Coffee industry shows signs of recovery

Angola's once flourishing coffee industry is beginning to show signs of recovery after decades of civil war that virtually destroyed production. Until 1975 Angola was the 4th largest coffee producer in the world. Today its coffee output barely satisfies local needs. Much of the industry's decline has been blamed on the exodus of skilled Portuguese farmers in the years following independence, and the widespread use of land mines by the warring factions during the 27-year civil war. Recent research into the country's agricultural recovery showed that Angola exported 228,000 mt of coffee in 1974, compared to barely 3,000 mt last year. In an attempt to re-launch the industry, small private producers have been attracted with a series of government grants and cheap loans for inputs. The Angolan National Institute of Coffee (INCA) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have also launched a project that provides employment for demobilised soldiers and their families. WFP has provided the necessary tools and food, while INCA has made available the seeds and the plastic bags in which they will grow for the next year, before being planted. Beatrice Dominga, 51, has worked on the plantation since it opened almost a year ago just outside Huambo, Angola's second city. She complains of the physical labour involved but remains optimistic. "It is a good job. It allows me to feed my whole family," Dominga told IRIN. Her husband is an ex-UNITA soldier and most of her fellow workers are the wives of former rebel soldiers. Of the 60 workers on the plantation, 50 are UNITA returnees. According to WFP, part of the agreement with INCA was that ex-UNITA soldiers and their families should be prioritised when selecting workers for the project. WFP's officer-in-charge in Huambo, Simon Trepanier, told IRIN the agency was satisfied with the cooperation it had received from the INCA, and noted that the families of former UNITA and MPLA (government soldiers) worked "side by side, without a problem". "It is not a big issue. There have been some small problems - frictions - but fortunately there have been no major issues to deal with," Trepanier told IRIN. The International Coffee Organisation is cooperating with INCA and foreign donors to develop coffee production in nine of Angola's 18 provinces, and US $8 million has so far been invested in a pilot project in the western province of Kwanza-Sul. Around 1,000 families are eventually expected to benefit. INCA has proposed expanding the venture to a projected cost of US $26 million. The general director of INCA, Manuel Dias, is hopeful about the future but does not expect Angola to become one of the top four producers in the world again. "There is a new climate now. The coffee industry will be family-based, which will give people enough money for their basic needs – food, health care and schooling. In five or six years there will be a huge production of coffee. Angola will never reach the levels of the 1970s, but I think we will produce about 20,000 mt in 10 years," Dias told IRIN.