Africa-Press – Angola. With the assumption of management of the Irrigated Perimeters of Caxito (Bengo), Gangelas and Matala (Huíla), Missombo (Cuando Cubango), Luena (Moxico), Mucoso (Cuanza-Norte) and Waku-Kungo (Cuanza-Sul ), the provincial Governments hope to contribute to the development of the Economic and Agricultural sector.
The position was expressed by the governors, at the end of the signing ceremony of the Terms of Transfer of Competence for Management of Irrigated Perimeters, signed yesterday by the Minister of Agriculture and Forests, Francisco de Assis, and the governors of the provinces covered, under the testimony the Minister of State for Economic Coordination, José de Lima Massano and the Minister of Finance, Vera Daves.
All irrigated perimeters handed over to the management of provincial governments, until yesterday managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests, were vandalized and require some improvement works and replacement of resources for full operation.
At the end of the event, which took place in the former CDI of Cidade Alta, the Minister of State for Economic Coordination said that some of the perimeters that require rehabilitation work are already included in the proposal for the General State Budget for 2024.
Despite being included as works in the Agriculture and Forestry sector, highlighted José Massano, these are resources that will be transferred to the provincial Governments to carry out the improvement program for these heritage sites. “We will continue to provide the necessary support so that this public heritage serves the interests of all Angolans”, he promised.
The government official said that another stage of this important process of administrative deconcentration is being completed, with the aim of making public resources available to citizens, under the coordination of those closest to them, representing the authority of the State.
José de Lima Massano lamented the vandalization of infrastructure, understanding that acts of this kind put everyone’s well-being at risk, mainly because they are important investments at the cost of the sacrifices of Angolans. With the process of effectively transferring the perimeters, he said that the Executive’s expectation is that the heritage will be able to be protected.
The Minister of Territorial Administration, Dionísio da Fonseca, stressed that the transfer is part of the various programs that the Ministry has developed, within the framework of administrative deconcentration and decentralization.
“We understand that the fundamental thing, in order to continue following this path and strengthening deconcentration, is to transfer more and more functional powers from the center to the local, that is, to the provincial governments and municipal administrations”, he defended.
Since 2017, when the Citizen’s Portal was implemented, he pointed out, the State has collected 4 million kwanzas in revenue at municipal level, and now in 2023 this amount has risen to 17 billion kwanzas.
For the Minister of Territorial Administration, the increase in revenue reflects the importance of this process of administrative deconcentration: “A path that we must continue”.
Location of perimeters and their capabilities
Perimeter of Gangelas, located in the municipality of Chibia, province of Huíla, occupies an area of 6,220 hectares and a current agricultural holding of 1,992 hectares. When presenting each transferred perimeter, the Secretary of State for Agriculture and Livestock, João Bartolomeu da Cunha, explained that the infrastructure is fed by a dam, Gangelas, designed for this purpose.
The perimeter has some functional portions. The canal and the portions that were infrastructured still exist, but there was vandalization of some material, such as pumps, which need replacement.
The Gangelas perimeter has 176 agricultural plots divided into several plots of two and a half hectares, five and others of 25. Despite the dam’s functionality, João da Cunha said there are some problems related to the mini-hydro plant, which also needs be repaired.
It has pumping stations, tanks, generators, cold stations and homes that will have to be worked on for their recovery.
The Caxito Rega Perimeter, located in the province of Bengo, has a total area of 4,628 hectares, known as the old sugar factory “Heróis de Caxito”. It has a canal of approximately 23 kilometers, lined and completely infrastructured with electricity and pressurized water up to the installments.
With a very large occupation area, Caxito Rega was under the management and co-management of the former Sopir, which is in the liquidation phase. Of the 4,628 hectares, only 2,500 are irrigated. Much of the equipment, especially electrical equipment, was vandalized, as were more than 60 or 70 percent of the transformation stations that need replacement.
The Luena Rega Perimeter, managed by a limited company with public and private capital, has a size of 1,710 hectares of available area and only 478 hectares are irrigated. It has 122 delimited plots of land, plots of 2.05 and 5.2 hectares.
The perimeter situation is currently precarious. There was vandalization of its infrastructure and some equipment. It is a perimeter with good agricultural potential and will need important management.
Mucous allows intensive production
The perimeter of Mucoso is a hydro-agricultural farm with a gross area of around a thousand hectares, but only 530 have been intervened and allow agricultural production.
With 160 lots of 3.11 hectares each, the Mucosu Irrigated Perimeter is supplied by electricity from the public network and pressurized water. It has a management center and a large part of the infrastructure, although some of it is in a dilapidated state, requiring rehabilitation.
The Mucosal Perimeter, according to the Secretary of State for Agriculture and Livestock, has a particularity: it is allowed to irrigate by sprinkler and micro-sprinkler. “There was a very large investment from the State that would allow production in a very intensive way in these perimeters, but, unfortunately, the equipment was vandalized”, lamented João da Cunha.
The Missombo Perimeter, located in Menongue, Cuando Cubango province, has an area of 1,407 hectares and an irrigation capacity of 730 hectares. It was also under the management of Sopir and, for some time now, has come under the supervision of the Provincial Agriculture Office.
The Waku-Kungo Perimeter is made up of the large Matumbo Canal, in which water is extracted from a certain point in the river and sent to farmers’ plots. The channel is silted up and needs work to remove silt. Like the other perimeters, much of the equipment was vandalized.
For this particular perimeter, Secretary of State João Bartolomeu da Cunha revealed, the Ministry of Agriculture included the work in its 2024 budget, which does not prevent the transfer of responsibility.
The official highlighted that the canal, measuring around 37 kilometers, is extremely important for the municipality.
For Nuno Mahapi Dala, governor of Huíla, one of the defenders of this process, yesterday’s act was an assertive decision and will allow for better management and monitoring of these heritage sites. “The aim is for the perimeters to serve the purpose for which they were designed, namely, the promotion of local production and, if possible, the export of surplus”, he reinforced.
Speaking to the press, after initialing the instrument that grants the province two irrigated perimeters, Nuno Mahapi Dala acknowledged that the sector does not have the capacity to respond, which is why “the solution involves the private sector that forms partnerships with the State to leverage the region’s economy.”
The vice-governor of Cuanza-Sul, Emília Tchinawalile, said that the great expectation with this transfer of skills, in the management of the Waku-Kungo Perimeter, is the development and large-scale production of food for the country.
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