Togo Coffee Beans

About this origin

Togo is a country in West Africa, which extends for a short distance south to the Gulf of Guinea. The narrow territory stretches vertically, and its climates and habitats change a lot from north to south.

The north is flat and characterised by the savannah, the centre is hilly, and from south-east to north-east, it extends to the Togo Mountains. In the south, there’s an upland (100-300 metres high) which slowly extends into a lowland, rich in swamps and lagoons. The climate is typically tropical.

In Togo, coffee production began in 1905, during the colonial era. German colonists introduced coffee, cocoa, and cotton cultivation, and also imported all useful infrastructure for the development of agriculture. Today, this little African country boasts one of the highest living standards of the continent, mainly thanks to agriculture, which feeds 65% of the local workforce.

The coffee industry was liberalised in 1996. Until then, a parastatal organisation, the Office des Produits Agricoles du Togo (OPAT), held the monopoly, whereas the domestic market was privatised. The government fixed prices and taxed farmers’ revenues from coffee farming.

After the liberalisation, exporters were free to buy coffee directly from farmers, allowing them to achieve higher revenues. Now, Togo represents one of the best examples of liberalisation.

Today, Togo is a small producer of high-quality robusta, known as one of the cleanest, most balanced, and best-picked varieties. Most of its robusta is grown in the south-west of the country, near the border with Ghana. The largest importing countries are Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Italy.