Over 500 tonnes of coffee harvested in Angola

Five hundred tonnes of mabuba coffee were harvested in the municipality of Ambaca, northern Cuanza Norte Province, during the 2019 agricultural year, representing an increase of 250 tonnes compared to the previous year.

The fact was revealed last Saturday, in the town of Camabatela (municipal headquarters), by the head of the technical brigade of coffee in Ambaca, Santana Sebastião, having highlighted the commercialization of all the product, a fact that he said was encouraging the producers in the region.

The official expressed his concern about the lack of uniformity in the price of the kilogramme of coffee in the country, a situation that, to him, discourages local producers, due to the low price of its commercialization, which varies between 120 to 150 kwanzas per kilogramme, a value that does not meet production costs.

On his turn, coffee grower Pascoal Ginga, from the Luinga commune, stated that the lack of financing has been contributing to the reduction of coffee production, due to the fact that this crop needs specialized treatment and a lot of manpower.

Samuel Dala Kissanga, another coffee grower in the commune of Maúa, pointed to the degeneration of access routes, as well as the lack of transport and other inputs.

The technical brigade of coffee in Ambaca controls 350 coffee growers, of whom only 208 are focused on revitalizing the production of this crop. The town has had a shelling machine since 2016, with a capacity for 80 bags per day, which is about five tonnes.

The National Coffee Institute of Angola (INCA) in Cuanza Norte controls about 750 coffee farms, in the ten municipalities and has 10,000 seedlings of robust coffee, to be distributed to local producers, during the 2020 agricultural year, for the replacement of old plants.