Luanda - The government has provided 15 billion kwanzas for the operationalisation of the National Programme to Support Technical and Material Supply, with the aim of boosting the fisheries and agricultural sectors in the country.
According to the executive director of the Fund for Support for Agricultural Development (FADA), Manuel Pedro, who provided the information, of the total amount, 7 million kwanzas will be used to help 1,000 individual agricultural producers.
Speaking at the usual briefing of the Ministry for the Economy and Planning (MEP), he said that 325 agricultural cooperatives and associations would be assisted with 20 million kwanzas, 50 artisanal fishing operators, with 15 million kwanzas, and 25 artisanal fishing cooperatives, with the value of up to 30 million kwanzas.
According to the director, the financial product has a fixed interest rate of 3 percent, with a grace period of 12 months, and repayment will be made in six-monthly instalments.
In her turn, the Secretary of State for the Economy, Dalva Ringote, said that the National Programme to Support Technical and Material Supply was an instrument to support the Programme to Support Production, Diversification of Exports and Substitution of Imports, with a view to ensuring a rise in productivity.
This programme, she said, is directed at producers organised into cooperatives, associations, rural schools, including women in rural areas, demobilized personnel, armed forces and national police.
Dalva Ringote stressed that this is a programme being carried out by FADA, an instrument that will help food production, especially in this period of the 2020/2023 agricultural campaign.
"The Government approved this programme to ensure that families, especially those in rural areas, could count on the inputs or financing, with accessible criteria and competitive interest rates," she reinforced.
The National Programme to Support Technical and Material Supply for plant and animal production aims to ensure the results expected for the current 2021/2022 agricultural campaign, and initially will benefit beneficiaries in the provinces of Luanda, Huíla, Benguela, Huambo, Bié, Kwanza-Sul, Uíge, Cuando-Cubango, Namibe, Moxico, Lunda-Norte, Cabinda and Malanje.
Available data indicates that in Angola, over 3. 015 million families are involved in farming and fishing, constituting over 5. 1 million jobs, which represents around 51.29 percent of the economically active population.
The National Programme to Support Technical and Material Supply aims to increase productivity, employment, income and agricultural, forestry, fishing and aquaculture production, in order to secure food and the sustainable diversification of exports and import substitution.
