Africa-Press – Angola. The agricultural sector in Angola received a donation of 8.8 million euros (more than eight billion kwanzas) from the French Development Agency (AFD), to reinforce the increase in production of robusta coffee in the country, through the “Mukafe” project.
The Mukafe project plans to benefit producing families in six municipalities in the provinces of Uíge, Cuanza Norte and Cuanza Sul, regions with high production of the “red berry”.
With a period of five years of implementation, starting this year, 2023, the project was presented this Monday, in Luanda, by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, an event that was attended by national producers and representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited in Angola.
According to the coordinator of Mukafe, Júlia de Carvalho, with the aforementioned funding, the Agriculture sector hopes to cover approximately 500,000 family farmers, a goal achieved in 1973, a period in which Angola was one of the largest coffee producers in the world.
Júlia de Carvalho said that one of the sector’s main challenges is to reach production of around 1,000 kilograms per hectare of commercial coffee, foreseeing cultivation in an area of 100,000 hectares, with a view to surpassing the current production of close to 200 kilograms/hectare.
On the other hand, the EU ambassador to Angola, Jeannette Seppen, said that Mukafe is part of a broader program launched in 2020 to support the diversification of the Angolan economy, the “first priority of the Government”.
He stated that this initiative will relaunch the value chain of this product, with the creation of dignified jobs for the most vulnerable, particularly women and young people, as well as placing Angola in the ranking of specialty coffees.
According to the diplomat, financial support to coffee value chains will facilitate Angola’s transition from a historic large-scale producer of common Robusta coffee to a high-quality specialized producer.
For Jeannette Seppen, the underlying objective of this transition is to obtain a higher economic return on Angolan coffee exports, allowing better remuneration for producers and channeling more resources to the local economy.
The ambassador assured that the European Union is finalizing an agreement with the AFD to expand the Agricultural and Rural Training Support Project (PAFAR), to support the training of women and young people from Mukafe.
The French ambassador to Angola, Daniel Vosgien, assured that AFD, in partnership with the EU, intends to provide the most comprehensive and pragmatic support possible to coffee growing, as it is of capital importance for the diversification of the Angolan economy and the creation of quality jobs in rural areas, in particular.
For his part, the Secretary of State for Forests, André de Jesus Moda, assured that, as of October this year, the sector expects to distribute around three million coffee seedlings, with priority given to family producers.
Among the various objectives of Mukafe, one should also highlight the improvement of the quality of the “red berry”, the contribution of diversified, sustainable and inclusive growth, as well as the improvement of the performance and growth of the coffee value chain, identifying and correcting existing difficulties for increasing production and productivity.
Until 1973, Angola produced about 243 thousand 780 tons of coffee, having, in 1974, exported 223 thousand 800 tons, which resulted in revenues of 182 million 400 US dollars, making it the fourth largest exporter of coffee worldwide.
The decline in production and quality of Angolan coffee was fundamentally made unfeasible by the civil war that ravaged the country for 27 years.
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