Incatema signs a new contract in Angola with the Cabinda Province Agriculture Value Chains Development Project (CPAVCDP), funded by the African Development Bank

15 June, 2023

The contract awarded to Incatema involves conditioning 250 Ha for pivot irrigation, as well as improving and rehabilitating irrigation and drainage systems in further 500 Ha spread across 4 municipalities: Cabinda, Cacongo, Buco Zau, and Belize. Additionally, greenhouses will be designed and installed to ensure year-round fruit and vegetable production.

Cabinda is one of the 18 Angolan provinces. It is an exclave, separated from the rest of the country by the Democratic Republic of Congo, bordering to the east and south. To the north, it borders the Republic of Congo, and to the west, the Atlantic Ocean.

Cabinda has an approximate population of 300,000 inhabitants who live primarily on hunting, fishing, and agriculture. Cabinda is mostly covered by tropical rainforests, which has led to a well-developed timber industry. Additionally, coffee, coconut, latex, and palm oil are produced. However, the most important commodity is oil, which accounts for 60% of Angola's total oil production. Despite this, Cabinda remains one of the poorest provinces, as the majority of oil sales earnings do not stay in the province. Furthermore, the significant drop in oil prices has seriously affected the Angolan economy, especially Cabinda’s.

As Ana Romero, head of consultancy at Incatema claims: “In this context, the African Development Bank finances a project aimed at strengthening the agricultural sector to diversify the province's economy, reducing its high dependence on oil, and mitigating the impact of price declines. This way, the project will contribute to increasing food and nutritional security and to creating and promoting employment and wealth through the increase in agricultural production and the value chain of commercial and food crops. At the same time, it will improve the income of small and medium-sized enterprises dedicated to supplying inputs, production, processing, storage, and marketing of sustainably selected commodities”.

The Cabinda Province Agriculture Value Chains Development Project (CPAVCDP) was approved in 2017 and is expected to be completed by 2026. Its main goal is to strengthen the value chains of basic Angolan food items (cassava, banana, sweet potato, and beans), as well as industrial crops (coffee, palm, and cocoa), fisheries, livestock, and horticulture. This will entail various components such as the rehabilitation or construction of production infrastructure, irrigation systems, roads, markets, and processing centres; stakeholders training (public and private); improving producers' access to markets; and strengthening agricultural advisory services.