Luanda - The Angolan penal population, estimated at more than 24,000 inmates, produced a total of 940.4 tons of various agricultural goods, during the 2022/23 campaign, according to data recently presented by the general directorate of Prison Services.
Among the products, corn, rice, massango, massambala, cassava, sweet potato, potato, beetroot, beans, soybeans, ginguba, oil palm, sunflower, tomato, cabbage, kale, eggplant, onion, pepper, cucumber, carrots, garlic and various fruits stand out.
According to a press release to which ANGOP had access today, the result of agricultural production carried out by inmates motivated the Prison Services to define a strategy for the large-scale cultivation of beans, rice and corn, in the first phase.
The document justifies that the policy of large-scale corn production, for example, aims to transform this cereal into cornmeal to feed the imprisoned population and manufacture animal feed.
With the levels achieved so far, the Prison Services expect to harvest nine thousand tons of corn, two thousand tons of soybeans and 250 tons of beans.
The note adds that rice production in the provinces of Cuando Cubango, Bié and Malanje is expected to be 2,500 tons.
As for livestock production, during 2022, inmates pastured a total of 10,105 animals of different species, reaching the figure of 25,75 animals in 2023.
For cattle, with the existing sows totaling 111 females, this could multiply to a further 100 heads.
For goats, with a total of 264 females, an increase of more than 520 heads is estimated, while for pigs, with 446 females, an increase of more than five thousand heads is expected.
In relation to breeding, the Penitentiary Services expect to achieve a production of eight thousand chicks per month, the equivalent of 96 thousand chicks a year, with the production of ducks being in the initial phase, with a total of 363 females, whose annual projection will be around 19 thousand and 440, given the ease of breeding this type of bird.
Likewise, quail production is in its initial phase, with a total of 3,721 chicks, the projection for the period is estimated at 47,832 chicks.
According to available data, the Penitentiary Service currently controls a universe of more than 24,356 inmates, of which 12,342 are convicted and 12,14 are in preventive detention, interned in 42 penitentiary establishments across the country, with only 4,289 inmates are involved in socially useful work. HM/QCB/DOJ
