Reaping the fruits of a fertile land
The provincial government is examining the long-term potential of alternative sources of income to oil and implementing measures to preserve them for future generations

hile Cabinda is renowned as the center of Angola’s oil industry, the province has an abundance of other natural resources which hold the promise of future development and prosperity.
The province boasts mineral riches ranging from phosphates and manganese to diamonds, a fertile agricultural sector, and large stretches of tropical rainforest providing a renewable supply of quality hardwoods.
Oil might be king, but the authorities in Cabinda are already thinking to the future when their petroleum resources are exhausted, even though that seems a long way off. The province is said to house some of the finest timber resources in the world, and its governor, Jose Amaro Tati, is determined that they should not go to waste.
One of his key policy objectives is to ensure that the forests, heavily plundered during colonial times as a major source of raw timber exports, are conserved for future generations. He insists that more attention should be paid to the long-term potential of Cabinda’s extensive forests and to environmental considerations.

Create jobs
The governor emphasizes the need for Cabinda to use its timber resources as the basis for industries which will add value to the product and create valuable jobs.
Cabinda’s forests, which once provided as much as half of Angola’s total raw timber exports, are still seen as a potential source of export income. The difference now is that the province can earn more from its trees if it converts them into saleable goods.
A still modest but expanding industry based on the manufacture of furniture, both for domestic consumption and export, is seen as one means of exploiting the full economic potential of the forests.
Other emerging industries include food and drink production, clothing, metal products, rubber and plastics. Cabinda’s climate and terrain are well-suited for the development of the agricultural sector. Estimates suggest that the province has more than 200,000 hectares of fertile arable land, much of which lies used.
Officials say that options for expansion include the commercial cultivation of coffee and increasing the numbers of livestock. They add that developing Cabinda’s agricultural potential could help to expand the food processing industries, which have become an increasingly important source of employment.

In the past, low investment has hindered Cabinda’s efforts to increase the added value of its products by developing a light manufacturing sector. The province was also heavily dependent on oil for government revenue, and relied on farming as the biggest single source of employment. Now there is recognition of the need to explore new business opportunities.
Cabinda’s young and growing population puts the provincial government under an obligation to create new jobs, and foreign investment is seen as the solution. Mr Tati’s government has drawn up plans to set up a free trade zone in the province. These plans are closely linked to the so-called Cabinda Corridor project based on a series of incentives for investors and the provision of adequate infrastructure for companies.

Foreign investment
Economic development plans in Cabinda focus on the Futila Industrial Park. This project is being overseen by a partnership between the government, the World Bank and private sector companies, including US oil concern Chevron, which has long been active in Cabinda’s lucrative oil and gas sector.
For the immediate future at least, the development of Cabinda’s economic potential boils down to the oil sector.
The province has not always believed it was getting its fair share of the economic benefits generated from its oil and natural gas riches. It is hoped that this is now changing under the national government led by Angolan president Jose Eduardo dos Santos. Under a recent agreement, Cabinda now receives a 10 percent share of the national government revenues from the oil industry.

Recognition of Cabinda’s rights to a just proportion of the income provided by its oil wealth represents a psychological boost to the province. But significantly, it also offers a useful source of funding for industrial expansion in the province and to improve its infrastructure – a crucial factor in any future economic development program.