[2019-04-11] Angola may be self-sufficient in agricultural products within five years

Source: Macauhub

Angola could be a food self-sufficient country in almost all agricultural products within five years, as a result of ongoing support programmes, the Agriculture and Forestry Minister said on Wednesday in Luanda.

Marcos Nhunga mentioned support to family agriculture, the increase of cultivation areas and the subsidy of the price of fuel as some of these programmes, and forecast that the ministry will give a big boost to the distribution of seeds, fertilisers, and animal-drawn ploughs.

With that in mind, said the minister quoted by the Angop news agency, the government is working to secure a credit line for both family and business agriculture, through which US$434 million will be available from nine commercial banks.

This programme will make access to credit easier for producers who want to focus on 54 products, notably for the basic basket and others considered essential, in the framework of the Programme for National Production, Export Diversification and Export Substitution (Prodesi).

Marcos Nhunga said that the transfer of goods from the production sites to places of consumption is a broad-ranging problem, which does not depend only on the ministry itself as it is related to the road network and logistics as well as places to store the products on a provincial level.

Angola’s agricultural sector is self-sufficient in roots and tubers, with annual production in excess of 15 million tonnes.