Victor Fernandes, who was speaking to journalists this Tuesday at the end of a meeting he held with the Indian ambassador in Angola, recalled that Angola annually produces 11 million tonnes of cassava and its transformation and exportation should generate foreign exchange for the country.
"[We want to] take advantage of it, turn this into a product that serves for export, because starch is a highly sought after product in countries outside Angola and here we would have a very important source of capturing foreign exchange earnings," he said.
For the minister, with the current productive capacity of the country, in the field of cassava, all that remains is to place the manufacturing industry in this circuit and, he added, "this is what we want for this year".
"We really want to promote the emergence of entrepreneurs so that, with the programs we are establishing, they can be in the cassava sector to produce the added value that other countries want, namely starch", he argued.
The ministerial body is currently working with business associations, Angolan and foreign businessmen, "for the launch" of the respective production industry, with a view to achieving the export of starch, a derivative of cassava.
"And, if everything goes well, in a few weeks we will be able to give a more concrete timetable, but this year we want to start working on the topic of manioc transformation", he noted.
Angola is the third largest African producer of cassava after Nigeria and Ghana. Starch is used in the food industry and China is the main global importer.
