Incatema designs new irrigation schemes for small agriculture in Angola

2 December, 2021

Incatema Consulting & Engineering is rehabilitating the irrigation schemes of five small local communities in the provinces of Cuanza Sul and Huila (Angola), where it is improving and facilitating regular access to water. Bearing in mind that water is the basis of agricultural production, increasing the regular supply of water lays the ground for achieving all other projects under the SAMAP, such as increased production and marketing.

This action forms part of the objectives of the Small Agriculture Market Access Programme (SAMAP), financed by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), a United Nations agency specialised in promoting rural development through the promotion and modernisation of sustainable farming.

The programme’s objectives in Angola include facilitating access to commercial agriculture for small producers, initially locally or regionally, and finally to export markets, if a sufficient specialisation and quality of crops is achieved for farming produce that is in demand by other countries in the region.

Rehabilitation of irrigation schemes facilitates the harnessing of water resources

Rehabilitating irrigation schemes represents a key action for facilitating access to commercial farming, by allowing rural communities to better harness water resources, and to increase the useful agricultural surface. Additionally, rehabilitating irrigation schemes reinforces bonds between producers within the same community, who have to organise themselves to manage the irrigation water.

“It has been verified that organising irrigation communities triggers other group actions such as joint marketing on the part of said irrigation communities” notes Ana Romero, director of consulting projects at Incatema Consulting & Engineering. “Angola’s rural population has a strong attachment to organisation in the form of traditional communal structures, but this organisation is restricted to social and legal aspects, without touching on economic matters”, she adds.

Rehabilitating irrigation schemes also makes the inhabitants of a community turn their attention towards the marketing of their production. New irrigations expand the agricultural surface and improve its yields. As a result, they generate production levels never seen before. At the same time, the inhabitants of those communities have already had to organise themselves to manage the irrigation water. The natural consequence is that said organisations begin to foster a joint commercialisation that cannot be achieved individually.

The objective of the SAMAP is to design all actions needed to achieve the modernisation of various irrigation schemes in three regions of Angola, directly benefitting 12 irrigation communities, as we previously reported here.