Togo is one of the smallest countries in Africa and home to 8.6 million people. Since the shocks of the Covid-19 pandemic, increasingly extreme weather and recent food price rises, the state of food security in Togo has greatly deteriorated. In 2022, 1 in 5 people in the country don’t have access to or can’t afford enough healthy, nutritious food. Yet Togo’s economy depends heavily on commercial and subsistence agriculture, which employs 60% of working people.

Friends of the Earth Togo is working with local communities, peasant farmers and decision-makers to expand the practice of agroecology across this West African nation, to achieve food sovereignty for its people.  In August 2022, we spoke to Ekue Assem to learn more. 

Agroecology as an instrument of resilience for Togo

In June 2022, Friends of the Earth Togo launched the project “Capacity building to consolidate food sovereignty in Togo – Connecting to the movement in Africa”. The aim is to achieve, both in political and practical terms, the goal of food sovereignty for the country, using agroecology, by 2025.

The promotion of food sovereignty and agroecology has been a concern for Friends of the Earth Togo for some time.

“The land is being degraded and it is the land that sustains life in Africa and particularly in Togo. If the land is not well managed, many families will be impacted and will see their existence threatened,” said Ekue.

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