Kara, Togo

Kara is a city in northern Togo, situated in Kara Region, 413 km north of the capital Lomé. Situated in the country of Togo, near the other western African countries of Ghana, Burkina Faso and Benin. Kara is the capital of the region of the Kara and has a population of 109,287. The Haugeau River flows a little way south of the city and is their main resource of water. Originally known as Lama-Kara, the city developed from the village that still exists of this name into an administrative and industrial centre, including a large brewery. Etienne Eyadéma was born nearby.

Kara includes a busy market place, many luxury hotels, banks, the Congress which was the seat of the Rally of the Togolese People Party before the advent of democracy. The city receives tourists, businessmen and political figures through the major Niamtougou International Airport located a few kilometers from Kara.

Each year, a traditional wrestling tournament takes places that is the first step in the initiation rite of young Kabyè's development into adulthood. A second national university was created in Kara in 2002.

Nanto, Yanivv and Faure are the three most prominent illegal settlements attached to the city. Kara does not condone their existence and would rather they became civilized members of the city's society. Unfortunately, the Togolese council of Kara has yet to find sufficient funds for the slum settlements to afford the basic amenities to create living spaces desirable for acceptance by the city.

Electricity - imports: 0.520 TWh; electricity supplied by Ghana (2001)

These figures provided by Compagnie Energie Electrique du Togo, the main contributor to the electricity network and grid in Togo. The settlements, the main burden to the economy and society of Kara, are draining the resources by feeding off the electricity by dangerous hook-ups into their own settlements. However electricity is not the only resource to be taken providing the citizens with inconvenience. The water from the Haugeau river (see above) is being used for drinking and washing in, providing an unsafe and unclean resource for the main population of the city upstream, the legitimate suffer at the hands of the surplus.

Education in Kara is compulsory for six years. In 1996, the gross primary enrollment rate was 119.6 percent, and the net primary enrollment rate was 81.3 percent. The education system has suffered from teacher shortages, lower educational quality in rural areas, and high repetition and dropout rates.

Subsistence agriculture is the main economic activity in Kara; the majority of the population depends on subsistence agriculture. Food and cash crop production employs the majority of the labor force and contributes about 42% to the gross domestic product (GDP). Coffee and cocoa are traditionally the major cash crops for export, but cotton cultivation increased rapidly in the 1990s, with 173,000 metric tons produced in 1999.

After a disastrous harvest in 2001 (113,000 metric tons), production rebounded to 168,000 metric tons in 2002. Despite insufficient rainfall in some areas, the Togolese Government has achieved its goal of self-sufficiency in food crops — maize, cassava, yams, sorghum, pearl millet, and groundnut. Small and medium-sized farms produce most of the food crop; the average farm size is one to three hectares.