Sumbe – Two thousand and 970 tons of commercial coffee, planted in an area of 20 thousand hectares, began to be harvested this week by coffee growers in the province of Cuanza-Sul.
The ongoing harvest represents an increase of one thousand and 70 tons, compared to the 2023 campaign.
The opening of the campaign, which took place in the municipality of Quilenda, where 1,341 hectares were cultivated to harvest 390 tons of coffee, was the responsibility of the provincial vice-governor for the Technical Sector and Infrastructures, Heitor Alfredo.
In the municipality of Amboim (Gabela), of the 170 registered coffee farms, only 30 produce regularly, in an area of two thousand and 500 hectares, cultivated by family farmers and agricultural companies.
In 2020, the province harvested three thousand tons of commercial coffee, produced in an area of 18,000 hectares, with the engagement of six thousand and 874 family producers and 272 companies.
During this period, the National Coffee Institute distributed 180,000 coffee plants of Arabica and Robusta varieties to small producers of the more than three million coffee plants in nurseries.
For production sustainability, INCA began distributing eight drying trays, with a capacity of 600 kilograms each, in the municipality of Cassongue, on May 30, 2020, with a view to improving quality and providing added value to the product for the domestic and foreign market.
The project, which covered the main coffee producing areas in Kwanza-Sul (Cela, Amboim, Cassongue and Quibala), benefited 500 coffee-growing families, who stopped drying their coffee using traditional methods.
Coffee production in Cuanza-Sul began in the community of Assango, municipality of Amboim (Gabela), from 1893 to 1923, with the production of one and a half tons of this commercial product, cultivated by three thousand families at the time.
With the completion of the Railway in 1923, production increased, reaching seven thousand tons, which were gradually stored in the city of Porto Amboim, for export to Portugal, the United States of America, England and the Netherlands.
In 1960, production reached 14,000 tons, while in the 1970s it reached 40,000 tons, as a result of improved rural trade. After the Independence of Angola, production fell and only in 1980/1990 it began to produce close to 700 thousand tons. LC/QCB/DOJ
