Why Our New Hospital in Togo Has a Farm

In Canada, many of us are passionate about where our food comes from. But if we can’t make it to the farmer’s market, or if the raised beds in the yard have a tough year, our solution is simple run to the grocery store.

In rural Togo, there’s often no fallback plan. It’s healthy local food, or hunger. And so when we began planning the community hospital in the Plateaux Region, we knew we wanted the facility to do more than treat illness we wanted to build an approach to both health and nutrition through a holistic, community-driven model. We can’t talk about health without addressing nutrition, and we can’t meaningfully address nutrition without reinforcing the local food system.

The Approach

Our team in Togo has long supported both health and agriculture, but in 2020, when Covid reached the country, local leadership piloted a program that leaned into the intersection between the two. The program provided Community Health Workers with seeds, tools, plant starts, and materials for agricultural training while simultaneously sharing locally sewn masks and up-to-date information on the pandemic.

The program, called “Le Mariage” (the marriage between health and agriculture), was an incredible success, touching more than a thousand families and family gardens. This work has continued, with trainings highlighting the nutritional qualities of local plants and support for selected demonstration gardens in the region. But until recently, the program lacked a home a place for experimentation, production, and training.

Now, the hospital garden a 1.6-acre space surrounding the facility is providing that base. In the past two months, thanks to generous support from partners, we’ve planted 532 pineapple plants, 336 plantain trees, 174 melons, and nearly 1,100 flowering bushes that enhance soil health while creating beauty across the campus. There are also mango, avocado, papaya, and lime trees started on site, and our team is almost ready to begin planting vegetable garden parcels.

In addition to the trees and shrubs already planted, the team is focusing on starting plants from seed and propagating flowering bushes and shrubs that provide beauty while enhancing soil health. The team has also established two composting sites on campus, turning organic waste into rich soil amendments. And finally, planning for a comprehensive medicinal garden is well underway.underway

The Team

We’re grateful to have engaged a botanist with deep experience in West African flora, who has been an enormous asset combining a rigorous, detail-oriented approach with impressive soft skills and participatory methods of engagement. This advisor visits the garden regularly and plays a lead role in planning and development.

The local team is led by our agronomists on site, with support from community leaders and technicians. In addition, we currently have interns from nearby agricultural schools engaging on site, along with local students participating during their academic breaks.

One of the most inspiring parts of the planning and planting process has been the interchange and bidirectional learning taking place across the team. Like any farming endeavor, we’ve faced challenges and decisions, but seeing people share ideas and seek solutions at the intersection of deep, generational local knowledge and science-based best practices has been remarkable.

How can we avoid pests while keeping the farm organic? What plants are best for soil health and conservation? Which tree varieties are most resilient to wind and seasonal storms? What are the most appropriate medicinal plants for the local context? Like everything we strive to do, these decisions have been rooted in community knowledge and enhanced through dialogue and research

Looking Forward

Our team believes that this 1.6-acre plot adjacent to our hospital will be small but mighty creating ripples throughout the region. Local farmers are donating trees and sharing knowledge, excited to be part of something transformative. Community Health Workers are participating in on-site training and playing an active role in planning and execution. University students are gaining hands-on experience that will shape how they think about development work. Patients and families who visit the site are asking for more information, suggesting new topics for education, wondering when the fruit trees will begin bearing fruit.

In the weeks and months to come, patients walking into our hospital will see green, beauty, and abundance on site. And with time, they’ll be invited to learn and participate. That’s not an accidentit’s a vision of health that starts with the ground beneath our feet and grows into something that can sustain a community for generations.

This initiative is proving that sometimes the most innovative approach is the most fundamental one: good health grows from good soil, strong communities, and the wisdom to see connections that were always there. And the model we’re piloting here in Togo is designed to grow and spread, just like the seeds we’re planting.

Special thanks to the student researchers and volunteers who have supported planning and evaluation from a distance. We’re grateful for your engagement and support!