The cotton that starts to be sold this Thursday, according to Rádio Nacional de Angola (RNA), is the result of a second production after being (re)launched, in 2022, in Baixa de Cassanje.
Last year, this initiative by the Al Kaal Angola group saw the involvement of 40 peasant families. However, this year, the number rose to three digits, with 113 families involved in the production of 100 tons of 'white gold'.
However, the ambition is, according to Jorge Amaral, to go from hundreds to thousands: "Last year 40 families, this year there were already 113, 89 hectares, so we have already started experimenting with this cotton in our factory , at Textang, but obviously this is the beginning of a large operation, it is to reach 15 thousand small farmers (...) and provide self-sufficiency with the cotton produced at Textang", he said, quoted by RNA.
The group's president also made it known that the company intends to move forward with investments in the order of 40 million dollars, with a view to providing around 400 thousand jobs.
"Reach 10 million meters of fabric and create 400,000 seamstress jobs across the country. The total investment will be around 40 million dollars", he said.
"We import raw materials from Nigeria, Senegal, Ivory Coast, and the idea is to start replacing these imports with national cotton", said Jorge Amaral, who, quoted by RNA, added that they will be "much more competitive when cotton is produced in Angola".
