On Monday, June 25, 2018, the official launch of the Mechanism for Agricultural Finance Incentive (MIFA) was effective at CETEF, in the presence of the Head of State, President Faure Gnassingbé.

The launching ceremony began with the arrival of the Head of State who toured the various stands of the Fair MIFA before settling in the room prepared for this purpose.

The launch ceremony brought together key figures such as the Togolese Prime Minister, the President of the AfDB, the President of IFAD and the President of NIRSAL in Nigeria.

During this ceremony, the purpuses of the MIFA were developed and exposed to allow everyone to take full measure. In general, the MIFA aims to:

Transform agriculture and increase productivity
Facilitate risk sharing between the different stakeholders in the agricultural sector;
Promote financial and insurance products adapted to the agricultural sector by increasing bank loans and reducing the interest rate.
MIFA is based on risk sharing. Its goal is to enable rapid growth in the agricultural sector, which currently accounts for 40% of gross domestic product. It also aims to reduce the unemployment rate and increase competitiveness in the agricultural sector through value chains.

In 5 years, the MIFA’s goal is to increase the contribution of banks to financing agriculture and value chains from 0.2% to 5%. Loan interest rates should also be reduced from 15% in the range of 7.5% to 10.5% maximum.

The main sectors selected for the implementation of MIFA are: the maize sector, the cassava sector and the rice sector. As such, the ESOPs of Togo’s rice sector have been identified to take an active part in the implementation of MIFA. The ESOPs (Service Companies and Producer Organization) are companies promoted and supported by the NGO ETD with the support of PASA and private partners.

In addition, it should be recalled that on 09 June 2017, the Lomé ESOP rice network signed a contract with Brasserie du Benin (BB-Lomé) for the delivery of 1080 tonnes of local white rice per year for the production of rice. local PILS beer. Nevertheless, the real needs of the brewery are actually 4000 tons of white rice per year. The launch of the MIFA is therefore timely to overcome this failure and to allow ESOP rice to collect the quantities of rice needed to meet the needs of the brewery, by 2020.

During the launch of the MIFA, agreements were signed with various stakeholders including the 09 Esop rice represented by Mrs AHOULIMI Piyalo, manager of the ESOP Notsé for the supply of local rice; with Orabank and SOGEMEF for the financing and the assembly of the credit files and, with the ANPGF for the guarantees.

An agreement has also been signed with the Chief Executive Officer of BB Lomé. Similarly, Worldcover has entered into a partnership with MIFA to reassure financial institutions by providing the mechanism with insurance against agricultural risks; Farmers’ incomes will be assured regardless of the bad weather and weather conditions.

Moreover, and not least, an agreement has also been signed with E-agribusiness to obtain real-time information and geo-location techniques of farmers. Such a device will help to put banks and micro-finance in trust when implementing MIFA.

The MIFA mechanism receives financial support from IFAD, AfDB, the World Bank and various other technical and financial partners.

The fair MIFA continues until Saturday, June 23, 2018, This fair is a great way to enter a space of B to B exchanges and to have a glimpse of the wealth and diversity of Togolese agricultural products. A not-to-be missed appointment!