Africa-Press – Angola. Considered as one of the main economic lungs of the province of Uíge, the municipality of Negage is open to all types of investment, taking advantage of its agricultural potential, favored by a humid climate, with abundant rainfall.
Rains that guarantee soil fertility and, therefore, the development, on a large scale, of crops such as corn, cassava, beans, sweet potatoes and reindeer, bananas, coffee, fruit and vegetables and others.
In the Negage, there is arable land as far as the eye can see, to which the authorities want to attract all kinds of capital, something that is done, for example, by showing the potential of the region, as happened recently at the agricultural fair in the city do Uíge, carried out in parallel with the Local Governance Council, guided by the President of the Republic, João Lourenço.
The same happens in other forums, in which the municipality participates, following a more “tough” strategy, taking the opportunity to “sell” the image of a region that has everything to be one of the main agricultural references in Angola.
Along the thirty-seven kilometers that separate the city of Uíge from Negage, you can see several family farms and many products from the countryside, to be sold in small markets, demonstrating the food self-sufficiency and nutritional security of the communities. A report detail that should be noted, signaling the abundance of food in the Negage: in the streets, in rehabilitation, there are no visible images of people, with outstretched hands, asking motorists and passers-by for alms, such is the commitment of the people in agriculture and fisheries.
In fact, it is on agriculture that the entire economy of the municipality rests, with many cooperatives, associations and individual producers, receiving assistance from technicians at the service of the EDA (Estação do Desenvolvimento Agrário).
Numbers that do the Negage
The numbers made available by the Municipal Administration of Negage speak well of the “weight” of the agrarian sector. At this point, 10 cooperatives, 25 peasant associations and 1,027 family farms are cataloged, which take on the production of cereals, legumes, tubers, coffee and other products available on the market.
Negage also has the importance of “domiciliary” what is considered the largest soy production unit in the north of the country. This is where we are talking about an agricultural farm known as “Maço Dam”, in addition to meat, eggs, corn and various vegetables.
Various agricultural inputs were distributed to cooperatives, peasant associations, organized families, ex-soldiers and vulnerable families, acquired by the Administration, in an incentive that allows for a substantial increase in production levels in all productive sectors.
Delfina Henrique is the municipal administrator of Negage. In post for a year and eight months, solicitous, she received us, on a Saturday, in the jango of her vast Palace, without much formality, not least because, she told us, she had just arrived from a field activity.
The passage reporting team through the Negage had been arranged, still in the city of Uíge, at the agro-livestock fair.
“The administration prepared more than 300 hectares of arable land, which were distributed to more than 60 vulnerable families and ex-soldiers, to combat hunger in this fringe of the population”, explained Delfina Henrique, indicating that this support falls within the PLAFF.
She predicts better days for agriculture, with the acquisition of what are called “factors of production”, such as tractors and their implements, to support peasants in preparing agricultural land, as well as fertilizers.
The administrator also highlights, as a production factor, the improvement of communication routes, such as Gozolo, to enable the flow of food towards consumption centers. In Negage, as in all municipalities in Uíge, the high state of degradation of access roads has a negative impact on production, with many goods deteriorating in the fields.
This is the square with which the authorities are dealing, when it comes to defining priorities, of the many that they are confronted with. We asked Delfina Henrique about the strategy to help family farmers in the distribution of production. “The administration helps with the transport of agricultural products here and then there are people taking them to the capital of the province and other parts of the country”, she replied. Recognizing that flow difficulties are transversal to all municipalities, the administrator is more specific, explaining that some means of transport are available. “At Negage, there are two vehicles”, she stresses.
According to the administrator’s explanations, following the program to combat poverty, “some kilometers” have already been intervened. “We are going to touch those who are in a precarious situation, where we are going to place some machines and, in PIIM, I believe that we are going to solve the problem of connection with communes”, she stresses, reassuring the population.
PIIM promotes quality of life
At Negage, the authorities took pains to show what is being done with PIIM funds, one of the main instruments for improving the population’s standard of living.
The Integrated Plan for Intervention in Municipalities includes the construction of a school with 12 classrooms in Cacua Grande. Another two, with seven rooms each, are underway in the Cassamba neighborhood and in the village of Zanda.
Already completed, these infrastructures are just waiting to be equipped, while the first one has a physical execution of more than 80 percent.
The 10 kilometers of city streets, which underwent resealing works, as stated elsewhere in this piece, as well as a basic sanitation kit, are also part of PIIM’s actions. At the municipal headquarters, administrative and municipal infrastructure works and Integrated Police Station for services are also in progress.
Coffee, flag of the Negage
As in the entire territory of Uíge, in Negage coffee is described as the “flag” of the municipality, such is the number of producers of the so-called “red berry” in practically all the villages, therefore deserving a separate chapter.
“There are many coffee farms throughout the territory of the municipality of Negage. I would even say that there is not a single community that does not have a popular coffee property”, says the administrator, adding that there was a time when production was registering a sharp decline in the region.
“We are working with our coffee growers, supporting them with inputs, so that they can open up more spaces, as happens with other family producers, who receive seeds”, words by Delfina Henrique.
Betting on animal restocking
In Negage, a municipality that occupies a large part of the so-called Camabatela Plateau, known for its exceptional conditions for raising cattle, in the triangle connecting the provinces of Uíge, Malanje and Cuanza-Norte, a program of repopulation is underway. animal, with over 35 breeders already registered. Together, they total over 5,986 animals, including cattle, goats, pigs, sheep and various birds.
The livestock segment is, therefore, another area to which the Negage authorities “wink an eye” to potential investors. “Negage is Camabatela, the animals do not have difficulties in foraging, as we have them in large quantities”, underlines the administrator, indicating that with cattle from the south of Angola and Democratic Congo, the municipality can be repopulated.
Delfina Henrique adds with the herd “very well” to the Negage’s weather conditions”, which could pave the way for more availability of meat of animal origin in the province of Uíge and surroundings.
Holder of water resources, just enough, with large and small permanent rivers, such as the Lulovo, Luanga, the Dange, the Luquixe, lakes, the Negage, it could leave out a sector considered important in the population’s food chain, such as fish farming.
Some ponds, as explained to us, are artificial, resulting from dams on former livestock farms and, therefore, suitable for the practice of fish farming, being called land between-the-rivers. At this point, there are 106 fish farmers with 307 tanks, which have state support, as confirmed by Delfina Henrique, who talks about the acquisition of 50 bags of feed.
The turn of industry and commerce
In the village of Negage there is a breath of fresh air, in line with its potential and geographic location, enough for its election for the assembly of the Industrial Pole of the Province of Uíge. Some units, such as the paper factory, accepted the invitation to establish themselves and others are in the process of doing so.
The Industrial Pole is already allotted and whoever settles there will take advantage, so to speak, of all the facilities, such as water, energy, access roads, availability of raw materials and a vibrant market.
At the same time as the Industrial Pole, the Cesse water factory, Girangola (mattresses), bricks, two block factories are already operating in the Negage, while a ceramic factory, for sanitary ware and other building materials, should open in the coming months, if we believe in the optimism of the authorities. And that’s something that definitely gives the Negage an industrial city aura.
Administrator Delfina Henrique reiterates the invitation to potential investors, from “all latitudes”, to come and settle in the Industrial Pole and develop the municipality. “We have enough space for those who want to invest, here in the Negage”, she stresses.
Second city in Uíge, Negage offers below-average trade and catering services, of course with some exceptions, which we have deliberately omitted, do not pass on the advertising. In all, 123 commercial establishments are available, in precarious operation and managed mostly by West Africans. There is even a clamor for the opening of a supermarket.
Those who arrive at the Negage, which is a refuge for people from the provincial capital and even from other places, have four hotel units at their disposal. The same number is closed and is waiting for investments. These include 14 bars and restaurants, eight tourist centres, lakes and various places of historical, tourist and cultural interest.
The reference to these places becomes necessary, at a time when there is a growing commitment to the tourism sector.
New urbanizations to receive works
The Negage still harbors the dream of seeing, one day, the construction of a centrality for a total of 2,500 residences, projected for the municipality, as well as 200 dwellings. In the meantime, two new urbanizations are being made, one at the exit to the city of Uíge, in an area of 231 hectares and another for those going to Camabatela, in Cuanza Norte with 123 hectares.
It was explained that these spaces were prepared to receive construction works for low, medium and high income housing, as well as social and institutional infrastructure, at a time when the State has control over 260 properties, 32 of which of the Administration and another 36 erected in the wake of the Angola Jovem program.
A quick turn around the various streets of the Negage reveals the marked lack of conservation of most of the buildings, a scenario that the municipal authorities want to revert, with painting the outside, as Delfina Henrique clarified.
“We want to give a new image to this historic city. More than 10 kilometers of streets are already paved in the urban core, we are putting in sidewalks and curbs and drainage ditches. The next challenge is actually painting the buildings, in a program we call cement and paint”, clarifies Delfina Henrique, stressing that it is an action shared by the property owners.
Optimistic, manager Delfina Henriques left the constraints for last, which, as she says, once overcome, will rescue the image of the true “agricultural lung”, which is the Negage.
From the outset, the revitalization of the agricultural and livestock sector, with investors at the height of leveraging the local economy, more incentives for family farming, improved connections to communes and villages, as well as more drinking water, with the construction of a new collection system , supply and distribution.
The expansion of energy, the increase in classrooms and teachers, the creation of a nucleus of higher education, infrastructure and construction of the new urbanization, are seen as other potential development factors intended for a population of over 160 thousand inhabitants.
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