Huambo – The Government and businesspeople must devise concerted strategies for the setup of fertilizer industries in the country, with a view to the development of family farming, defended in Huambo, the president of the Board of Directors of the Soyadubo factory, Sousa Jerome.
The businessman was speaking during the III Business and Connectivity Forum, promoted by the Media Nova Group, which runs until Saturday, in the city of Huambo, under the motto “Agriculture, the basis of food sustainability”.
He said more studies are needed to achieve this goal, as bringing industries in this sector to the country will be beneficial for all segments of the national production chain.
Sousa Jerónimo highlighted that the focus of the Angolan Government and companies in the agricultural sector must be the creation of fertilizer industries, so that a commercial line can be established between manufacturers and distributors, which can galvanize family farming.
He informed that the factory, located in the municipality of Longonjo, province of Huambo, has sold, to date, at subsidized prices, two thousand tons of fertilizers for the cultivation of wheat and various vegetables to at least a thousand peasants in the country, for the first and the second agricultural season 2023/2024.
For his part, the administrator of the Angolan Venture Capital Active Fund (FACRA), Simão Cardoso, said that companies have been identified that express interest in various financing available to the institution, such as the Soyadubos factory, located in Huambo.
He recalled that the Angolan Executive allocated, in 2023, five billion kwanzas to FACRA, for financing the agricultural sector, specifically, in the production chain, that is, in transport, conservation and distribution.
Of this amount, he added that 14 projects are in the final stage of approval, with the aim of stimulating the national economy.
The president of the Board of Directors of the Pérola do Kikuxi farm, Elizabeth Dias dos Santos, said that the company is committed to producing more eggs for the national and foreign market, with a defined and specialized value chain.
She defended the need for more financing for national entrepreneurs, as production targets have varied depending on the credits made available by banks, which have not always been sufficient for product innovation.
The forum, with six panels, addressed, among other topics, “Credit and access to financing funds”, “Food production and distribution”, “Industrialization of agricultural production, “Production of seeds, fertilizers and animal feed” and the “Seed, fertilizer and animal feed business”.
With the participation of 37 national companies, the event, whose last edition took place in Benguela, reserves for Saturday, the last day of activities, visits to agricultural and tourist production points in the province of Huambo.
ZZN/JSV/ALH/CF/DOJ
