Malanje - The national agricultural production registered, in 2020, a growth in the order of 5 percent compared to the year of 2019, announced on Saturday, in the northern Malanje Province, the minister of State for Economic Coordination, Manuel Nunes Júnior.
Without releasing any figures, the minister - who was speaking at a meeting with local businesspersons - clarified that such data, despite being provisional, reveal the positive impact of the government's policies aiming at the maximization of domestic production, despite the unfavorable factors, with a focus on the health crisis caused by Covid-19.
"The bet on national production is no longer merely a discursive expression, but a practice at all levels", he stressed, adding that the strategy begins to be increasingly internalized by Angolans, aiming at changing the country's economic structure.
As a result, he noted the reduction of food imports by 24 percent in 2020, meaning an increase in the consumption of national production.
The minister emphasized the continuous march in this direction, in order to solidify the economy, improve the income of companies and generate more jobs.
On the other hand, he praised the contribution of the private agricultural sector in Malanje to the increase of cereals production, with emphasis on corn, whose effects will be significant in macroeconomic terms for the country.
At the meeting, which was also attended by the minister of Commerce and Industry, Victor Fernandes, and of Energy and Waters, João Baptista Borges, the businesspersons requested the opening of a representation of the Development Bank of Angola in each province, to facilitate the processing of credit application processes and avoid delay in the concession.
They also pointed out the degradation of access routes to production areas as being one of the main factors that hinder the flow of products from the countryside to large consumption centers.
The fluctuation in the price of wheat flour, the raw material for bread production, was also among the concerns of the local business community.
In response to the concern regarding the outflow of production, the minister of Commerce and Industry, Victor Fernandes, recalled that a public tender will soon be launched to award 500 vehicles to commerce and distribution operators in the country's 18 provinces.
Regarding the variation in the price of wheat flour, he said that, although the country has three factories, the difficulty lies in the fact that the raw material (wheat) is mostly exported.
He maintained that, with the strategic food reserve, already approved, intervention will begin whenever there is a speculative trend in the price of wheat flour.
The minister of State for Economic Coordination, Manuel Nunes Júnior, finished on Saturday afternoon a two-day work visit to Malanje, where he learned about the social and economic reality of the region.
During his stay in Malanje, he visited Biocom (Bioenergy Company of Angola), the Kizenga Agro-industrial Hub, the Cristalina and PIPE farms.
He also noted the degree of execution of the works of the Satelite Town of Malanje, the integrated infrastructures of the Canâmbua neighbourhood, among other projects.
