Luanda - The municipality of Chongoroi, in Angola’s south-west Benguela province, has over the last few years shown signs of recovery in its agri-livestock potential, and currently has over 12,000 head of cattle, although it is still far from the numbers of the colonial era.

By Francisca Augusto/Venceslau Mateus Despite the good will of the authorities and local breeders, data estimates that the area, once considered the granary of Benguela, is producing about 10 percent less than before its separation from the municipality of Quilengues (Huíla), in 1975. Located at 150 kilometres south of the capital, with over 100,000 inhabitants, the town has favourable conditions for raising cattle and sheep. During the colonial era, for example, at least 3,500 head of cattle used to leave the commune of Bolonguera, 66 kilometres from the capital, each week to be exported to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, via the port of Lobito. In numerical terms, this represented an average of 14,000 head of cattle per month and 168,000 per year, figures that local breeders want to see revived soon. Despite the lack of infrastructures, such as watering troughs and vaccination sleeves, the one hundred and sixty eight (168) cattle breeders counted in the region, between large and small (traditional), intend to follow the paths of development and assert themselves in the national market. A transition area for cattle coming from the south of the country (Huíla, Namibe and Cunene), Chongoroi is experiencing difficulties due to drought and lack of infrastructure, but plans to regain the status of the largest breeder of cattle of Benguela and compete with neighbouring provinces. Faced with the drought that is devastating central-southern Angola, the municipality has over 150 hectares of land for subsistence farming, and local residents dream of private investors coming in to revitalise the agri-livestock sector. Ricardo Figueiredo is one of many who want to help restore the municipality’s status. With at least 68 head of cattle and 400 of sheep, the farmer assumes it is not easy to sustain a farm, insofar as the products are very expensive. Just to get an idea, we have difficulties in obtaining animal feed, as well as vaccines and water. There are countless difficulties, which force us to be creative, he says. To get around the problems, the farmer uses a powerful water capture system, from the Chongoroi River, which, even though it is almost dry, still serves to mitigate the effects of drought. According to Pilartes da Silva, municipal director of Agriculture, it is necessary to invest heavily in the agro-livestock sector, so that this region can help diversify the national economy. The arable land and the potential of livestock just wait for the entry on the scene of new players who bet heavily on this business, declares the official. Promising signs in agriculture On the other hand, alongside livestock farming, Chongoroi wants to get moving again in agriculture by intensively exploiting its more than 500 hectares of fertile land. Available data indicate that, although there is drought, agricultural production in the 2018/ 2019 season was around 40 tonnes of tomatoes and 900 tonnes of onions. In the 2020/2021 season, considered atypical because of the drought and the Covid-19 pandemic, it settled at 16,000 boxes of tomatoes, 400 tonnes of onions and 240 of vegetables. In tomato cultivation in Benguela, current production is 5,000 boxes from the large farms and 3,000 from the small farmers’s harvest. But the municipality of Chongoroi does not live on tomatoes and vegetables alone. Its fertile land also produces, in quantity, oranges, lemons, tobacco and corn. However, according to Ricardo Figueiredo, farmers are still struggling with the high costs of fertilizer and insecticide, the latter sold (weakly) at 80,000 or 100,000 kwanzas. To carry out his project, he says he has 1,000 hectares of grazing and cultivation land, where, in the 2020 season, he harvested over 15,000 boxes of tomatoes. Pilartes da Silva acknowledged that, in these parts, only the effects of the severe drought are keeping farmers and breeders awake at night, lamenting the lack of rain. According to the farmer, the municipality should not complain of food shortages because it has a good watershed, led by the river of the same name (Chongoroi) and a variety of agricultural production, from citrus fruits, other fruits, cereals to various tubers. The municipality has two ex-military associations, one in the commune of Kamuine (120 members), a major producer of potatoes, and another in Cuilo (98 members). The cry for help included the need for a processing industry, the acquisition of generators and the construction of boreholes for irrigating agricultural fields. Ganda follows in agriculture and beekeeping Producers in the municipality of Ganda, located 210 kilometres to the east of the Benguela province, are also fighting for economic growth. They are looking to diversify agricultural production, beekeeping and livestock. With tradition in cattle, goats and pigs, as well as poultry, the municipality, which was once a reference in the region in this area, is now betting on crossbreeding to encourage animal breeding. To do so, it has the Zootechnical Station, which is developing a project to breed beef and dairy cattle, within the scope of veterinary research or investigation of cattle and swine species. The aim is to improve breeds and increase animal production in Ganda, which has 37,291 head of cattle, 36,727 goats, 3,657 sheep and 15,905 pigs. Elsewhere, it has 266,624 hectares for agropastoralism, of which only 78 percent are being exploited (46 percent with agriculture and 32 with livestock). The farmers, in particular, and the communities, in general, who invest in the production of leek, mango, guava, pineapple, maize, beans, sweet and sour potatoes, among other things, are trying at all costs to transform Ganda into a strategic location for agricultural production in Benguela. Crossed by the Benguela Railway (CFB), which links Benguela to Luau, on the border to DR Congo and Zambia, Ganda has at least 250,000 inhabitants and has "enormous" agro-industrial potential, which has already made the region one of the country’s most important economic points. In the past, it had a spirits factory in the Babaera commune, a coffee processing (roasting and packaging) factory, a brick factory (at the municipality’s headquarters), a tile factory (in Dunde) and a cellulose production industry (also in Babaera). The municipality also had a sisal plantation farm and industries for processing fruit, cereals (maize and sorghum) and meat. Drought disrupts farmers’ lives Currently, despite the drought in the Centre-South of the country, local farmers are doing everything they can to maintain agricultural production, with the planting of several crops, including leek. Data indicates that more than 12,000 tons of leek, lettuce, turnip, corn, beans, millet, cereals and vegetables were produced recently, the latter with a harvest of 10,000 tons, sold mostly in Benguela, Luanda, Huambo and Huíla. Of the 171 farms catalogued, according to available data, only seven are active in the diversification of production and with good results. Although it is washed by several rivers, most of which are dry due to drought, farmers face a dilemma that puts in question their projects. In addition to the difficulties imposed by the drought, there are others in terms of access to production support programmes, namely the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the Programme to Support Production, Export Diversification and Import Substitution (PRODESI), due to the lack of documentation attesting to land ownership. Beekeeping gains ground As well as agriculture, Ganda is focusing on honey production, with an annual harvest of more than 1,500 litres. The sector, which is registered in a large scale in Ebanga commune, has 150 beekeepers registered and 72 hives. The aim of increasing the number of hives (500) is to boost production and start supplying not only the province, but also the country. In this regard, the director of the Ganda Zootechnical Station, Augusto Alberto, says that, in order to leverage the honey production, it is necessary to bet on the production of many hives. Lately, another product that stands out in Ganda is coffee, whose production began to give the first fruits in the first half of 2020, with 197 family coffee farms and a harvest of 21 tons. The situation resulted from a bet by local authorities and small farmers seeking to accelerate the process of diversification of income sources. With the boost from the Coffee Experimental Station, which has the task of producing and distributing coffee seedlings to those who want to bet on this segment, the production of the red berry is, today, a reality in the municipality, although still on a small scale. According to the head of the Ganda Coffee Experimental Station, Tchicuala José, the municipality has two coffee growers associations and two cooperatives of former military personnel. The perspective for this year is the distribution of 110,000 red seedlings, in order to promote production, mainly in the regions of Casseque, Chicuma and Ebanga, with tradition in growing Arabica coffee. Of the 125 farms catalogued, totaling 36 hectares, only 30 are operating normally in the region, due to the difficulties currently experienced by producers. In the market, the price of Mabuba coffee varies between 250 and 300 kwanzas, while the kilo of commercial coffee costs 500 Kz. According to the source, the prospect is to increase the planting area, with 44 family farms and five business ones.