dogo, confirmed that the project was enthusiastically endorsed by his country’s farmers. « Even after one year of the project, the yields have almost doubled », he added.

In Togo, in 1996, some 500 maize PTPs, 500 cassava PTPs, 300 rice PTPs, and 750 mucuna plots were planted. The post harvest programme expanded in 1996 with the construction of 360 cribs and 90 silos. A thousand graduate farmers continued the programme support. The number of CREPs have expanded from 10 to 20.

SG 2000 Togo Phase II started in 1997.
Demonstrations of improved rice production technologies continued to expand. During 1997, 300 PTPs have been grown in Togo ; mucuna seed kits were produced for 6,500 farmers and some 10,000 farmers integrated this green manure and weed control legume into their cropping systems. 15 CREPs had in late 1997 a membership of 2,000 farmers and deposits of US$50,000.
During Phase II the CREP became the centrepiece of SG 2000’s continuing activities. Training of managers, board members, credit and auditing commitees was given, and more CREP were formed.

The SG 2000 Togo programme stopped in 1997, but SG 2000 kept some of its activities in Togo—as well as in Benin— and helped to develop further the CREP system.