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This paper aims to investigate how climatic, market and policy factors interact to determine food production in Togo. Specifically, we estimate acreage and yield response to market prices, weather and policy changes for maize and rice.

We use panel data estimators in a Seemingly Unrelated Regressions Equation (SURE) model with region-level data from the Food and Agriculture Organization statistics department and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the US Department of commerce.

We found lower fertilizer price and higher grain price effects on maize acreage and yield. In addition, we found a positive effect of expected rice price on both its acreage and yield. As expected, rainfall during planting months has a significant impact on both maize (April) and paddy (May) acreage allocations. Similarly, total rainfall during the growing season has a positive impact on both maize and paddy yields. Moreover, recent agricultural policy initiative designed to boost domestic food production has significantly increased acreage and yield for maize, and yield for paddy, especially the strategy for agricultural growth.

The dataset includes region-level observations from 1991 to 2012 which limits the observation span. However, we had enough variability in key variables to determine the estimated coefficients.

Although the dataset is limited in time (1991–2012) and uses national-level output prices, this investigation reveals that cropland allocation to maize and rice is sensitive to fertilizer and grain prices, weather expectations and policy interventions. These findings provide evidence for sustainable food production and productivity enhancement in Togo.

Understanding drivers of cropland allocation and cereal yield contribute to better food security and poverty reduction in developing countries, especially Togo.

Prior to this study, little was known on the effect of price, climate and policy on cropland allocation in Togo. This investigation contributes significantly to filling this knowledge gap and provides insights for effective interventions.

The importance of gender equality is reflected not only in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), but also in the World Bank’s Gender Action Plan launched in 2007 as well as in other treaties and actions undertaken at regional and international levels. Unlike other gender poverty works, which are mostly based on monetary measurement, the purpose of this paper is to adopt a non-monetary approach.

The present study makes use of a counting approach to examine gender issues in Burkina Faso and Togo using household surveys, namely Enquête Intégrale surles Conditions de Vie des Ménages (2009/2010) and Core Welfare Indicators Questionnaire (2011), respectively. It focusses on six dimensions (housing, basic utilities, assets, education, employment and access to credit) largely recognized as MDG targets.

Main findings indicate that overall individuals are the most deprived in education in Burkina Faso, while the reverse situation is true in Togo. Gender inequality is observed in all dimensions since women always seem to be more deprived than men. The situation is also marked by regional disparities. Moreover, the assessment of dimensional contributions shows different patterns for each country. While employment proves to be the main contributor of gender inequality in Burkina Faso, three dimensions (assets, access to credit and employment) account together for most of the total contribution to gender inequality in Togo.

The main contribution of the paper is to use a multidimensional method (counting approach) to assess gender deprivation, with countries comparison. It also proposes an interesting combination of the decomposition by dimension with the subgroup’s decomposition in order to determine the largest contributor to gender inequality.

Due to rapid urbanization, rice consumption in Togo has also rapidly increased. Most consumers prefer imported rice over domestically produced rice due to the higher quality of the imported rice. The purpose of this paper is to show that it is possible to upgrade the quality of Togo’s domestically produced rice by providing technical and management support in the form of contract farming.

Cross-sectional data were collected using a multi-stage sampling technique. An endogenous switching regression model was used for data analysis.

The results show that by participating in contract farming, paddy rice quality was upgraded from Grade IV (poor quality) to Grade I (premium quality). The factors influencing this upgrade in the quality of paddy rice grown through contract farming are: the number of extension visits to the farmer, the mode of threshing used by the farmer, and the agro-ecological zone of the farmer.

The data for this study are limited to one country, Togo and this may have implications for generalizing the results for other countries.

This study is original research that contributes to an improved understanding of the impacts of contract farming on the quality of agricultural products produced in developing and emerging economies.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the authors’ experience operationalizing the care delivery value chain (CDVC) as a management and continuous quality improvement (QI) approach to strengthen HIV/AIDS services provided in Northern Togo through addressing gaps across a care continuum.

The authors led a series of discussions to develop a CDVC specific to existing HIV/AIDS services in Northern Togo. Using the CDVC framework, 28 specific gaps in service delivery were identified and integrated into a strategic QI plan.

At 12 months, 92 percent of delivery gaps had demonstrated improvement. The CDVC framework proved to be valuable in the following ways. First, it facilitated the first comprehensive mapping of HIV/AIDS services in the Kara region of Togo. Second, it enabled the identification of gaps or insufficiencies in the currently available services across the full continuum of care. Third, it catalyzed the creation of a strategic QI plan based on identified gaps.

This case description is the authors’ experience in one setting and should not be considered comparative in nature. Furthermore, the approach described may not be applicable to all initiatives and/or organizations. As described, the lack of sophisticated and comprehensive data collection systems limited the authors’ ability to collect reliable data on some of the QI initiatives planned.

The operationalization of the CDVC framework is an effective approach to drive continuous QI.

Through the operationalization of the CDVC, the authors developed a new approach for assessing existing services, identifying gaps in service delivery and directing continuous QI initiatives in a strategic manner.

This paper aims to assess the effects of external governance mechanisms on the performance of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Togo.

Using annual time series data from a sample of 30 MFIs during the period 2011–2015, the authors apply panel data econometrics in their estimations.

The results indicate that the notation by a rating agency positively and significantly affects the financial return of MFIs. The quality and the regularity of the audits negatively and significantly influence the financial performance (measured by return on assets and operating self-sufficiency) but favorably and significantly influence social performance (increased number of active borrowers (NAB) and reduced size of loans). Furthermore, supervision increases the amount of individual loans but decreases the NAB, which means deterioration in social performance. Overall, this paper shows that external governance mechanisms significantly affect the performance of Togolese MFIs, but with varying effects depending on the mechanism considered.

The sample size of 30 MFIs is small, and the geographic coverage of the study is restricted to MFIs operating in the city of Lomé, Togo. The authors did not have access to the information regarding the portfolio at risk at 30 days, even though it is a measure of financial performance. Likewise, we did not have access to the appendices to the financial statements for the calculation of prudential ratios. This method, which consists of asking the institutions using a questionnaire if they comply with prudential standards, may be biased because this study cannot verify the authenticity of the responses given that the standards are quantitative.

The study findings advocate that improving the financial and social performance of MFIs requires improving the quality of external governance mechanisms. MFIs should then pay close attention to well-functioning external governance mechanisms.

As MFIs are key social actors in a society, all mechanisms that contribute to their efficiency benefit society.

This study contributes to the corporate governance literature by showing that external governance mechanisms influence performance. These external mechanisms are complementary disciplinary measures to internal governance mechanisms and other tools.

This study examined factors associated with depression in 125 informal caregivers to adults living with HIV/AIDS in Lomé, Togo.

Each caregiver completed a questionnaire that assessed primary and secondary stressors, social support and depression. Most of the participants were women (78 per cent), married (53 per cent), and had been giving care to nuclear family members (63 per cent) for about 11 months. OLS regression was used to examine the association of primary and secondary stressors with self‐reported depression.

The analysis showed that caregiving demand, role captivity, and job conflict were positively associated with self‐reported depression. This suggests that work‐related strains and role strains were associated with depression levels among caregivers in our sample.

The study is based on a small convenience sample of volunteers and this may limit the generalisability of the results.

This knowledge can benefit HIV/AIDS service providers in counselling caregivers who need to maintain a healthy quality of life and well‐being for their difficult and challenging task.

This paper contributes to knowledge on caregiving role to people with chronic illnesses by incorporating an understudied population into the knowledge base.