Africa-Press – Angola. The executive director of the Angolan Corn Traders and Producers Guild (Epungu), Ventura Atewa, defended this Monday, in Lubango, Huíla province, the need for a commercial banking institution dedicated exclusively to financing agriculture.
According to Ventura Atewa, what is needed to improve and increase production are investments and these must come from a competent and exclusive structure, with a view to guaranteeing stability in the price of cereals, especially corn.
The idea was defended in a debate on “the instability of the price of maize, particularly in the province of Huíla”, on Rádio Huíla, where he highlighted that the observance of this premise, for the country to be able to improve self-sufficiency in the production of cereals.
For the producer, with an exclusive bank for agriculture, there will be more targeted financing, which will make it possible to ensure better use of the rivers, especially those with greater flow, such as the Cuanza, Longa and Cunene, through the extension of the public electricity network to arable areas.
Ventura Atewa explained that it is necessary for producers to receive financing to guarantee price stability, as the criteria of commercial banks are discriminatory and make it difficult to invest in energy, irrigation equipment and other means in productive areas.
The businessman also defended the need for a debate between producers and peasant families, in order to find a reference price for maize. He admitted that “maize production is already considerable, being around four to five tons per hectare, in large producers, but the goal is to reach 10 thousand kilograms per hectare, at a time when we appeal for a greater commitment of the extension services rural area to achieve this objective”.
On the other hand, he pointed out that peasants are worried about the harvest, as they still face storage difficulties, which forces them to sell corn at low prices. He alluded to the need to include, in programs financed by the State Budget (OGE), the component of the recovery of colonial-era silos, some of them owned by Epungu, to absorb peasant production and ensure that they do not dispose of the harvest. any price.
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