Africa-Press – Angola. The markets at Km-30, in the municipality of Viana, and Sabadão, in Cacuaco, are the main entry points for trucks and vans coming from the interior of the country, bringing products from the countryside, including fruit.
There, the quantity and diversity of fruits that the country is producing is visible, with emphasis on watermelon, pineapple, pitaya, orange, banana, mango, apple, pear, among other fruits that were previously not common in markets.
One of the rare fruits that was previously not produced in the country and is now found on the markets is watermelon.
Beatriz Chaximuma has been a watermelon seller at the Km-30 market for 30 years, and says she buys the fruit in the province of Benguela.
According to the trader, national producers are on the rise, because each year the fruits are of better quality, in addition to the increase in quantity.
As a specialist in watermelon sales, Beatriz Chaximuma said that, compared to previous years, the fruit is arriving sweeter and juicier and with good appearance, so that when customers arrive, they buy without hesitation.
One of the reasons for the increase in fruit production, he said, is the heavy rains that fell in December and continued into January. “The more rain falls, the more fruit is produced by producers”, explained Beatriz Chaximuna.
Despite having a preference for watermelon, the trader at the Km-30 market says that, from time to time, she also bets on fruits such as passion fruit, carambola pineapple and other seasonal fruits.
As an example, the last cargo he received from Benguela he sold to a single customer.
Pricing
As for the price, he said that he sells, per unit, between 500 kwanzas and 2,000 kwanzas, depending on the size of the watermelon.
“I ask this price to recover what I have invested in shipping, which is currently around 150 thousand to 200 thousand kwanzas and with the trip the costs can reach 300 thousand or 350 thousand kwanzas”, highlighted Beatriz Chaximuma
The trader said that when there is a lot of production, truck drivers charge 100 to 150 kwanzas for each fruit, and when there is a shortage it costs even more, with a box costing up to 8 thousand kwanzas.
When the product is scarce, he added, a Mitsubish Canter van with watermelon can cost between 500,000 and 600,000 kwanzas, depending on the distance.
Pineapple seller Branca Domingos said she buys the product in the provinces of Benguela (Monte Belo), Huambo and Zaire (municipalities of Tomboco and Nzeto).
Having been selling fruit since 2008, Branca Domingos recognizes that this year there are more products, due to the heavy rains that fell.
Ana Tiago has been selling avocado, pitaya and other varieties for two years at the Km-30 market. Currently selling pitaya, she said she buys a box for 7,500 kwanzas and resells it in batches at prices of 500 to 1000 kwanzas.
In the case of avocado, the box varies between 6 thousand and 8 thousand kwanzas.
According to the seller, at this time of year, the most produced fruits on the market are avocado, pitaya, gajaja, watermelon, pineapple and passion fruit. Out of season, the trader chooses to sell mango and guava, but always keeps avocado, which has no specific season.
Passion fruit from Cuanza-Sul
Passion fruit is also one of the fruits that is produced only in season. This is the specialty of the seller Antónia Xavier, who is dedicated solely to selling this fruit.
A trader for more than 10 years, Antónia Xavier said that compared to the past, the Km-30 market is now supplied with more fruits, tubers and vegetables.
According to the seller, fruits such as passion fruit, oranges and pineapple were not produced on a large scale, but today, there are visible signs that producers are working.
The passion fruit sold by Antónia Xavier comes from the province of Cuanza-Sul.
Antónia Xavier said that she buys the box at a price of 4 thousand kwanzas and resells it for 5 thousand or 6 thousand kwanzas. At retail, she sells the pile at a price of 300 kwanzas.
“The more rain we have, the more goods we will have in the markets. In the case of watermelon and oranges, they depend a lot on water”, highlighted Antónia Xavier.
Lembia André also has a preference for selling passion fruit, which he acquires from the province of Bengo (Pango Aluquém).
As for the price of the fruits, Lembia André said that he sells a box at a price of 7 thousand or 8 thousand kwanzas.
“I’ve been selling for 15 years and I recognize that the price of fruit has dropped significantly, as there is a lot of production”, he stressed, highlighting that, at this time, the market is “invaded” with pineapple, passion fruit and avocado.
Sale of mangoes on Saturday
Josefa Manuel, a seller at Mercado do Sabadão, in Cacuaco, sells mangoes as a business, which she purchases from one of Funda Kilunda’s farms.
Although it is your option, the saleswoman said that mango season is almost over. This fruit is at its peak in the months of October, November and December.
“The mango season only lasts until March and then it starts to disappear. When that happens, the fruit becomes more expensive”, highlighted Josefa Manuel, revealing that when the mango completely disappears from the market, she will sell guava and papaya.
Adelina Augusto prefers to sell oranges, which come from Lubango, Huíla province. New to the area, just two months old, Adelina Augusto said that, since the day she started, she has seen a lot of fruit entering and leaving the market.
Fruits with the most sales on the market
Unlike other sellers, Alice Augusto sells more than five varieties of fruit, from pineapple, orange, Lubango apple, avocado, mango, watermelon and pitaya.
Having been in business for 18 years, Alice Augusto has been selling fruit at Mercado do Sabadão for five years. She reveals that the most popular products on the market at this time are mango, pineapple, avocado and watermelon.
Regarding the origin of the products, he said that avocados come from the provinces of Huambo and Cuanza-Sul, apples from Lubango, and pineapple from Huambo and Zaire.
The watermelon, he reinforced, comes from the municipality of Porto Aboim, in Cuanza-Sul, and the province of Huambo.
“The fruits that have the most sales are mango, avocado and banana”, highlighted Alice Augusto.
Ana Tiago is one of the youngest fruit sellers at Mercado do Km-30. She has fruits such as pitaya, avocado and orange on the counter, recognizing that, at this time of year, fruits are in high supply, which is why she bet on variety to make more profit.
With just two years of sales experience, he said he buys a box of pitaya for 7,500 kwanzas and resells the pile for between 500 and 1,000 kwanzas, while avocados range between 6,000 and 8,000 kwanzas.
Maria Alice is a producer and salesperson
Maria Alice is a peasant and at the same time a seller at the Km-30 Market, where she takes everything she produces, from fruit, tubers and vegetables.
She owns a large farm in the municipality of Nambuangongo, Bengo province, where she has just harvested more than 300 bunches of banana bread. Banana sales prices range from 1,000 to 3,000 thousand kwanzas for each bunch.
For the product to reach the market, Maria Alice had to spend more than 200 thousand kwanzas on shipping alone, including paying workers and food.
Maria Alice revealed that, as soon as sales are complete, she will return to Nambuangongo to harvest the cassava, which she also produced in large quantities.
In addition to these products, he highlighted, it also produces yams, potatoes, bananas, bombó, ginguba, corn and vegetables.
The main difficulty highlighted by Maria Alice is transportation. “My farm is located in an area where the road is still degraded”, she lamented, highlighting that, because of this, she lost a lot of bananas. The situation gets worse when it rains, because rental cars cannot get to the mine.
Many fruits are no longer imported
Regarding production, the sellers said that there are currently fruits that in the past the country did not produce and only depended on imports.
Among these fruits, which are not traditional for Angolan producers, Kiwi, pitaya, bread fruit, of Cape Verdean origin, grapes, watermelon, tangerine and avocado stand out, which were produced in a limited way, melon, carambola, gajaja , among others that reach the tables of citizens without chemicals.
From this list, the one that is most produced is avocado, which, according to the seller, is one of the most preferred by producers.
Mizé Ngueve has been selling avocados at Mercado do Sabadão since 2007 and says that this fruit is rarely missing from the market and producers’ farms.
The avocado he sells comes from the provinces of Huambo and Bié. From producers, Mrs. Mizé buys a basket of avocados weighing 20 and 30 kilos at a price of 8 thousand kwanzas and resells each unit for 50 and 150 kwanzas.
“I buy fruit in the provinces of Benguela and Bengo”, he stressed, adding that along the way he has lost a lot of fruit due to the poor condition of the roads.
“When this happens, I have no way of replacing what was lost, because in freight alone, regardless of the distance from the region, it costs between 200 and 500 thousand kwanzas”, he lamented.
Banana leads production
Data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry indicate that bananas led fruit production in the 2021/2022 agricultural season, with 710,530 tons. Citrus fruits follow, with 458,147, mango, with 266,890, and avocado, with 55,119.
As for the regions that recorded the most fruit production, the center of the country leads with 71% of production, followed by the North region, 18% and the South, 11%.
With regard to provinces, the highlight goes to Benguela, with 21.3% of production, followed by Cuanza-Sul, with 15.7%, Uíge, with 10%, Bengo, with 7.7% and Cabinda, with 7.5.
In the same period, an area of 275,737 hectares was sown, of which 247,474 have already been harvested.
The data shows that the Agriculture sector recorded the harvest of 6,079 tons of fruit, compared to five thousand in previous campaigns.
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