Mbanza Congo - The province of Zaire has one million and 200.000 hectares of arable land, of which only five per cent is used for agriculture.
The information was given this Wednesday in Mbanza Congo by the provincial governor, Adriano Mendes de Carvalho, when he presented a report on the socio-economic situation of the region at a meeting organised by the President of the Republic, João Lourenço.
According to the governor, the province of Zaire is essentially very rural, with more than 60 per cent of its population engaged in subsistence farming.
In order to boost this sector, he said, there are several projects in the pipeline in the region, most notably the construction of a privately-run Agricultural Institute in Sumba commune, in the municipality of Soyo.
As well as building this school infrastructure, the project also envisages large-scale rice and vegetable production, as well as the conservation and processing of these products from the countryside.
The governor also spoke about the Diádia farm, about 15 kilometres from the municipal centre of Cuimba, an investment by the Angolan state that has been transferred to the private sector, with around 6,000 hectares of cereals.
Fishing
Artisanal fishing in the region accounts for around five per cent of this activity, especially along the sea coast, which stretches for around 256 km, along with the estuary of the River Zaire, where various species of fish abound.
Adriano Mendes de Carvalho said that the local government hopes to sign a contract with a company for the exploitation and production not only of salt, but also of shellfish and shrimp.
Culture and tourism
The governor said he expected the necessary support for the city of Mbanza Congo to be transformed into a ‘great open-air museum’, taking advantage of its great historical and cultural potential.
He said that with the forthcoming redevelopment of the Historic Centre of Mbanza Kongo, the number of visitors interested in visiting the town will increase.
Hotels
Adriano Mendes de Carvalho said that the province only has 64 small hotels, a figure considered derisory to meet demand.
Education
Zaire province has a school network made up of 2,468 classrooms, summarised in 320 schools from primary to secondary level, representing an increase of 84 classrooms compared to 2021.
The province needs a further 780 new classrooms to cater for the avalanche of pupils entering the normal education system in the region every academic year.
In the 2023/2024 school year, the education sector in the region enrolled 183,234 pupils, with 4,900 teachers.
For the next school year, which begins in a few days, the province has enrolled 53,813 new pupils from beginners to grade 10, whose classes will be supported by 5,514 teachers.
Health
The local health network consists of 120 public health units and is staffed by 2,044 technicians, including 136 doctors, 1,022 nurses and 230 therapeutic diagnostic specialists.
The governor said he believed that with the completion of the new Zaire General Hospital in 2025, medical care and medication for the population would see substantial improvements.
Water and electricity
In this sector, the governor defended the construction of new drinking water supply systems in the municipalities of Soyo and Tomboco, as well as a catchment in the commune of Musserra, in the municipality of Nzeto.
For Soyo, Adriano Mendes de Carvalho said that the current catchment system built decades ago no longer meets demand due to the exponential growth of the inhabitants of that coastal town in Zaire province.
‘In the field of energy, we don't have many reasons to complain, because all the municipal centres in Zaire are electrified through the national grid, including some communes and villages,’ he said.
Roads
He called for the rehabilitation of the Mbanza Congo/Cuimba road section, the only inter-municipal road in the region that has not yet been covered with asphalt.
The governor also requested the rehabilitation of the road between the municipal centre of Nzeto and the commune of Kindege, a stretch of approximately 80 km.
‘Many agricultural products end up rotting in Kindege due to the road's severe state of disrepair,’ said the governor.
With an area of 40,130 square kilometres, Zaire province has an estimated population of more than 600,000 inhabitants, spread over six municipalities, 25 communes and 711 villages. JL/DA/VIC/DAN/DOJ
