[ 2012-05-06 ]

Drought hits Angola's already struggling farms
LUANDA (AFP) - A drought is threatening Angola's
already modest food production, in a setback for
efforts to revive once-vibrant farmlands abandoned
during decades of war.

The dry season that normally lasts only about
three weeks in December has stretched to three
months in parts of the southern African country
where most regions are used to abundant rainfall
almost year-round.

The government has promised to help farmers,
mostly smallholders producing for their own
survival, but most of that aid has yet to
materialise.

"Production has collapsed throughout the central
and southern regions," said Belarmino Jelembi,
national coordinator of the Association for Rural
and Environmental Development.

That means a loss of revenue, but also "a threat
of famine for families", he said.

During Portuguese colonial times, plantations and
family farms made Angola a leading exporter of
coffee, bananas and sisal, while growing enough
food to meet most of its needs.

Most of the nation's farms were abandoned during
decades of liberation battles and then a bloody
civil war that ended only 10 years ago.

During the conflict, Angolans fled the countryside
for the relative safety of the cities, leaving
behind fields littered with landmines. In recent
years, some areas have been cleared enough for
farming to resume.

Government wants to increase domestic food
production to ease Angola's dependence on
expensive imports -- one of the main factors in
the country's sky-high cost of living that makes
life in Luanda more expensive than Tokyo.

Global risk consultancy Maplecroft last year
ranked Angola as fifth in the world for unstable
food supplies, placing it among troubled nations
like Somalia.

The main opposition party Unita faults the
government for failing to invest enough in
Angola's farms. Since the end of the war, Africa's
second-largest oil producer has emerged as one of
the world's fastest-growing economies.

But that wealth hasn't reached the majority of the
population, who still live in poverty.

Regional guidelines "recommend spending 10 percent
of the national budget on the agricultural
sector," said Unita secretary general Vitorino
Nhany.

Government figures show the amount is actually
five percent, and Nhany claims the true figure is
only 1.2 percent.

The drought could make life even more difficult
for Angola's poor, as production drops for staple
crops like cereals, beans and sweet potatoes.

The most affected are Angola's two million small
farmers, who depend on rain for their crops to
survive, said Jelembi.

"Dependence on rain is the main problem for our
farms," Jelembi said, warning of food shortages
and rising prices later this year.

The hardest hit regions are provinces around the
second city of Huambo -- Benguela, Huambo, Bie and
Huila. The northern provinces of Zaire and Uige
have also been affected, but to lesser degree.

The government unveiled a farm aid scheme in
March, offering new seeds to try to recover lost
production. Authorities also promised to launch
irrigation projects, and to re-finance farm
loans.

The plans called for "distribution of food and
farm goods, as well as providing water by
cisterns".

Over the long term, Angola wants to stop growing
tubers, which consume lots of water, with plants
less dependent on rains.

Jelembi's group supports these measures, but he
said the government "systematically launches
projects ill-suited to the needs and abilities of
local communities.

"For example, on developing irrigation, the
government wants to build a series of major dams,
when all we're asking for is aid in building a
network of small dams that farmers could manage
themselves," he said.

Source - AFP

... go Back