Luanda - With an area of just over 6,744 square kilometres, the municipality of Baía Farta, located in the coastal city of Benguela and inhabited mostly by fishermen, is investing heavily in the production of salt, which has generated encouraging results in recent years.

By Francisca Augusto and Venceslau Mateus

With an annual production of about 40,000 tons of the product, the municipality has five salt pans that ensure, regularly, the subsistence of at least a 1,000 citizens of that locality, strongly inclined to the fishing industry.

Baía Farta is slowly gaining space in this economic area, seeking the gradual conquest of the national market, which strives for self-sufficiency.

With a rich and vast maritime coast, filled with bathing areas of crystalline waters, it already has considerable weight in the fishing sector, becoming, in recent years, the main reference of Benguela in terms of salt production.

Besides Baía Farta, Benguela province, with an annual production of 123,200 tons, about 88 percent of national production, has salt mills in the municipality of Lobito.

Available data indicate that, overall, Benguela is among the three biggest salt producers in the country, due to favourable coastal conditions, similarly to Cabo Negro, in Tômbwa (Namibe), another prosperous province in that business.

In the specific case of Baía Farta, one of the localities that is affirmed in this product is the commune of Chamume, a reference in recent years.

With three main points of salt production, namely Chamume, Calombolo and Macaca, the commune corresponds to one of the most important centres of Benguela, in particular, and of Angola, in general, according to market analysts.

On the other hand, in order to meet the country’s needs, local producers want to gradually stop using artisanal production methods and seek modern technologies, in order to avoid costly production through traditional means.

According to Júlio Mawete, head of Technical and Production Area of the Salt-works of Chamume, despite the setbacks caused by the financial crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change, the bet is the extension of the production area.

The official justifies the bet of local communities in increasing the production area by the existence of a consumer market that consolidates daily.

We have a vast market in the country. The product has an outlet and guarantees financial return, he says.

Salt-works of Chamume, with a production of just over 10,000 tons/year, is investing in new crystallizers and evaporators, in an area of 450 hectares.

Among those bringing this industry to life in the commune is Pascoal Capingala, 25, one of at least 1,000 employees in the salt industry who work around eight hours per day to ensure that the product is on Angolans’ tables.

With a daily routine that starts at 7.30am, Mr. Pascoal is part of the 170 employees of the Chamume salt works, located about 20 kilometres south of the municipal capital of Baía Farta, who don’t restrain themselves from putting on their boots and going down to the salt fields to

Produce salt.

With a monthly production of 1,000 tons, the salt mill stands out amongst the others due to the investment in new crystallisers and evaporators, in an area of 450 hectares, which will allow for a gradual increase in its production this year.

Like Mr. Pascoal, Laurinda Isabel and other members of the family are involved in salt production. With more than six years at Salt-works of Chamume, she says that she is pleased to have found her family’s livelihood in the company.

Before I joined the company I had some financial difficulties as I survived by selling fish, which was not regular. Today I have a salary at the end of the month, which is enough to support my family’ she stresses.

Located at 20 kilometres south of the municipal capital of Baía Farta, the so-called City of Salt is one of the most ambitious projects to ensure self-sustainability in production in the country and should occupy an area of 11,000 hectares.

Despite the adversities, entrepreneurs of the sector in Baía Farta are not discouraged and seek to bet more and more on the production process, as is the case of Salt-works of Calombolo.

The company recently opened a six-kilometre canal, which is transporting seawater to 400 hectares of land, with which it hopes to produce close to 100,000 tons of raw salt per year, thus exceeding the 80,000 produced in 2019.

Due to their production capacity, the Calombolo and Chamume salt pans appear to be strategic and fundamental for collecting revenues in Baía Farta, via the production and sale of salt, which the industry can contribute 1.7 billion per year.

According to the president of the Association of Salt Producers of Angola (APROSAL), Tottas Garrido, the progress of the salt industry involves electrifying the fields and improving the product for the food industry.

In order for the business to be self-sufficient, the association believes it is important to electrify the salt production area in the municipality of Baía Farta, in order to reduce costs with buying fuel.

As well as energy, the association, which controls five associated salt works and over 1,000 workers, believes it is essential to improve the roads to make it easier to transport the product.

Tottas Garrido is convinced that Angola is close to being self-sufficient in terms of salt production, noting that currently the country’s salt sector had an estimated capacity of 80 percent.

According to the expert, APROSAL already has the capacity to supply the food industry, cleaning product companies and livestock farmers, but only the quantities needed for consumption need to be determined.

Given the levels of production, it announces that the oil industry will start buying salt on the national market, which marks a new cycle for the dynamism of the salt sector.

APROSAL is close to reaching the goal established in the National Development Plan (PDN 2018 - 2022), which is 160,000 tons per year, clamouring only for more investment to improve the capacity to collect seawater.

Advances in the fishing industry

In another area, Baía Farta has seen significant improvements in the fishing industry, one of the sectors resisting the Covid-19 pandemic, keeping the employment market heated.

With a quota of over 800 jobs, generally held by nationals, mostly young people aged 18 to 45 years, the fishing industry of Baía Farta is currently a reference in the national market, due to the quality of its fish.

With his children’s education well on track, as a result of the salary income from Alva Fishing, Francisco Fela, 56, is the face of the happiness of hundreds of residents employed in the five fishing units in Baía Farta, Benguela province.

He has been with the company for 22 years and is satisfied with the opportunity to contribute to the local fishing industry, which in the first half of this year alone placed 45,000 tons of fish on the national market to support Angolan families.

Mr. Francisco, who is also one of the 300 workers at Alva Fishing and is responsible for the Processing Area, notes with satisfaction the daily movement of incoming and outgoing refrigerated trucks with the fish produced in the fishing industry, bound for the most diverse corners of Angola and neighbouring countries (Zambia, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo).

Like Mr. Francisco, Chivila Lourenço, 31, of which nine years as an employee of Alva Fishing, stresses the fact that the fishing industry in Baía Farta is looking, as a priority, to the employability of the municipality’s inhabitants.

A mother of three children, she recognises that the fishing industry in the municipality has revitalised the jobs market and has helped to guarantee the livelihood of thousands of families.

With a long history, the fishing industry in Baía Farta started to take shape in 1910, with the arrival of two Portuguese brothers who discovered the fishing potential of the region.

In the following 50 years, the few fishing nets gave way to a huge and structured industry, currently one of the main fishing centres of Southern Angola.

With a high level of administrative organization and modern work equipment, the five large fishing units are Lemanjá, Vimar, Alva Fishing, Pesca Fresca and Congel.

Together, these companies guarantee fish production in the province, which stands at 6,000 tonnes per month. By 2020, production is estimated to reach 72,000 tonnes.

Electrification boosts fishing industry

With some relief in terms of fuel costs due to the tow’s electrification, the sector’s business owners are already thinking about increasing investment by building new processing and freezing infrastructures, as is the case with Alva Fishing.

Álvaro Eugénio, managing partner of the group, states that until recently, alternative sources of energy were the main suppliers of energy.

The operation of the unit depended 80 per cent on generator groups. Today, thanks to the Government’s commitment, the scenario has changed and we only use the generator groups occasionally, when there are cuts, and very rare ones, in the public network, he informs.

With an average production of 15,000 to 20,000 tonnes, the group, which has been in existence for over 30 years, is already thinking about acquiring new equipment and increasing its fleet, which currently has three boats and new freezing processing units.

Álvaro Eugénio points to a forecast of 200 tonnes/day in terms of catch, processing and freezing, in the coming months.

Currently, he adds, the capture, processing and freezing of the group is around 150 tonnes of fish per day.

The managing partner, who is also the head of the Baía Farta Fishing Association, said it was necessary to improve access roads and to sign an agreement with the DRC, Namibia and Zambia to make it easier to sell Angolan fish to those countries.

The Angolan government should seek to reach an agreement with its neighbours to make life easier for businesspeople in the sector. We regularly face enormous difficulties in selling our product to neighbouring countries, due to the obstacles put in place by the customs authorities,  he added.

Baía Farta Fishing Harbour

The Baía Farta Fishing Harbour has 25,000 square metres, with 18 shops, two jetty bridges, a market with three areas for selling fresh and dried fish, as well as other products, a freezing and fish treatment area.

The fishing venture appears to be an important infrastructure, as it represents a set of strengths for the benefit of the population, as it ensures the best for the population to achieve local sustainable development.

With 6,744 km² and at least 110,000 inhabitants, Baia Farta, bordered to the north by the municipality of Benguela, to the east by Caimbambo and Chongoroi, to the south by Camacuio and Namibe and to the west by the Atlantic Ocean, is the most important fishing centre in Benguela.

The fishing centre of Baía Farta, a mixture of new projects and ruins, is the most picturesque with deep traces of old fisheries and fish processing industries, many of which have now been closed down.

Annual production in the country ranges from 300,000 to 400,000 tons, of which 30 percent comes from artisanal sea fishing that employs over 50,000 fishermen.

The Angolan coastline is 1,650 kilometres long and has an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 200 nautical miles from the base line, which is generally characterised by high biological productivity.