Local economy : Everything about the municipality of Toviklin

So close to Cotonou but so landlocked. Toviklin, a commune in the Couffo department bends over the cost of local governance. The municipality of Toviklin has an economy based on agriculture. It is mainly rural. More, taking into account several factors, the local economy is struggling to develop even though the municipality is sorely lacking in resources to develop.

"It is thanks to my tarpaulins that I manage to sell my oranges in other markets", explains Marc Dossou who owns orange plantations. Thomas Tohoun is a producer of food crops like tomato, cowpeas and cassava. He also confides that most of these productions are sold in markets like those of Klouékanmey., Dogbo, Lalo and Azovè. He explains that before, there were police stations where town hall officers collected royalties on each sheet of produce that came out. He indicates that the markets located in the municipality of Toviklin are not doing well. More, these are markets that come alive more in the evenings. And so, "People don't come to our markets for wholesale products". Landry Dahouèto, palm oil producer goes in the same direction. Better, for him, "Toviklin does not have real markets that can allow us to sell our products to wholesalers". He sues "we the producers, if we have to sell our products in retail, we are going to record too much loss given the time it will take before all these products run out ". However, the people of Toviklin invest in 65,96% in the primary sector according to the monograph of the municipality carried out in March 2006 under the supervision of Emmanuel Guidibi and the Engineer Agro-economist Marius Basile Gandonou. They mainly practice agriculture. And so, it is agriculture that should constitute the lung of the local economy. "We have the resource. But when the season comes, the good ladies come to look to sell in Cotonou. In Cotonou, prices are sold off because it may be a while before they find a taker. Meanwhile, oranges start to turn yellow and rot. And whoever wants, give the price he wants. The period when it is expensive, it’s the Muslim Lent period. The price goes from simple to triple ”, explains the Secretary General of the Mayor.

The health of the agricultural sector

"The local economy is in bad shape", entrusted to Benoit Komabou, Head of Financial Affairs and Budget at Toviklin. Toviklin's local economy relies heavily on the informal sector. And, this is the only sector where the municipality derives most of its income. Family type, agriculture is, spatially, the most important activity practiced by the populations of the municipality of Toviklin. The agricultural land covers an area of ​​7,680ha, is 30,35% of the entire territory of the municipality. They are not very fertile. More than a dozen cultures are practiced in the Municipality of Toviklin like the other municipalities of the department of Couffo. Among these cultures, the main ones are as follows : But, manioc, haricot, tomato, gombo, Soy, oil palm tree, citrus. "Most, agriculture is not progressing ", notes Benoit Komabou. Agriculture in Toviklin faces several challenges. There is a shortage of land and the little arable land is getting poorer. It is therefore necessary to find fertilizers to have a good production.. More, producers do not have a high purchasing power to pay for inputs. Next, there is the rural exodus. People will live elsewhere like in Djidja.

The contribution of the agricultural sector

The municipality of Toviklin derives its income from agriculture thanks to the "Local development tax" (TDL). In 2018, the recovery of TDL on agricultural products was made up to 4 720 700 FCFA. In 2019 the TDL is 4 996 000 FCFA (environs 2 millions for citrus). A one 2020, the recovery of the local development tax amounts to 2 729 000 FCFA with more than a million on citrus fruits. The Head of Financial Affairs and Budget estimates that the decrease in 2020 can be explained by reforms undertaken by the government. He explains that today, the reforms mean that the recovery of the TDL on the tracks on the oranges, tomatoes is complicated unless these products are brought to market. This is what even made Klouékanmey create an orange market. With the reforms of the rupture regime, no one has the right to put baffles in the way anymore. Or, it is the baffles that make it possible to force the orange tarpaulins, of tomatoes or other agricultural products to stop in order to take the tickets issued by the town hall and which allow the fees to be entered.

Currently, the drivers of these tarpaulins refuse to stop and the city hall collector's assistants can do nothing. "We fought tired", informs Benoit Komabou. He points out that the state has not prohibited recovery on tracks. And the town hall has the means to do it. More, he explains, "A driver who refuses to stop when stopped by a TDL collector helper, we could place a chicane on the track ". More, "today, you are on the way with nothing, when you try to stop a driver, he passes. What do you do ? ». "It caused our revenues to dwindle", points out Benoit Komabou. By the way, before the reforms, the police were laid out on the tracks with baffles. What helped the collector helpers. More, with the reforms, no policeman can stay on the tracks. Likewise, before when a driver is stubborn, the police superintendent can react. More, now, it is the instruction that will come from his hierarchy that he expects. So that the police commissioner no longer has the power of coercion over users. There is also the coronavirus which for a long time prevented the recovery of TDL on the tracks.

Blockages to economic growth

Toviklin's problem with the local economy is multi-layered. "Toviklin does not have the material, this is the problem ", confides Benoit Komabou. The municipality does not have the material to benefit from the quarry tax. The municipality of Toviklin does not have a quarry. So that's when companies have markets for loading tracks with laterite, we, we are on the ground to impose them. "If we take the Couffo department, municipalities that have revenue first have careers ", he informs. He takes an example. Towards the end of the year 2020, the state created a tax on noise pollution and on the installation of tarpaulins. "It brings. We started around the end of October 2020 with difficulties and we are at 1 400 000 FCFA in royalties ”, he shows. The principle is that whoever rents the tarpaulins pays 1000 FCFA per rented tarpaulin. The sound engineer pays 2 000 FCFA per sound system. The first sector that mobilizes the population of this municipality more is agriculture. And this agriculture is plagued by difficulties. The second sector that mobilizes the population of Toviklin is the tertiary sector (13,17%). There is no industrial company established and registered on the territory of the municipality. More, craftsmanship is a major element of the specificity of this locality, particularly in terms of employment and income. As for the secondary sector, he keeps busy 9,78 % Population. As well, tickets to collect TDL are no longer edited by themselves. It is the public treasury that publishes them. And so, the municipality of Toviklin like others no longer have a real leeway to dispose of these resources. As well, according to the former second deputy mayor of the town, Come on, Kakpo, Does the town not have markets. The markets that do exist only come alive in the evenings.

A new policy

To boost the local economy of the municipality of Toviklin, Ernest Adjalla thinks that a fruit juice production unit needs to be set up. That, according to him, " It's okay, not only boost production because many will invest in it, but it will also improve the employability of young people "and" will generate resources for the municipality ". It is also necessary to continue the training of women in the manufacture of "Gari Super" and the conservation of tomatoes.. This involves providing the municipality with a real market that really comes alive during the day.. Due to the lack of land, the municipality would benefit from reforming its crafts and promoting it. The development of new strategies to collect TDL becomes an urgent matter for the monitoring of the municipality.

Arthur SEAL (Coll)