Quipungo - The Muyapi farm, set in an area of 1,500 hectares in the municipality of Quipungo, southern Huíla Province, is growing rice for the first time, in partnership with the Jardins da Yoba company.
The company, located in the Malipi area, 15 kilometres off the municipal centre, has been in existence since 2017, but it only started its first production (maze) in 2022, due to investments made in acquiring equipment and improving the soil. It currently has 200 irrigated hectares, out of an existing 1,500 ha available.
The seed planted is a hybrid species developed in the laboratory, which needs less water, a process that began in December 2023, with the seed being sown in January 2024, with the prospect of harvesting more than a hundred tonnes in May this year.
According to the head of the farm, Paulo Santos, rice is one of the most widely consumed foods in the world, hence the trial, so that it can later be mass-produced as an alternative to maze flour.
Speaking to ANGOP, the source said that the farm's business model used to be centred on the production of maize, but the opportunity arose to enter into a partnership with the Jardins da Yoba company, in 2022, to produce maize exclusively for seed.
He said that through this partnership they were contacted by the same Angolan company to carry out a trial of rice production in the province and they accepted the challenge.
Paulo Santos said that the farm has a partnership with a Chinese company that already has production in the north of Angola, adding that the trial aims to boost rice production in the south of the country.
He said that the Muyapi farm sowed the rice earlier this month, a production that will be ready to be harvested in May.
"The Chinese technicians know northern Angola well and think that the land and climate are good for rice, so if it works out well it's possible for us to make rice there on our own or in partnership, everything is open," he emphasized.
He said that the farm had already received an investment of 5.4 billion kwanzas, as a result of its own capital and a bank loan of 1.7 billion kwanzas from the Angola Investe project in 2017.
In addition to the irrigated land, Paulo Santos informed that he has available 140 hectares deforested for dry farming and is planning to produce millet, so the area that is not yet cleared is reserved for cattle breeding.
The farm, which has a high level of mechanisation, employs 23 people and, during the sowing and harvesting seasons, there can be between 50 and 70 victims.
Meanwhile, in addition to this experimental initiative, there is already medium-level rice production in the municipality of Matala, owned by Chinese investors.
EM/MS/MRA/jmc
