Angola wants to direct foreign investment to its agricultural sector, devastated by decades of civil war, in the hope the west African country can one day return to being an food net exporter, its industry minister said in an interview published on Monday.
”After emerging from a war where we lost the capacity to feed ourselves, a natural priority for the Angolan people is the development of agriculture,” Angolan Industry Minister Joaquim da Costa David told daily newspaper Diario Economico.
”There is the potential to become an exporter, but there are quality standards which need to be respected,” he added. ”But it is a clear possibility.”
Costa David, a former oil minister, said the government would first have to restore roads and rail links in the former Portuguese colony before the agricultural sector could take off.
”The priority of priorities is the recovery of basic infrastructure that can support agricultural activity and the shipment of products,” he said.
Angola has more than 2 700 kilometres of railway track, but much of it is unusable because of landmines still in place from a 27-year civil war which ended in April 2002.
The conflict between rebels and the Angolan government claimed some 500 000 lives and left thousands injured.
During colonial times Angola was a major commercial producer of coffee and sisal, and produced enough cerals to meet domestic production.
But despite having large areas with rich soil, food shortage are currently common as fear of landminds, and shortages of seed and fertiliser, have forced farmers to reduce the areas under cultivation. – Sapa-AFP