CONFLICT DEVASTATED THE SECTOR–NOW THE GOVERNMENT MUST UPGRADE INFRASTRUCTURE TO BRING PRODUCTION UP TO PREVIOUS LEVELS

GILBERTO BUTA LUTUCUTA Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development

Many challenges in the sector fall on the shoulders of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, which must lead the drive to make the country self-sufficient in food production and upgrade the sector's technology and infrastructure.
"In most aspects of the agriculture sector we are starting from zero," says Gilberto Buta Lutucuta, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development. Once a huge exporter of agriculture products, Angola now has to import food to feed its people.
Mr. Lutucuta estimates that it will take three to four years to attain balance in the sector, and says he hopes foreign companies will seize opportunities where the government falls short of resources.
"We are motivating big enterprises to invest in our country and have set aside prime areas where there is stability which can be used by companies with state-of-the-art technologies in agriculture production. Spanish, South African, Portuguese and U.S. companies have already shown interest in investing. Producers can feel safe that they will reap the fruit of their investment," Mr. Lutucuta promises.

Founded in 1992, EPUNGU is the association of corn growers that aims to defend growers’ interests and increase production.

Portuguese private enterprise has taken a management stake in the fully state-owned company Frescangol, the national leader in the transport, delivery and storage of agricultural products.
"The Portuguese company Agropromotora is just a manager and has no capital share of Frescangol," says Frescangol general director Valdemiro G. Neves. "The strategy was to be seen with a foreign company, giving us a better chance of capturing the trust of investors and producers and to get larger revolving credits."
Mr. Neves says Frescangol's diversification at market level is a key strategy for which it has a huge fleet and is the largest in terms of the transfer of frozen meat. "We have 5,000 tons of refrigeration for products. Prospects in this market are good and we are in a strong position. Nobody here now has the capacity that we have in conservation of frozen products or refrigeration and dry storage of products."

“Producers can feel safe that they will reap the fruit of their investment”

ERNESTO CHICUCUMA President of EPUNGU

One product that doesn't need much storage is corn, which is consumed as fast as it can be harvested by 95% of the population and used for animal feed. EPUNGU is the association whose job it is to defend the interests of corn growers in Angola and see that the sector flourishes.
EPUNGU has been around for ten years now, and according to the association's president, Ernesto Chicucuma, great strides have been made to increase corn production, but there's still work to be done.
"Financial resources are needed for our ideas to become reality" notes Mr. Chicucuma. Besides improvements to the transportation infrastructure that would motivate farmers to produce more, irrigation is another thorny issue, he says.
"Irrigation is a huge financial burden and we don't have the resources to face it. But we don't want to be given the money, we want credits which would be paid back quickly as it wouldn't take long for production to increase."