Lubango — Locally produced fruits have gained prominence in the commercial areas of Lubango, Huíla province, and now surpass those imported from Namibia, which dominated the market for many years.
Until 2017, fruits imported from Namibia had assumed an almost exclusive leading role in the Huíla market, with hundreds of loaded trucks crossing the roads and supplying both the informal and formal markets.
Today, as ANGOP observed, this presence is residual in fruit shops and supermarkets, still limited to apples, grapes, peaches, and pears; however, it is no longer present in the informal market.
The province of Huíla is a prominent agricultural hub in Angola, especially in the production of tropical fruits, with the municipalities of Humpata, Quilengues, Chibia, and Matala standing out, whose annual harvest already exceeds six thousand tons.
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Humpata leads the market with over 350 tons of fruit production, including apples, pears, passion fruit, citrus fruits, quince, and red berries, favored by its high-altitude climate of over two thousand meters.
From December to April each year, the prices of these fruits range from 10 to 20 kwanzas per kg at the source and can cost between 290 and 400 kwanzas in fruit shops, while imported fruits range from 1,300 to 3,100 kwanzas.
Among the fruits produced in other areas of the country and sold locally, pineapple and dragon fruit stand out.
In statements to ANGOP, the manager of a fruit shop in the Tchioco neighborhood, Mariana Celestino, stated that national fruits already have the required quality and today surpass imported ones, which are also favored by the attractive price.
She stated that 90% of the three tons she acquires monthly is supplied by local producers, with whom she has signed a contract.
Another supermarket manager located in Senhora do Monte, in Lubango, Maurício Sales, said that, three years ago, six contracts were signed with fruit producers from Humpata, where apples, strawberries, citrus fruits and pears come from, as well as from Matala and Caconda for mangoes, bananas, papayas and avocados.
The only fruit imported from Namibia on the store's shelves are peaches, some apples and kiwis, but in small quantities, he pointed out.
Recently, the head of the agriculture section in the municipality of Humpata, Helena José, said that she started harvesting 350 tons of apples last January, a production that is being sold in formal and informal local markets, as well as in other parts of Huíla, Namibe, Benguela, Cunene and Luanda.
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The harvest ends in May of this year, in relation to the previous year, due to the elevation of the former commune of Palanca to the category of municipality, separated from Humpata, as a result of the new political-administrative division (DPA), in force since September 2024.
Data from the Provincial Office of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries indicate that the province produced 3,903 tons of fruit in the 2022/2023 campaign, and in the following one, 2023/2024, that production reached 6,943 tons.
