Workers move drying coffee beans
More than 20 million coffee seedlings are due to be produced by the end of the year, according to the director of the National Coffee Institute of Angola (INCA), João Ferreira.
The INCA director said that the seedlings would be distributed free of charge to producers as a way of supporting coffee production in Angola. He noted that in 1973 Angola produced 210,000 tons of commercial coffee, which fell to 3,000 tons in 2002.
At the moment, he said, Angola produces 12,000 tons of coffee per year, which is less than 10 percent of production levels in the colonial period, due to the country’s civil war following independence in 1975.
Speaking to Angolan news agency Angop, Ferreira said that the coffee producing areas most affected by the civil war were the provinces of Uíge, Bié, Kwanza Norte, Huambo and Kwanza Sul.
Coffee production is now mainly focused on the provinces of Kwanza Sul and Uíge which, altogether, account for around 77 percent of national production.
Ferreira called for the banking sector to increase its support for coffee and soy projects in Angola as coffee was not included in the Agriculture Campaign Credit scheme. MDT/Macauhub
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