Luanda - The Angolan Government aims to achieve self-sufficiency in corn production by 2030, with the harvest of around 10 million tons/year of this cereal, aiming at food security.
Currently, corn production in Angola is around 4.5 millions tons/year, an amount that is still insufficient to satisfy the domestic market needs.
These data were indicated by the secretary of State for Forests, João da Cunha, during the meeting he recently held with the special envoy for the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Government also intends to increase the cultivated area, from the current 5 to 7 million hectares in the coming years.
The official highlighted that the projects supported by AfDB in Angola are aimed at peasant families (family farming), which represent around 83% of the productive sector.
João da Cunha recalled that the government has created policies to promote the cultivation of rice, corn, soybeans, wheat, Arabica and Robusta coffee production, as well as cocoa and forestry exploitation, with the projection of environmental sustainability, revenue collection and the challenge of planting more than a billion trees.
In turn, AfDB's special envoy for Africa, Timothy Williams, said that Angola is aligned with the objectives outlined at the Dakar Summit, which had the motto “Feeding Africa: Sovereignty and food resilience”, took place in January 2023.
He also assured that he took good note of the concerns presented during the meeting and they will deserve due treatment from the AfDB team.
The objective of the visit by AfDB's senior official is to verify the implementation of ongoing projects in the agriculture sector, analyze the challenges facing the Angolan Government in this sector and identify the axes of intervention and assistance from the AfDB in the Angolan agricultural development process.
During the meeting, issues linked to fertilizers, seeds, digitalization and agricultural mechanization were discussed, as well as the possibility of building agro-processing infrastructures along the Lobito Corridor, the empowerment of youth in agriculture and the involvement of the private sector in these projects.
The parties also discussed the possibility of creating a project evaluation unit.
QCB/CF/jmc
