Togo
COVID-19 Relief in Togo: Agricultural production
Providing food security for families in Togo by augmenting crop production
Crisis Response
The Need
The COVID-19 health crisis created an emergency economic situation in Togo, West Africa, by robbing one in five households of their entire livelihoods and drastically reducing income for 90 per cent of the population. To limit the spread of the virus, the Togo government instituted lockdowns and travel restrictions, which led to food shortages and inflation spikes.
In the Savanes region of Togo, 86 per cent of the population is in a rural setting. This area has the highest rate of poverty in the country at 87.7 per cent. The region is characterized by low rainfall, overexploited soils and low crop yields. Children are hungry; parents are desperate.
Although grain crops are the foundation of their diet, most parents of Compassion beneficiaries in the northern Savanes region of Togo lacked the agricultural inputs needed to grow more food. Stuck at home, hungry and fearful, families began to consume their grain reserves intended for planting in the next agricultural growing season. The vulnerability of impoverished caregivers was aggravated by increasing food prices and a lack of income to purchase seeds for growing more grains.
The critical state of food insecurity was harmful to the health and well-being of thousands of Compassion beneficiary children in northern Togo. Partner churches were concerned about the long-term educational, physical, socio-emotional and spiritual effects on the children—including the great risk for school dropouts, child trafficking, stunting and starvation.
With the urgent goal of promoting food security among 3,135 beneficiary households, Compassion Togo wanted to launch an intervention to equip caregivers to restart their agricultural production after a challenging year of scarcity from COVID-19 lockdowns, a short rainy season and heavy rainstorms causing crop damage. But our church partners in Togo simply could not afford to fill the great need of these families. Outside help was critical for families to survive these difficult times.
Our Response
Compassion Togo worked with 23 frontline church partners to give 3,135 selected caregivers the supplies needed to cultivate their own grains, including maize and rice. By July 2020, we distributed the fertilizer and improved seeds to caregivers so they could start their growing season with the best agricultural inputs available.
Each participating church partner formed a committee to oversee implementation. They divided eligible caregivers into groups of ten and ordered and delivered high-yield maize and rice seeds and fertilizer in July 2020. Because the Togo government lowered the cost of fertilizer to help mitigate the impact of the pandemic on farmers, a further 24 families were added to this intervention to benefit a total of 3,159 caregivers. At the end of August, the Food Security and Livelihood Specialist and Evaluation Specialist visited 28 family farms to assess crop growth. Rainfall was satisfactory overall, despite pockets of drought and flooding in some areas. The maize seeds arrived late for planting, so many caregivers chose to grow rice instead.
Specialists followed up with each household during the harvest season to show them how to store their grains properly so they could gather reserves to either sell or save for the shortage season (usually beginning in April). Partner churches collected data throughout the entire process to assess the effectiveness of the intervention and to inform on any changes that could improve the process. Home visits revealed that a lack of awareness of crop management and storage was the main obstacle for caregivers, so we adapted by offering training with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Institute of Technical Advisory and Support. Parents gained knowledge of how to cultivate their crops to enjoy their full potential along with how much to save and how to store the grain to meet future food security needs.
For some families, it was the first time they were using fertilizer and high-yield seeds. Average yield improved by 22.73 per cent, resulting in an average increase in production of 18.42 per cent. The improved seeds and fertilizer significantly increased crop production, thus reducing food insecurity instigated by the pandemic.
Activities
Grain kit distribution: Compassion staff distributed fertilizer and high-yield maize and rice seeds to caregivers to use for planting.
Applying fertilizer: Beneficiary children were happy to help their parents spread fertilizer in their corn and rice fields. Parents and children made sure to weed their fields before spreading the fertilizer.
Training evaluators: The monitoring and evaluation specialist from Compassion Togo trained Compassion workers in data collection to monitor and evaluate the success of the intervention.
Bountiful storehouses: Families were grateful and proud to show their fields and harvests to Compassion staff. Some parents were so grateful, they donated a portion of their harvest to the partner church to children in the program, families in need and to bless pastors and volunteers.
Your Gift Provides...
• Maize and rice planting kits for 3,159 caregivers, including quality fertilizer and improved maize seeds
• Transportation and delivery
• Monitoring and evaluation from partner churches and the Food and Security Livelihood Specialist
ReportA message from a caregiver
Before this intervention, we cultivated our fields without fertilizers or improved seeds. I did not even have an idea of their cost and utility. My children and I struggled to find enough to eat, but the food supplies were running out by January, and we were in great shortage. It was very hard to get money to buy food until the new harvests in September.
The intervention allowed me to use the improved seeds and fertilizer in my field for the first time in my life. This has considerably improved the agricultural yield. My family and I will have food until the rainy season begins; I am very happy for this help.
Thanks to this change, I was able to store up enough food up for the next season to feed my whole family. From now on, I will be using improved seeds and fertilizer so the land can keep producing.
Through this process, I have learned that improved seeds are more productive than the local ordinary seeds I used to buy. I also came to understand that if I use fertilizer in my field and take good care of the crops, I will reap a good harvest and save my family from food shortage. I learned how to manage the harvest by dividing it into sections so we won’t be surprised by starvation when times are scarce.
I am very grateful to you for funding this intervention. It was my first time to get help like this, and I will remember it for the rest of my life. May God bless you and return it to you a hundredfold.
ReportA message from a pastor
This timely intervention enabled beneficiary families to have a substantial food stock. As a result, they can now enjoy two meals a day—which they were not able to do before. Children are happy and healthier.
After the harvest, parents brought voluntary grain donations to their local church to support its activities. In thanksgiving, some of the caregivers who were not Christians started attending church. Children are playing a key role in sharing the gospel with their parents.
This intervention has changed my way of serving children; I got even closer to the children and their parents, who never cease to express their gratitude to the church. The church is now committed to serving children and their families through additional actions to support their day-to-day living. The church is now more recognized in the community.
We sincerely express our gratitude to you for funding this intervention. We promise to make its impact last as long as possible. We pray that our Lord Jesus abundantly blesses you and enables you to always support vulnerable children around the world.
ReportThank you for your generosity
Thanks to your generosity, this intervention gave 3,159 weary parents the improved seeds and fertilizers required to produce a better yield during the agricultural season—thus mitigating the severe consequences of the pandemic on impoverished families. With your investment, we achieved a total distribution of 157,950 kilograms of fertilizer, 13,565 kilograms of improved maize seeds and 2,315 kilograms of improved rice seeds.
Parents wanting to provide nutritious food for their children were equipped to take food security into their own hands by cultivating crops on their personal small farms. Many parents, by experimenting with the improved seeds for the first time, realized they had missed out on the opportunity for superior crop yields for years. Each growing season, their experience and skills will strengthen as they learn best practices for planting, fertilizing, harvesting and storing the grains.
With the improved seeds and fertilizer, 86 per cent of surveyed parents reported an increase in grains of 1.5 to 2 times more than previous years. While only 10 per cent of households used to be able to cover their own nutritional needs for grains, now 37 per cent of households are producing enough of what they need. The proportion of families facing severe grain shortages plummeted from 54 per cent to 15 per cent. In the vast majority of beneficiaries, parents testified that they no longer face a grain shortage. Thanks to the Ministry of Agriculture training, parents stored enough maize and rice to meet their needs during the dry season and almost 9 in 10 parents were able to build up enough grain reserves to cover their basic needs.
Overflowing with grateful hearts, parents from 20 partner churches offered maize and rice to their churches to use in children’s program activities, to donate to other parents in need or to share with the pastors’ or volunteers’ families. God has blessed these caregivers abundantly, and they want to share His goodness and joy with others! Many parents have also started attending church.
Because you responded with Christ-like compassion and timely financial support, at-risk families in Togo have not only been rescued from an immediate food crisis but have laid the foundation for family agricultural production that will ensure food security for years to come.