Returning prosperity to the planalto

From tiny urban gardens to rural fields, land is being busily tilled across Angola's central highlands in the hope of a better crop than last year's rain-spoilt harvest. For a short period, when Portugal chose to invest in its colony, commercial agriculture thrived on the rolling high plateau, known as the planalto, linked by rail to the ports of Lobito and Benguela. But the soils on the planalto are deficient in nutrients. Good yields require fertiliser, improved seed varieties and animal traction - inputs that returning Angolans, displaced and impoverished by nearly three decades of civil war, do not have. The highland provinces of Huambo and Bie are the homeland of the Ovimbundu people, who were the backbone of the former rebel movement, UNITA, and the region bore the brunt of the war. With the end of the conflict in April 2002, the bulk of Angola's displaced and refugee population are returning to the planalto. "The biggest challenge is to help farmers to recover to the level they were at before the war. Nobody has food stocks - it's not easy, because people lost everything," director of the Institute for Agrarian Development, Sanda Vincent de Paolo, told IRIN. ANGOLA'S GRANARY As transport links gradually reopen across Angola, the development agency, World Vision, is promoting an agricultural recovery programme, which, through improved access to credit and the strengthening of farmer associations, seeks to rebuild the planalto's status as the country's breadbasket and improve the incomes of smallholder farmers. "I can't think of another region in Southern Africa that has the potential to produce as much food," said World Vision director of operations, Jonathan White. "Through a series of interventions we can really make a difference and eliminate poverty, and make the central highlands a very productive place." The village of Kapunje is a short dirt-road ride from Caala, the first rail station on the Benguela line from Huambo, Angola's second city. The 1,850-strong community is still trying to recover from the impact of the war - they were forced to flee in 1998, and returned three years later to find their homes destroyed and belongings gone. World Vision initially helped the community to improve access to the village, and provided irrigation through food-for-work programmes. More significantly, Kapunje was also chosen as a site for a project that aims to lift the farmers out of subsistency by boosting their yields and linking them to the more lucrative markets in Huambo, Benguela and the capital, Luanda. The Pro-Panalto programme, funded by ChevronTexaco and USAID, provides highland farmers with improved varieties of seeds and fertiliser, as well as training and extension services, in conjunction with Angolan agricultural research institutes. What the farmers of Kapunje have to offer the rest of Angola is potatoes - a relatively high-value cash crop historically grown in the highlands. The local varieties that have survived the war are not particularly productive, and the Pro-Panalto project has stepped in to provide farmers with the better yielding Romano variety, tripling their marketable output. COMERCIALISING AGRICULTURE The key to the entire initiative is fertiliser. Because the highland's soils are deficient in nitrogen and phosphorous, without fertiliser there would be virtually no potato crop and very little maize, which the farmers grow as a staple food. Fertiliser supplies in Angola are limited, and what is available is well beyond the pocket of subsistence farmers, even at the government's subsidised rate. Internal transport costs alone account for a third of the retail price. The most popular fertiliser sells for US $50 a 50 kg bag. A single hectare would require 600 kg of fertiliser, an outlay of $300. "That's impossible - most farmers simply don't have any money," Jose Pedro at the Institute for Agronomic Investigation told IRIN. Since April, five farm associations - a total of 139 potato-growing households - have received $54,000-worth of fertiliser on credit from the Pro-Panalto programme, with qualification based on the potential for repayment. The farm associations in turn are members of an apex trading unit, authorised by the government to buy and sell on their members' behalf. "The [apex] unit needs support: we provide information on transport availability and costs, monitor markets and prices, and actually help them identify buyers," said White. "The problem with the informal market is that prices vary on a daily basis - we are dealing with semi-wholesalers and retailers who are essentially small-scale." Roads in Angola remain appalling, and truckers would also be hesitant to make the 600 km journey to Luanda without the guarantee of payment that World Vision provides. So far 146 mt of potatoes have been sold in Benguela and Luanda since August. Smaller quantities of garlic, onions and carrots were also traded. "The proceeds are divided between the association members, and we pay ourselves back the credit that was provided for the fertiliser," White explained. The impact on Kapunje has been dramatic. Farmers in the programme have replaced thatched roofs with zinc, bought oxen, and the vice president of the association recently acquired a motorbike. "The future is promising for those who have received fertiliser," said Adriano Julio, president of the association. But, he added, "distribution should be equal for all members", rather than benefiting the better off farmers. Those not on the fertiliser programme depend on selling their vegetables in Caala, a three-hour walk away, but remain optimistic that, as the programme expands, they could qualify. "There is no tension as, one day, we hope to receive," explained one farmer. NEW CHALLENGES FOR HUAMBO Huambo feels like a place trying to get back on its feet. The railway, repeatedly sabotaged during the war, has begun a limited service, the city's growing markets are full of imported goods, and people are busily repairing houses abandoned and shot-up during the bouts of vicious urban warfare that earned Huambo a special place in Angolan history. According to radio presenter Ines Filipa Jose, the change is also in the "mentality of people. Two years ago it was quite difficult to find people willing to invest in the province, but in the last year that has been changing fast. People are opening small businesses and people believe peace is here to stay." Whereas war rendered virtually everyone destitute, peace has created a new set of challenges. "For some people, their lives have improved; for others it is more difficult," said Jose. "Poor farmers can't afford basic needs and the gap between rich and poor is widening." Land conflicts are reportedly increasing between powerful new absentee landowners - often senior officers or government officials - and the local community, according to the development agency, ADRA. "The Portuguese took the land, and the people took it back [after independence]. But in Luanda they still see a farm on the map and take it, but the people have reoccupied their land," the ADRA project coordinator, Sapalo Antonio, told IRIN. ADRA has begun a project to teach the community their rights and help them lodge title deeds. Its first success was mid-year with a handful of villages around Caala, where there had been a series of land disputes involving senior officials. The government has stressed the importance of prioritising agricultural revival, but some critics complain that not enough is being done on the ground to build food security and restore transport links. But de Paolo at the Institute for Agrarian Development noted that Angola has only had two years of peace, and building the capacity of farmers would be a slow process. "They will produce year by year and gradually become self-sufficient, but maybe it will take up to 10 years." White is confident that an expanded Pro-Planalto programme would have a significant impact. "Our goal is to eradicate poverty in the central highlands and I believe we can do that."