Luanda — Angola expects to achieve food security in the short and medium term, given the increase in national production, the country's president João Lourenço, announced Wednesday in Luanda.
Speaking to the press after the inauguration of a food oil factory, with a capacity to produce 1 million liters a day, Lourenço said that according to the information available, not only from documents and meetings at government level, but also from "on the ground", in terms of agricultural production, the country is growing.
According to the President, Angola is doing well, although it still has a lot to do, but it is doing well, it just needs to increase the quantity of what it produces and also improve the quality of the product.
The President explained that the country has stopped importing various products from the countryside, especially onions and potatoes.
"I remember when I used to travel in the countryside, we used to see long caravans of trucks with potatoes and onions imported from neighboring countries, Namibia and South Africa. They were quite long caravans, I repeat, bringing products as basic as onions and potatoes," he said.
Lourenço clarified that these are now products produced in Angola, in the interior, which reach the big markets, especially Luanda, which has the largest number of consumers.
Regarding support for economic agents, João Lourenço said that the government will continue to stimulate, but this doesn't mean that the government has to make public investments in favor of private investments.
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The President stressed that entrepreneurs must turn to the banks to buy vans, trucks and warehouses to store the products they buy in the countryside before selling them in supermarkets and other commercial outlets.
The project
Speaking about the inaugurated project, the President said it was good: ".... the country is on the right path, the path that will lead to food security, and today we are not only producing, but we are starting to process the products from the countryside."
Despite the fact that cooking oil is still imported and only refined locally, Lourenço said the plant was ready for farmers and peasants to start supplying the factory with products to be turned into refined oil ready for human consumption.
Asked about expectations of lower prices for cooking oil on the domestic market, the President replied that "the greater the supply, the greater the difference between supply and demand, the more in favor of supply, the tendency is for prices to fall".
The plant, owned by the Naval Group, is located in the Boavista area next to the port of Luanda and covers an area of 89,000 square meters.
The new industrial unit has the capacity to refine and process 500 tons of palm oil, soya, sunflower and other vegetable fats per day, with the aim of positioning itself as a benchmark for edible oils in Angola.
It is located 700 meters from the port of Luanda, on a site used for industrial activities during the colonial period. The factory, which created 850 direct jobs, began construction in 2023 and started production at the end of last year. ART/VIC/AMP
