Icolo and Bengo - Twelve hectares are prepared for the cultivation of rice, on an experimental basis, in the town of Mazozo, municipality of Icolo and Bengo, by the ex-military cooperative, ANGOP learned this Tuesday.
To this end, the cooperative received today, from the Provincial Office of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, 20 bags of rice seeds and five bags of fertilizer, type 12/24/12, within the scope of the community project, 'rice plantation' .
According to the president of the cooperative, Arlindo Diogo, due to the successive rains, the lowlands have accumulated a lot of water, making it possible to plant rice, which is expected to be harvested in three months.
He made it known that he has several projects in conjunction with the Mazozo Experimental Station, Agricultural Research Center, including the cultivation, during this month, in an experimental way, with the new techniques acquired at the field school, of sweet potatoes (10 hectares), reindeer potatoes (two hectares), corn (five hectares) and beans (six hectares).
The producer regrets the slowness of support or financing from related entities, even though he is in possession of the land concession title, one of the fundamental documents required by creditor entities.
'We knocked on several doors and continued to knock but without success, however we continue to wait so that we can produce with the desired speed, quantity and quality', he predicted.
At the moment the farm is growing corn, okra, pumpkin and cucumber on five hectares, with the prospect of harvesting five tons of corn, one of okra and two of cucumbers, starting next May.
He informed that, as soon as the irrigation ditches are achieved, sunflower cultivation is in the pipeline, on 15 hectares already prepared in the same area.
'We have a lagoon that is approximately two kilometers away but we need excavators and rotating machines to open trenches and build reservoirs for retention', he explained.
In the 2023 harvest, the cooperative harvested 150 tons of tomatoes, 90 tons of eggplant, 70 tons of okra and 300 tons of corn.
The cooperative has existed since 1979 and with the end of the war in 1992, it felt the need to integrate ex-soldiers from 2020 onwards, currently having 167 members, in the town of Mazozo, on the outskirts of Catete, cultivating on 600 hectares . AJQ/DOJ
