PR wants investors to prioritize agricultural production to leverage the industry

The President of the Republic spoke to journalists after the inauguration of the new industrial unit at "Quinta de Jugais", which will produce meat products, hoping to meet the needs of the national market and, in the medium term, focus on exports.

The chief executive underlined that businessmen interested in investing in Angola should prioritize agricultural production and, in this way, boost industrial production. For PR, this correlation between what is produced in the field and what is transformed in the industry is necessary.

João Lourenço also left the alert: units like the one that opened this Thursday only survive if they get product locally to transform, otherwise they will have to continue importing the raw material, which greatly complicates the financial position of companies.

Speaking specifically about the meat industry, PR stated that the process of receiving cattle from Chad will continue, but with different conditions. "As soon as the agriculture sector says that the time has come to resume, the process will continue," he said, quoted by Angop.

It is recalled that Angola received from Chad, from December 2020 to June 2021, about 1900 heads of cattle. However, several animals ended up dying. The head of state denied that these events happened due to a lack of adaptation to the climate and terrain, stating that "African cattle" have a high probability of surviving in Angola and saying that what happened had to do with the beneficiaries' lack of preparation.

He also mentioned that the country needs to repopulate livestock, specifically cattle, so that it becomes self-sufficient in meat production.

In the end, he appealed to private investors, national and foreign, to bet on the tannery industry (raw hide processing), in order to take advantage of all the cattle's resources. "We are wasting the skins of these animals, which is bad for the environment and an important resource is being lost," he said.