While Togo’s 50 km long coastline is weakened by frequent flooding, the government is supporting women in coastal regions whose agricultural activities are paying the price.
As part of the project to strengthen the resilience of Togo’s coastal communities to climate change (R4C-Togo) recently launched by the Togolese authorities, 70 women’s cooperatives will receive support to strengthen their climate resilience. These are mainly women who depend on local natural resources for their livelihoods, particularly in coastal areas threatened by erosion.
This is particularly the case in the Plateaux region where the overflowing waters of the Mono River (on the border with Benin, editor’s note) recently untied the Ila and Anyékpada bridges located in the council of Est-Mono. Several women were then deprived of the road to their fishing and farming activities. Faced with this situation, the support provided by the government of Togo focuses on securing the water supply and collecting fuel for cooking and heating in many households run by women.
“On the agricultural level, it is a question of improving the living conditions of women farmers and on the forestry level, we will intensify the protection of ecosystems that are already weakened,” explains Bakabima Ditorgan, the project coordinator. Ultimately, R4C-Togo aims to strengthen the food security of 99,500 Togolese through technologies and innovative solutions developed by 2,100 local entrepreneurs. For a total cost of 8.9 million dollars (more than 4.4 billion CFA francs), the initiative is funded by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Meanwhile, the High Council for the Sea of Togo and the Coordination Unit of the West Africa Coastal Resilience Investment Project (WACA-ResIP) developed in March 2022 a joint mechanism that calls for, among other things, the fixation of dunes, the construction of protective structures and dykes, the restoration of wetlands, mangroves, lagoons and drainage systems on the Togolese coast.