Africa-Press – Angola. At least three farms are producing, so far, considerable amounts of rice in the municipality of Luquembo, northern Malanje province, which is beginning to assert itself as a strategic market for the harvest of that product.
These are, specifically, the Bonsai, Planeta Verde and Marsiris farms, the latter considered one of the largest in the country, with large-scale production of the grain.
According to the director of the Marsiris farm, Li Yun, the company has, this agricultural year, an area of 5,000 hectares for cultivation, and expects to harvest 25,000 tonnes of rice.
According to the farmer, most of the production goes to the market, but 100 hectares of land are prepared to support the families, who will benefit from technical assistance and other support, within the framework of promoting production.
The three farms installed in the municipality of Luquembo have, together, an extension of 1,125 hectares, destined only for the cultivation of rice, this year.
The municipal administrator of Luquembo, João Baptista, said that the region currently has one million, 97 thousand and 100 hectares destined for rice production.
He appealed to national and foreign businessmen to invest in this crop in Luquembo, living up to the Government’s interest in contributing to the diversification of the economy and reduction of grain imports.
He made it known that alongside these farms, the family sector is also producing rice on a small scale, for consumption and sale of the surplus, stressing that last agricultural year they produced 1,255 tonnes.
He said that there are more companies interested in growing the grain in Luquembo, but no concrete steps have yet been taken.
In view of the Government’s interest in boosting rice production in Luquembo, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is installing an Agrarian Development Station in the municipality, for monitoring and technical assistance to producers, whose works are already in the final phase.
Meanwhile, the minister of the sector, António de Assis, visited the municipality last Thursday (17), to assess the conditions and production levels of the Marsiris farm.
In the locality, the leader handed over various agricultural inputs to local rice production cooperatives, with a view to increasing productivity through agricultural mechanization, within the scope of the national strategy for large-scale rice production in the country.
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