Togo says hopes to revive ailing phosphate sector

LOME, June 10 (Reuters) - Togo is hoping to nearly quadruple its production of phosphate by 2013, bringing output of the fertiliser ingredient back to peaks hit two decades ago, Prime Minister Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo said.

The West African state will spend 80 billion CFA francs ($147 million) over the next three years to raise production to 3 million tonnes annually, from current levels below 850,000 tonnes, Houngbo said in a speech delivered to members of his government over the weekend and seen by Reuters on Thursday.

"This program will allow us to bring production to 1.6 million tonnes in 2011, 2.5 million tonnes in 2012, and then to 3 million tonnes in 2013," he said.

Togo, a sliver of land wedged between Ghana and Benin, was the world's fourth-largest producer of phosphate in 1990 when output peaked around 3 million tonnes per year, but has since slipped off the top 10 list due to a lack of investment.

The country earned a reputation for instability after security forces killed hundreds of people in post-election violence in 2005, sparking a refugee crisis.

President Faure Gnassingbe, son of late dictator Gnassingbe Eyadema who ruled the country for four decades, was re-elected earlier this year, sparking opposition street protests but the demonstrations were generally peaceful.

Houngbo said that Togo would also aim to construct a plant to process the phosphates into phosphoric acid and fertiliser by 2014 and would seek to reevaluate contracts with phosphate producer firms to ensure greater productivity.

The world's biggest phosphates producers include the United States, China, Morroco and Russia, each with over 5 million tonnes of annual output.

(Reporting by John Zodzi; editing by Richard Valdmanis and Alison Birrane)