Togo's textile industry has been key to GDP for decades

Is sustainability the key to unlocking the potential of Togo's textile industry?

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With Togo moving to position itself as a regional leader in terms of textile production, the country is increasing its focus on sustainability and digitisation as it seeks to maximise value across the supply chain.

As OBG has recently explored, the global textile industry is a major contributor to climate change: with pre-pandemic annual emissions of 1.2 billion tonnes, it is the second largest industrial polluter, second only to the oil and gas industry.

This situation has led many players in the textile industry to focus more on sustainability and other environmental, social and governance principles.

Inaugurated in June this year, the Plateforme Industrielle d'Adetikopé Textile Park aims to transform the country's garment industry value chain, as well as boost exports of cotton textiles and finished garments.

The park's commitment to sustainability is evident in a number of measures: among others, it will process 100% sustainably sourced cotton, according to Cotton Made in Africa standards; use 100% renewable electricity, offsetting 20 tonnes of carbon emissions per day; recycle 90-95% of water used during processing; and comply with independent international certifications in terms of fabric dyeing and finishing.

In addition, the project will also generate considerable economic benefits, as it is expected to generate approximately 20,000 direct jobs and 80,000 indirect jobs, and contribute up to 21% of the national GDP.

"Sustainability is at the heart of Togo's development plans, particularly for the textile industry," Cynthia E. Gnassingbe-Essonam, secretary general of Togo Invest, told OBG. "If Togo is going to compete on a global stage, it must be prudent in the use of its resources and ensure that energy sources are reliable and have a good mix of renewables."

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OAnother public-private partnership that demonstrates Togo's commitment to sustainability is the 50 MW Mohamed Bin Zayed solar plant in the central region of the country. Inaugurated on 24 June, it is the largest plant of its kind in West Africa and will provide electricity to 158,333 households.

The plant was built by Dubai-based AMEA Power, which was attracted by Togo's "renewable-friendly" regulations. The project received $8 billion in pre-financing from Togo's National Development Plan, while 80% of the construction workforce was hired locally.

A history of textile production

While these new developments are giving a new impetus to the national garment industry, Togo has an established history as a textile powerhouse.

In the 1970s, the country was considered the centre of West African trade, with the textile industry being its main source of income.

Businesswomen known as Nana Benz (where "Nana" means mother in Togolese and "Benz" is a reference to their preferred mode of transport) positioned the capital, Lomé, as a regional textile distribution centre.

However, in the early 2000s, Nana Benz fabrics faced strong competition from the Chinese market, whose textiles were sold at a tenth of the price of those produced in Togo.

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This spurred efforts to boost the sector, and between 2011 and 2015 cotton exports more than doubled in volume, from 19 million kg to 44 million kg. In 2017, the main import markets for Togo's textiles and clothing were China, accounting for almost 50% of the total, followed by Japan (18.9%), Vietnam (4.38%), India (4.04%) and Germany (3.26%).

These efforts have continued, but the textile industry is still seen as having untapped potential, both to consolidate its centrality in Togo's GDP and to increase the country's interconnectivity with regional and global markets.

"The cotton industry already has its own economic weight, but, with more value addition, the industry could become a development hub not only for Togo but for West Africa as a whole," Gnassingbe-Essonam told OBG.

This is a sentiment shared by Jesse Damsky, president of Plateforme Industrielle d'Adetikopé. "Despite Togo's small size, the country offers enormous potential for growth and international connections. Moreover, the government's support for developing natural resources and creating value for the industrial sector is unwavering," he told OBG. "Togo already has flourishing exports of cotton, cocoa, phosphates and coffee, while the immediate opportunity for transformation lies in the textile and garment industry."

Improving logistics, harnessing digitalisation

While there is much optimism surrounding Togo's textile industry, there are still a number of hurdles to overcome for the sector to reach its full potential.

Many of these relate to infrastructure and, in particular, energy supply, a gap that projects such as the Mohamed bin Zayed solar plant aim to fill.

"The cost of energy is the tipping point for the viability and longevity of a thriving textile industry in Togo," Damsky told OBG. "Reliable energy is hard to come by in West Africa, and the textile industry is heavy on both water and electricity use. Balancing these two resources is a key challenge facing Togo over the next decade."

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Poor quality roads and lack of transport infrastructure are an additional obstacle to trade in the region. However, as OBG has detailed at length, it is hoped that the African Continental Free Trade Area will serve to drive infrastructure improvements, unlocking market potential and creating more integrated supply chains.

Another key issue relates to maximising the potential of the latest technological developments, and in particular those associated with the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).

New digital technologies have already begun to affect Togolese society.

For example, the BBC recently reported that Togo's Ministry of Posts, Digital Economy and Technological Innovations had worked with a team from the University of California, Berkeley, to produce a 'poverty map' of Togo.

This process involved filtering satellite images through a computer algorithm in order to establish which were the poorest regions of the country. The map was then used as the basis for distributing emergency cash via mobile phones to the people most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Elsewhere, Togolese farmers have begun using drones to spray pesticides on rice crops. A Lomé-based school called e-AgriSky is teaching local farmers how to fly the devices, which in addition to increasing yields and reducing costs, is also much safer than manual crop spraying. By 2025, the school expects to have trained 8,000 certified drone pilots.

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In the future, digital technologies will also be key to driving value in Togo's textile industry.

"Working with cotton seeds is hard and labour-intensive, especially compared to other crops in similar areas. Fortunately, there are increasing levels of mechanisation in cottonseed cultivation that are slowly eroding the labour-intensive nature of cotton farming," Jacky Riviere, country head of multinational agribusiness Olam in Chad, told OBG.

But while the industry is ready to adopt 4IR, this will require a sufficiently skilled workforce.

"Training and digitalisation go hand in hand. Without the people needed to take new technologies and execute them, few companies or sectors of the economy will benefit," Gnassingbe-Essonam told OBG. "Because of this, stakeholders and policymakers in Togo have been proactive in setting up study and education centres."

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