Luanda - The wheat production market in Angola is already starting to show positive signs, mainly due to the gradual increase in supply and the number of farmers interested in this crop.
By Quinito Bumba and ANGOP provincial delegations
At present, the country has an installed capacity to produce just over 8,000 tonnes a year and a real need of almost 600,000 tonnes a year, which could be met from 2024 with the implementation of the National Plan for the Promotion of Grain Production (Planagrão).
With this Executive programme, which aims to speed up the increase in wheat production over the next few years, Angola expects to harvest around 229,000 tonnes (34%) of wheat a year, which will help to greatly reduce its import levels.
Wheat production is one of the main focuses of “Planagrão”, launched by the Angolan Executive in December 2022, which plans to increase cereal production (wheat, rice, soya and maize) from the current level of around three million tonnes/year to six million tonnes from 2027.
Initially, the programme is to be implemented in the provinces of Moxico, Lunda Norte, Lunda Sul and Cuando Cubango, with wheat expected to be produced on an area of 673,970 hectares.
With these measures, Angola will be in a position to considerably reduce its wheat flour imports and consolidate its strategy of producing on a large scale to supply the local and foreign markets.
Figures from the National Directorate of Foreign Trade, a body attached to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, show that Angola imported 18 million 15,812 kilograms of wheat flour from January to June this year.
ANGOP learned that the import of this quantity of wheat flour from Portugal and Turkey cost 11 million 920,765 US dollars.
On the other hand, ANGOP learned that Angola also exported seven million 529,849 kilos of wheat flour, earning five million 43,292 dollars.
The destination of these exports was Congo Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Portugal.
In fact, the country is less affected by the lack of conditions for processing wheat flour, and the focus is currently on increasing production of the raw material (grain) in order to become self-sufficient.
Angola currently has 10 mills that guarantee the processing of 1.3 million tonnes of wheat flour, which is above the needs of the domestic market (processing), estimated at 700,000 tonnes a year.
Data from the Angolan Wheat Flour Producers Association (APFTA) indicates that Angola has enough wheat flour of the desired quality to supply the domestic market and perhaps export it.
The director of the Ministry of Agriculture's Studies, Planning and Statistics Office, Anderson Jerónimo, believes that the country is on the right track and predicts a reduction in wheat grain imports of around 30 or 40 per cent over the next three years, if the country continues to grow this cereal at the same rate.
In order to achieve these goals, a great deal of effort is being made in the production fields. In 2022, for example, 8,117 tonnes were harvested in the country, at a time when domestic industrialists essentially depended on imports of the raw material to turn into flour.
Forecasts for that year point to an increase in wheat production in Angola, which currently has at least 25 farms with the potential to increase supply.
The emergence of new agricultural operators and the expansion of wheat-growing areas open up good prospects for the relaunch and substantial increase in production.
According to Anderson Jerónimo, it is not yet possible to say how much wheat will be harvested and the exact number of hectares cultivated this year at national level.
However, the source says that the estimate of an increase in the harvest of this cereal is justified by the preliminary findings of the MINAGRIF survey teams.
The GEPE director assures that the definitive statistics on wheat production will be released at the end of this year, when the field survey being carried out by the Ministry's technicians is finalised.
However, although the technicians' findings indicate a considerable increase in the wheat harvest, Anderson Jerónimo calls for the need to maintain the same pace of cultivation, reinforcing investment in this segment, both in the family and business sectors.
Current figures indicate that Angola has five to seven companies producing the cereal on a large scale, and other operators who are still growing it in a timid and experimental way, in areas of five to ten hectares each.
According to the director of MINAGRIF's Studies, Planning and Statistics Office (GEPE), two of the most visible examples of the commitment of local farmers are the provinces of Bié and Huambo, the main markets.
In addition to these locations, where the Vinevala farm is located, which grows wheat on an area of over 2,000 hectares, the market is driven by the Nova Agrolider and Cambondo farms, located in Kwanza Sul, and the Mumpa and Agrocuvango farms, in Huíla province.
Alongside these, the GEPE director emphasises the commitment of hundreds of families to this crop, as well as the possibility that there are other producers outside MINAGRIF's knowledge, a fact that "opens doors" to achieving satisfactory results in the 2022/2023 agricultural season.
"In the history of independent Angola, there has never been so much interest and commitment from farmers in growing wheat as there is today, both at the level of Family Farms (EAF) and Business Farms," he emphasised.
According to him, 24 or 35 months ago, for example, "there was hardly any interest from families and companies in producing wheat at a national level", with the exception of businessman Alfeu Vinevala, who has been growing the cereal for more than seven years.
According to Anderson Jerónimo, the current motivation for farmers to grow the product is essentially being driven by the emergence of some factories that process the cereal into wheat flour.
This is the case in Huambo province, where one of the entrepreneurs has set up a wheat flour processing plant, which is being the "great driving force" behind the increase in the cultivation of the raw material on the central plateau.
In operation since August 2021, the factory has the capacity to process 120 tonnes/day of wheat flour, an initiative of businessman Felisberto Capamba, who supports family farmers with seeds and other agricultural inputs.
In the same vein, businessman Alfeu Vinevala is setting up a factory with the capacity to process 30 tonnes of wheat per day. This plant, which is due to come into operation later this year, will process 50% of the production from the owner's farm, while the other 50% will be sold on the domestic market.
At the same time, Anderson Jerónimo believes that the effect of the government's public policy, the commitment of entrepreneurs and the resilience of families are relaunching wheat production in the country.
He also points to “Planagrão”, among other public policy instruments, as one of the programmes that will also speed up the increase in production.
It also recommends pooling synergies and working together so that inputs reach farmers before the start of each agricultural season.
Provinces that stand out in wheat cultivation
At national level, the province of Bié is at the forefront of the regions that produce the most wheat, especially the "Vinevala" farm in the municipality of Chinguar.
For example, in the current 2022/2023 harvest, more than 10,000 tonnes of wheat were harvested, exceeding the target set by the province's farmers, who predicted around 8,000 tonnes.
According to the provincial director of Agriculture in Bié, Felizardo Brito, most of this production was done by businessman Alfeu Vinevala, the largest producer of this cereal in the country, on an area of more than 3,000 hectares.
The respective harvest took place over an area of nearly 10,000 hectares, and also involved 950 farming families.
The director said that for the next agricultural season 2023/2024, the sector plans to expand to 22,000 hectares exclusively for growing wheat, with the involvement of 2,000 families.
Alongside Bié, the neighbouring province of Huambo is also beginning to take off, with the resumption of large-scale wheat cultivation, 30 years after its interregnum.
For the next agricultural season, which officially begins this month (October), 1,440 hectares are expected to be farmed in the central plateau.
Official figures from that province indicate that 480 hectares of wheat were farmed in the 2022/2023 agricultural season, with the involvement of 300 farming families, supported and assisted by the Agrarian Development Institute (IDA).
To relaunch wheat cultivation, the local authorities and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry are encouraging farmers by giving them seeds.
Among the private initiatives in the Central Plateau, Catumbo's farms in the municipality of Longonjo and Domingos David's properties stand out, as he has prepared around 20 hectares for the 2023/2024 season, with the aim of reaching 500 hectares in the short and medium term.
On the other hand, albeit timidly, Moxico is also joining the group of regions that grow wheat, recording an average production of 3,000 tonnes a year, with the involvement of close to 100 families in the municipalities of Luchazes, Alto Zambeze and Moxico (provincial seat).
In the same vein, the province of Kwanza Norte will start growing wheat and rice in the next agricultural campaign, in order to boost cereal production.
According to the provincial director of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries in Kwanza Norte, Manuel Domingos, 30 tonnes of wheat seed and one of rice seed are already available to supply farmers in the province.
He also says that the sector is in contact with wheat and rice growers in the provinces of Bié and Huambo to acquire more seeds of these cereals.
Another province that intends to make its debut in wheat cultivation is Lunda Sul, which already has ten tonnes of wheat seeds available for farmers interested in investing in this crop, according to the director of the provincial office for Agriculture, Fisheries and Livestock, Nelson Senguitale.
Data from that province points to a consumption of around 315 tonnes of wheat flour per month and 3,780 tonnes per year, to supply 35 registered bakeries in Lunda Sul.
Wheat is one of the most widely grown and consumed cereals in the world, alongside maize and rice, and is the main raw material for making flour, as well as being used in the pasta and drinks industries, among other purposes.
"Although production depends on various factors, such as the import of raw materials, we are producing at maximum installed capacity, providing sufficient quantities for the domestic market," AFPTA president César Rasgado assured us in 2022.QCB/PPA/VM/DAN /DOJ
