Africa-Press – Angola. Several farmers affiliated to the Federation of Peasant Associations and Agro-Livestock Cooperatives (UNACA), in Luanda, are having difficulties in transporting products from the field to the markets, due to the poor state of roads and lack of transport.
Organized into cooperatives, some with 50 and others with up to 300 members and cultivating between 60 and about 1500 hectares, farmers in the municipalities of Cacuaco, Viana, Icolo and Bengo, Quiçama and Belas, are calling for State support in the speed of attribution of land title, an indispensable condition for access to financing, from creditor institutions.
These concerns were presented this Wednesday, in the Municipality of Icolo e Bengo, in Luanda, during a provincial seminar, promoted by UNACA, which aimed to train the presidents of agricultural cooperatives, on ways to increase their productions, within the scope of the program to promote commercial agriculture.
In addition to the lack of means to dispose of products, they call for the need for strict inspection of markets or companies selling implements, as they do not have any quality for agriculture.
“A new motor pump and plow can only run for a day or two. The motor-pump leaks and the plow blades are so fragile that they break or warp when plowing the land”, revealed Carlos Baptista, from the cooperative Nena Epungo, who also asks for support in tractors and agricultural inputs.
Fabiana Silva, president of the Desire Familiar cooperative, in Quiçama, said she had lost count of how many tons of potatoes, cassava and corn were lost due to lack of access roads and means of transport to the places of sale.
Despite this, the president of UNACA, José Bernardo dos Santos is of the opinion that there is an urgent need to increase production and move away from subsistence agriculture to commercial agriculture.
In Icolo and Bengo, the official made it known that, to this end, they are promoting training actions to raise the technical knowledge of farmers in the Province of Luanda.
Of the 184 cooperatives controlled by UNACA in Luanda, only 13 have already benefited from funding under the Credit Support Program (PAC).
“We have been in contact with various financial institutions, so that more cooperatives are financed and there is a greater quantity and quality of agricultural products”, said the official.
In turn, the consultant for the Ministry of Agriculture, David Freitas, made it known that the problems presented will be resolved gradually and in stages, as they involve several sectors.
“The problems have all been identified, they are similar and I think they cannot be tackled in isolation, farmers themselves, the State and banking institutions should be brought together, with exchange rate, tax and production incentive policies”, said the official.
The main crops produced in Luanda are tomatoes, lettuce, onions, sweet potatoes, corn, cassava, reindeer potatoes, among others.
UNACA data indicate that there are harvests in which more than 200 tons of varied products are produced in Luanda by each cooperative.
On average, the cooperative with less land has 60 hectares and the one with more space has around 1500.
However, these lands are not fully cultivated, due to lack of technical and financial capacity to acquire inputs and agricultural inputs.
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