"Due to lack of drainage, we have seen 120 to 150 tonnes of various products that have been spoiling every year, mostly vegetables and fruits, as they are perishable and the putrefaction period is fast", informed Paciência Júlio, a municipal technician at the Institute of Agrarian Development (IDA) of Caconda, quoted by Angop.
The drainage problems are related to the degradation of the communication routes, which need intervention, to allow the vehicles to reach the production areas to transport the products to the centers of consumption.
In addition, a cold room to preserve horticulture and fruit crops is also among the difficulties faced by farmers. Paciencia Júlio said that they do not have cold chambers to preserve the production, and when it comes to the period when there is a lot of production, it is not possible to drain it to the sales or consumption centres, with the rest ending up deteriorating, writes Angop.
According to the official, quoted by Angop, production takes place in three agricultural seasons: the first takes place between September and January, the second between February and March and the third from May to July. However, he added, in each of these seasons there is always some surplus product that has been deteriorating.
In turn, the governor of Huíla, Nuno Mahapi, considered that "communication routes still stall" local development. "The communication routes still hold back our development, we still have many kilometers of secondary and tertiary roads, lines, hydraulic crossings and bridges to be built and rehabilitated in the province and this cannot be done in a day, but the most important thing is not to stop, identify the main priorities", said the governor, quoted by Angop.
