Luanda - Angola government plans to start the National Plan for Promotion of Grain Production (PLANAGRÃO), through a pilot phase under a scale production, the Secretary of State for Economy, Ivan dos Santos.
Speaking at the usual briefing of the Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP), the official highlighted the existence of combined factors such as, land, nearby rivers and ease of access to national roads.
Ivan dos Santos explained that the identification of these areas aim at, in a first phase, facilitate the implementation of cereals production, since there is the need to start providing some dynamics and speed to the national plan.
The Secretary of State added that visits have been carried out in eastern Moxico and Cuando Cubango provinces, as part of the assessment and strategy actions the Planagrão technical unit has conducted.
In the two provinces, the official said, at least 245,000 hectares were identified for cultivation from the total 2 million hectares foreseen for the four eastern provinces (Moxico, Cuando Cubango, Lunda Sul and Lunda Norte).
The production plan aims to increase the production of rice, corn, wheat, soybeans and other cereals to more than 6million tons by the year of 2027, compared to the 3.27million produced in 2021.
The Plan focuses on the provinces of Lunda Norte, Lunda Sul, Moxico and Cuando Cubango, although the remaining provinces are also included in the plan.
PLANAGRÃO is financed by the State, through the Development Bank of Angola (BDA) and the Angolan Venture Capital Active Fund (FACRA) developed by the private sector.
PLANAGRÃO foresees an average annual investment of 670 million US dollars for cereal production and around 471 million US dollars for the construction of infrastructure to support the productive and social sector.
The final objective of PLANAGRÃO is to contribute to the country's food and nutritional sovereignty, and a set of measures to be created including the construction of infrastructure.
The government plans to invest over 1.17 billion kwanzas in the construction of infrastructure during a period of five years, which includes the demarcation of two million hectares, subdivision and access roads to production areas. HEM/AC/CF/AMP
