Fernando Pacheco states that an alternative to cereal production involves investing in family farming with realism. He criticizes the ideas they had behind the creation of PLANAGrÃO and says he does not understand the reasons why another Ministry, other than Agriculture, is in coordination
Agricultural engineer Fernando Pacheco told OPAÍS that the response from the provinces chosen to implement the National Grain Production Plan in Angola (PLANAGRÃO) would take no less than 10 years. In the agronomist’s view, the principles that underpinned the emergence of this program are not right and, at a time when the country does not have money, it becomes more difficult to implement it.
“We noticed two driving ideas: the war between Russia and Ukraine, which would cause a shortage of cereals in the world, given its high production, and the interest in promoting the development of the Eastern provinces. Two premises that in themselves were wrong and that jointly amplified the error”, he explains.
The co-founder of Action for Rural Development and the Environment (ADRA) predicts that, no matter how much pessimism there is, regarding the war in Ukraine, the prospect is that it will not be resolved in less than 10 years.
Hence “without infrastructure, roads and many others, without companies, without technicians and without a recent history of production, even if there was a lot of money (and we know that there is not, neither too much nor too little), the response of these provinces to calls for expected production would take at least 10 years”, he highlights, alluding to the five years foreseen by the plan, starting from 2023.
From Fernando Pacheco’s perspective, PLANAGRÃO is a repetition of mistakes that have been made over the years and which was born from political enthusiasm on the eve of the 2022 elections, without studies and discussion among technicians who know the subject. In this regard, he reinforces that even the technicians from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, who know the country’s reality, were not consulted, highlighting that it is difficult to understand how this Ministry is not coordinating the plan.
Bet on family farming
Flow is intrinsically linked to production, which leads Fernando Pacheco to regret that the East has no roads, asking: “At the rate that Angola’s roads have been rebuilt for 20 years, how many decades will it take to build 13 thousand kilometers? in the circumstances of the East?”, he asks.
He reinforces that it is not possible to create a business production plan without entrepreneurs, having highlighted that, based on available data, the business sector produced, in total, less than 400 thousand tons in 2023. The agronomist states that, even with “importation of entrepreneurs”, the target of producing six million tons of cereals per year is practically impossible to achieve in 2027. For this reason, he says that “the alternative can only be family farming, but with realism, as miracles don’t happen”.
10 million employed in family farming
Economist Janísio Salomão shares the idea of investing in family farming to contribute to promoting national production. Using data from the 2014 Population Census, Janísio Salomão explains that family farming is the basis of Angolan agriculture, being responsible for the production of 79% of cereals, 92% of roots and tubers and 90% of legumes and oilseeds. This productive segment employs more than 9 million and 635 thousand inhabitants, which is equivalent to 37.7% of the national population, with more than one million and 773 thousand families.
For this reason, he emphasizes that PLANAGRÃO cannot be successful if it is not integrative and unifying, from small to large producers, if there is no greater support in the constitution of micro and small companies, as well as cooperatives and associations. He reiterates that the problem is not in the program, as the planned projects have always been well designed and beautiful, but lies in the materialization of these projects. It points out that farmers continue to have difficulty obtaining documents that legitimize them, thus making access to credit difficult. On the other hand, like Fernando Pacheco, the economist speaks of a completely adverse macroeconomic scenario.
It reinforces that resources are increasingly scarce and most of the programs included in the PIP are not implemented due to lack of resources. “The goals are very ambitious and I believe that these goals will not be achieved as planned, because the bag is only unique and the main source of resources is oil”.
PLANAGRÃO numbers
Approved in light of Decree No. 200/22, of 23 July, PLANAGRÃO’s fundamental objective is to contribute to food and nutritional sovereignty, food security, increasing production and productivity. The National Grain Production Promotion Plan foresees an average annual investment of around 670 million dollars, for the production of wheat, rice, soybeans and corn, and around 471 million dollars annually, for the construction and rehabilitation of infrastructure. -support structures for the productive and social sector.
According to the aforementioned program, financial provision from the State valued at 2.8 billion kwanzas is expected over a period of five years, distributed in two components. The first is valued at 1.1 billion kwanzas, linked to investments in infrastructure with a focus on delimiting production areas and access roads to productive areas.
The second component is 1.6 billion kwanzas, which will be directed to financing the national private sector, with the aim of reinforcing the capital available with the Angolan Development Bank (BAD). To this end, the Government announced the combination of efforts with the Public Investment Program (PIP) to carry out the construction of 13 thousand kilometers of road, in the corridor of the provinces where PLANAGRÃO will be implemented — Moxico, Lunda-Norte, Lunda-Sul and Cuando Cubango.
