Luanda - Angolan agronomist Josefa Sacko Wednesday encouraged national farmers, particularly coffee producers, to organise themselves in cooperatives, in order to better defend their commercial interests.
Speaking to ANGOP on the occasion of the World Coffee Day, to be celebrated today (April 14), Josefa Correia Sacko said it was necessary to take this step and change the small farmers' mentality in order to transform again the "red berries" into a strategic merchandise of the country.
It should be noted that in the early 1970s Angola was amongst the four biggest coffee producers in the world, with an average production of around 225,000 tons per year. Currently production has been variable and at very low levels.
As an example and according to official figures, in 2018 the country produced 6,400 tons of robusta coffee, 4,245 tons in 2019 and 5,570 tons in 2020.
In Josefa Sacko's opinion, the creation of these cooperatives would make it possible to understand the problems of the coffee industry and to create a new agenda, as partners of the government, capable of revitalising production, productivity and quality of Angolan coffee.
The specialist believes that the starting point for building a truly resilient and sustainable value chain for Angolan coffee essentially involves, "transforming the current subsistence system into a commercial orientation.
To this end, the former secretary-general of the Inter-African Coffee Organisation (IACO), for 13 years, suggested, among other urgent actions, reformulating the national coffee production and marketing strategy, taking into account current challenges.
