The president of the board of directors of FADA, Felisbela Francisco, who signed the document together with the president of the board of directors of ANPG, Paulino Jerónimo, highlighted that this agreement will benefit thousands of Angolan families who are dedicated to family farming in rural areas.
Felisbela Francisco stressed that family farming is a fundamental pillar for the country's economic and social development, playing a significant role in reducing imports, creating jobs and strengthening food security.
"The most recent data indicate that more than 80 percent of the national production that reaches the tables of all Angolans comes from the family farming subsector," she stressed, adding that FADA has been providing farmers with financial resources in the form of subsidized credits, through eight lines of financing.
Paulino Jerónimo highlighted that the purpose of this cooperation is to contribute to the promotion of integrated projects, technical-professional partnerships and the training of technicians.
Paulino Jerónimo stressed that this instrument will regulate the relationship between the oil and agricultural sectors, where projects are currently being implemented in the provinces of Cabinda, Zaire and others.
"Our objective is to work with FADA in an organised and structured manner to help the entire sector that we regulate to direct its investments towards agricultural support", he said.
In turn, the general director of Total Energies Angola, Patrick Pouyannés, mentioned that Block 48 "is not a geological success, but, thanks to Mirempt [Ministry of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas] and ANPG, it is a social success".
According to Patrick Pouyannés, the French oil company's commitment to Angola "goes beyond oil".
The Secretary of State for Oil and Gas, José Barroso, speaking at the ceremony, said that the oil and agricultural sectors have several joint projects and that a cooperation protocol is being prepared and should be signed soon.
"As the ministry officials have already mentioned on previous occasions, we are implementing fertilizer production projects in the petrochemical industry, using natural gas and the abundance of mineral resources found in our soil for the exploration of phosphates", he said.
José Barroso stressed that the ANPG, in terms of boosting the biofuels sector, has been surveying the agricultural potential in several provinces of the country, to guarantee the raw material that will fuel the production of green energy at a later stage.
"We are talking about the possibility of our country starting to produce biofuels, which will directly help us reduce greenhouse gas emissions, in the case of carbon dioxide", he stressed.
The minister highlighted that the sector authorized the availability of a fund budgeted at one million dollars, to finance projects that are approved, based on the criteria defined in this memorandum.
