A total of 50 peasant families in Kunda-Dia-Base municipality in Malanje Northern Province, last week harvested cotton for the first time, after a 37-year interruption in production.
Malanje province is located 423 km from the country´s capital Luanda and
Local director of the Agriculture and Fisheries Office, Carlos Chipoia, stressed the importance of this new beginning in the re-launch of cotton production.
Speaking to the state-owned Rádio Nacional de Angola (RNA), Mr Chipoia added that regardless of the quantity, it was important to start again.
“We have 50 hectares being harvested”.
“Obviously it is below what was initially planned, but it is a start that we consider important,” RNA further quoted Mr Chopia as saying adding that the sponsor of the production is the IEP company, owner of Textang II, the production natural buyer.
The production of the so-called “white gold” is retaken with the advice of Argentine specialists, 37 years after it was interrupted due to the war that devastated the country.
Angola’s cotton industry peaked in 1974, the year before the war ended, with a total production if 150,000 bales. Production slumped to 20,000 bales in 1975 and only 5,000 bales in 1976, and hasn’t produced more than 20,000 bales in a single year since.
*Com RNA, 16/08/2022
