The project, called "Mukafé", is funded by the EU through the French Development Agency (AFD), and will be implemented in the provinces of Uíje, Cuanza Sul and Cuanza Norte.
In his speech, the French ambassador to Angola, Daniel Vosgien, referred that this project is important and enriches the content of bilateral cooperation in the agricultural sector, with the revitalization of the coffee sector in Angola.
"Through the combined action of the French embassy and AFD teams, and within the scope of our bilateral cooperation agreement signed in 2018 with Angola (...), we want to provide the most comprehensive and pragmatic support possible to this coffee sector, which as we all know is crucial for the diversification of the Angolan economy and for its ability to create quality jobs, particularly in rural areas", he said.
The French diplomat assured "France's strong interest in using this project to help relaunch the coffee sector in Angola, with a special focus on quality and support for small producers, their training and improvement of their access to the market".
Speaking to the press, the coordinator of the "Mukafé" project, Júlia Ferreira, stressed that the three beneficiary provinces have great potential in the production of Robusta coffee, with around 500,000 producers expected to be included in the project.
In turn, the director of the National Coffee Institute, Vasco Gonçalves, underlined that coffee production in Angola covers around 35,000 hectares, in ten of the country's 18 provinces.
Vasco Gonçalves pointed out as main constraints the lack of financing for production, access difficulties, namely the tertiary roads that lead to the coffee farms, access to agricultural 'inputs', specifically hoes and machetes.
"The country has the potential to produce more than 500,000 tons of coffee, but at the moment, due to the difficulties we are facing, we are producing around 6,000 tons of commercial coffee - which we control and register - and it is exporting around 1,000 tons of commercial coffee per year", he stressed.
The official stressed that there is also a need to renew the seedlings, taking into account that "the plantations are practically aged".
"We need to produce at least 40 million seedlings annually to have about 20,000 renewed hectares per year", noted Vasco Gonçalves, emphasizing the need for incentives to attract young people "to agricultural production and especially coffee production".
"What we see today, although we already have some young people producing coffee, but until now it is an activity that is fundamentally based on the hands of people who are already a certain age, which does not help much for the development of the coffee culture", he stressed.
In 2021, the provinces of Uíje, Cuanza Norte and Cuanza Sul produced 82.3 percent of the national production.
Angola, in 1973, produced 243,780 tons and, in 1974, exported 223,800 tons, worth US$182.4 million, making it the fourth largest exporter of coffee.
