Huambo - At least 100 farmers, organized in cooperatives in the village of Bussaco, Huambo municipality, have been focused since 2020 on strawberry production, to foster agribusiness and promote family self-sustenance, ANGOP found.
With an area of 20 hectares, where an average of five tons/week are harvested, most of the production serves the markets of Huambo, Benguela, and Luanda, with a peak in the months of May, June, July, and August.
Pedro Sangombe, one of the producers, said that the sale of strawberries is allowing the family's livelihood and wants to increase the cultivation areas if there are incentives from the Government, for the expansion of agribusiness.
He recalled that, at the moment, they need support related to motor pumps and agricultural inputs.
He considered the region to have a potential in terms of favorable water resources for the production of strawberries, to meet the needs of the market.
Maria Tchicumbo, another producer, said that peasants need a cold chain to conserve production and avoid production losses.
She informed that the buyers, both from Huambo, Benguela and Luanda, occupy the production still in the cultivation phase, a fact that requires more incentives from the authorities, as the sale of strawberries has improved the income of many families.
Bartolomeu Ngongo, also a producer, assured that strawberry cultivation has good yields and promised to promote agribusiness, to employ young people in the community and expand sales in a large part of the country.
For her part, the director of Agriculture in the municipality of Huambo, Augusta Olinda Domingo, recognized the high productivity of strawberries in the village of Bussaco, at a time when the local authorities are developing a program to improve tertiary roads, for the consolidation of agribusiness of this fruit variety.
He said that the Administration of the municipality of Huambo carried out, in the locality of Bussaco, the earthworks of the access roads in the order of 6.5 kilometers, so that small producers have the capacity to sell products and attract strawberry buyers.
He added that the authorities are involved in the formation of cooperatives and associations, in a process without financial costs, so that these peasants have access to bank credits, with a view to expanding the production of strawberries and the diversification of other crops.
He clarified that, in this context, two cooperatives have already been formalized for the promotion of agribusiness to promote the production of this fruit and through the different credits available will compete to allow the purchase of freezers for strawberry conservation.
He recalled that the administration recently distributed two yokes of cattle, wheat seeds, rice, corn and various vegetables, for the diversification of agriculture in that locality. LT/JSV/ALH/DOJ
