Africa-Press – Angola. The Production Support, Export Diversification and Import Substitution Program has, to date, financed two projects in the municipality of Balombo, province of Benguela.
This involves financing the agricultural sector, with two cooperatives benefiting from 30 and 15 million Kwanzas, respectively.
According to the municipal director for the Promotion of Integrated Economic Development, Jorge Madaleno Chilomboterças, another six requests for financing from the agricultural sector, three of which from ex-military cooperatives, have already been received at the Provincial Office for Integrated Development for evaluation.
The person in charge said that agriculture is the primary activity in Balombo, which is why this sector is the one that requests the most credit.
However, he said, one of the major obstacles to requesting credit from banking institutions has been the lack of a land concession title.
“The vast majority of our farmers do not have this fundamental document. Many only present a declaration of space transfer and location sketches,” she explained.
To reverse this situation, he stated that a multisectoral team was created, which also includes the local Department of Agriculture and Municipal Administration, to speed up the legalization process.
“Subsequently, we sent these processes to the Geographic and Cadastral Institute of Angola, for evaluation and issuance of the land concession title,” he said.
However, he stated, to have access to credit, the farmer simply needs to present the IGCA invoice for the land concession title to the creditor institutions.
On the other hand, Jorge Madaleno said that they are trying to fit other producers into the financing line of the Agrarian Development Support Fund (FADA).
Some agricultural cooperatives in Balombo have already benefited from nine (9) tractors through FADA, he emphasized.
“In addition to the tractors, FADA provides a financing line of up to 10 million Kwanzas for these same cooperatives. They are currently working on organizing processes to access credit”, he highlighted.
Balombo commercial network
Balombo’s commercial network currently consists of 263 establishments, 173 of which are concentrated in the municipal headquarters, ranging from wholesalers, retailers and precarious ones.
The municipality has an industry, a spring water bottling factory, two guesthouses and five bars.
Still in this segment, the district already issues commercial licenses, and in the first quarter of 2024 six (6) service provision licenses were issued, four retail and one wholesale.
According to the municipal director for the Promotion of Integrated Economic Development, permits take on average one to two weeks to be issued.
The municipality of Balomboa is located 180 kilometers from the headquarters of the province of Benguela and 150 kilometers from Lobito. It has an estimated population of 190 thousand inhabitants, with agriculture being the primary activity in the region.
For More News And Analysis About Angola Follow Africa-Press
