Ombaja - More than nine million kwanzas were distributed on Wednesday in the Southern Cunene Province to 17 Agricultural Field Schools (ECA), in the municipality of Ombadja, by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
The money made available by the fund through the Family Farming Productivity and Resilience Support Project is meant for the purchase of agricultural equipment and inputs and strengthening the productive capacity of farmers, as well as to combat hunger in the communities.
Of the beneficiaries, eight schools received 583,800 kwanzas each, while the other nine received 578,256 kwanzas.
Speaking at the delivery ceremony, the head of the Agrarian Development Institute (IDA), Américo Paciência informed that IFAD provided to Cunene a total of 21,000 million kwanzas for the 36 rural schools in the municipalities of Ombadja, Cuvelai, Cahama and Curoca.
He added that this process has benefited the first seven Agricultural Field Schools in the municipality of Cuvelai, then there are seven schools in Cahama and five in Curoca çaso in the plan.
Américo Paciência said that the aim is to strengthen the capacity of family farmers to acquire support equipment so that they can develop productive activity for the economic growth of rural schools.
The provincial director of the agricultural Office in Cunene, Carlos José Ndanhenguaodonge, highlighted the importance of the fund for the relaunching of family farming, food sustainability and fight against hunger.
He asked the beneficiaries to use the money to support agriculture and contribute to the growth of the economy.
In turn, the administrator of the Ombadja municipality, Elizeth Mwamelungi, praised the support given to the rural schools because they are more empowered to work the land and have greater food production for consumption and surpluses for trade.
She recognised that the municipality is potentially agricultural, with the availability of arable land and water resources in the Cunene river and the Cafu canal, which should be put to good use to give agriculture a big boost.
The official explained that the government had made one of the biggest investments with the construction of the Cafu canal, to combat drought and also to encourage people to develop irrigated agriculture, in order to reduce the impact of hunger in the region.
Elizeth Mwamelungi called for greater responsibility and seriousness in the management of the money received, in order to facilitate production and boost the national economy, so that the country is no longer dependent on food imports.
On behalf of the beneficiaries, the president of the 17 de Setembro Field School in Calueque, Agostinho Chimuco, said that the support received had come at the right time and would enable the purchase of various means to better develop agriculture along the Cunene River.
The Project to Strengthen the Resilience of Family Farmers, implemented in 2021 with the distribution of vehicles and motorbikes, is expected to benefit 21,500 families in Cunene and guarantee food and nutritional security over the next four years.
The IDA in Cunene controls 36 field schools and 65 groups associated with the schools, in the municipalities of Cuvelai, Ombadja, Cahama and Curoca.
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