Cuito - The Agrarian Development Support Fund (FADA) has made available 3 billion kwanzas to assist producers in central Bié province, as part of the “Osi Yetu” Program, aimed at accelerating family farming and strengthening food security.
The information was disclosed Wednesday in Cuito by the FADA’s Chairwoman , Felisbela Francisco, at the presentation of the “Osi Yetu” project to Bié producers during the 5th edition of the Potato and Maize Fair.
According to Felisbela Francisco, the “Osi Yetu” program has two components. One is aimed at the light mechanization of family farming and the other at strengthening community funds in agricultural cooperatives.
In the mechanization component, she explained, Bié initially benefited from 13 motor-cultivators and five tractors, while further 264 motor-cultivators and 35 tractors are to be delivered.
In terms of community support fund, an ongoing component in the province through the MOSAP II project, she said that a total of five million kwanzas have been made available by the national treasury.
She appealed to the farmers' cooperatives to access the funding in order to boost their production lines.
In Bié there are 12 community banks in operation, which assist nearly 600 individual producers, worth 84 million kwanzas.
The National Peasant Union of Angola (UNACA) controls 1,536 associations and 523 peasant cooperatives in Bié.
FADA is a non-banking, public institution tasked with providing financial resources for actions aimed at developing family farming, in the field of food production, agribusiness and infrastructure. LB/BAN/MS/AMP
