Rich pickings: Angola used to be the third-largest coffee producer

Alternative solutions for growth
PROVINCE OF UIGE With this year’s coffee harvest expected to fall, farmers are being encouraged to raise different crops

ige used to be one of the key provinces which made Angola the third or fourth-largest coffee producer in the world. But that was more than a quarter of a century ago, and the provincial coffee industry of today is a shadow of its former self.
Aggravated by the lack of rain, this year’s coffee harvest in Uige is expected to be below 10,000 tons and the commercial value of the commodity has also been declining.
Governor Cordeiro Ernesto Nzakundomba knows he faces some hard choices as he tries to kick-start a recovery in the agricultural sector, which still provides work for the majority of people in Uige.
As the traditional main crop in Uige, coffee remains one of the government’s main priorities, but the evident intention is somehow to wean the province off its previous economic dependence on it.
According to officials, the answer to the problems besetting Uige’s agricultural sector lies in encouraging farmers to grow alternative crops – not least of all food for the local population – or the raw materials for a food-processing industry.

Nzakundomba: basics

Mr Nzakundomba says that agricultural policy is focused on several groups of products.
“First, the basic products such as rice, beans, corn and potatoes to ensure that the population is fed. We also want to increase our livestock of small animals such as ducks, chickens and rabbits to balance the nutritional value of the population’s diet,” he says.
“Then we will start on the production of rice, corn, coffee and all sorts of fruits that can be used both for consumption and for the processing industry, just as they were in colonial times. “First of all, we want to develop agriculture and then we will create these processing industries. At the moment these are our priorities, together with education and health,” he adds. “We are rebuilding our schools, and we want to standardize primary teaching in all the villages and create secondary schools in the heavily-populated areas.”

As a province located in the northern interior of the country, some distance from the ports, Uige faces a severe challenge in restoring its war-ravaged infrastructure.
“The majority of our roads were destroyed by land mines,” the governor explains. “Consequently, there are obstacles to development and to the free circulation of people and goods.”

Community aid
Mr Nzakundomba fully acknowledges that Angola’s first requirement is to find a full and permanent peace, but he says the country also needs as much help as it can get.
“I would like to see the international community investing in Angola for the recovery of our country,” he says.
“It is now time to invest in our country because it would be an example of humanitarian aid.”