"We spend about 791 million dollars annually to import these foods", began by saying the official.
Speaking to Rádio Nacional de Angola (RNA), Anderson Jerónimo said that last year spending on imports of rice and wheat exceeded 200 and 300 million dollars, respectively: "In 2021, we had a cost of rice, imports in dollars of 263 million dollars, wheat 305 million dollars".
Thus, with the aim of counteracting this scenario, the Government decided to proceed with the execution of a program to promote grain production, called the National Plan for the Promotion of Grain Production (PLANAGRÃO). According to the official, the initiative is valued at 5.9 billion dollars and will be implemented in five years, with the aim of achieving self-sufficiency and putting a brake on imports among its purposes.
"The plan has a value of around 5.9 billion dollars to be implemented in five years", he said, quoted by RNA.
He added that the plan will have a public and a private component. "Forty percent will be actions of public scope, I am talking about infrastructures, avenues of investigation, and it will have a completely private component, 60 percent through BDA that will be to finance the producers", he said, in declarations to the RNA.
Also speaking to RNA, José Sicato, a consultant to the office of the Secretary of State for Commerce, praised the initiative. "PLANAGRÃO, first of all, must be congratulated, it is a very timely initiative of the Angolan Executive. It must actually produce for the market, the role of the Strategic Food Reserve is to buy surplus production because it is a mechanism for stabilizing supply, if If there is an imbalance between supply and demand, it will intervene, but it has to let the market work so that supply is available to the market", he said.
The program was also applauded by businessman Alfeu Vinevala, who, quoted by RNA, considered that the country is on the "good path". "I would say that we are on the right path, because our country has all the conditions to" do "what is possible and we are able to produce to support our neighbors",
