Malanje - Approximately 150 tons of cotton will be harvested by the end of September by local peasants, in the municipality of Cuanda-dya-base, in an area of 50 hectares, as part of the program to reactivate this crop in the region.
The harvest started on the 10th of this month and has the involvement of 165 families, supported with seeds and agricultural material by the company IEP, which at the end of the harvest will buy all the production.
The information was provided to ANGOP on Monday by the company's head of production, Santos Gomes, noting that, initially, the cultivation of 150 hectares was planned, numbers not reached due to the heavy rains recorded in the first months of the year and which made it impossible to prepare more areas.
The price of cotton is expected to be around 390 kwanzas per kilogram, according to the source.
For the next agricultural season, it is estimated that 250 hectares will be cultivated, 100 in Cunda-dya-base, 75 in Quela and the same number in Cahombo.
Santos Gomes reiterated the continuous commitment to the revitalization of cotton production in Baixa de Cassanje, a region that includes the municipalities of Cunda-dya-base, Cahombo, Quela, Marimba and Massango, with a view to feeding the textile factory TEXTANG II, belonging to IEP.
With the production of cotton in the municipality of Cunda-dia-base, the company “Investimentos e Participaçoes” covers only 30% of the needs of the manufacturing unit, so efforts are being made to increase coverage and stop the import of this raw material.
The program to reactivate cotton cultivation in Malanje began in 2021, 43 years after the suspension of production of this crop.
In the 70s, Angola was the fourth largest producer of cotton in the world, with a figure of 86,000 tons/year. ACC/PBC/DOJ
