Luanda, Nov. 13, 2024 (Lusa) - The president of the Angolan Agro-Livestock Association (AAPA) said on Wednesday that rice production in the country, estimated at 40,000 tonnes, is still insufficient and has to be supplemented by imports of 600,000 tonnes.

Wanderley Ribeiro, who was speaking at the conference on ‘Financing Agricultural Production Chains and Food Security’, organised by the Association of Banks (Abanc), explained that only 50% of the rice produced, or 20% of the total, is made available to the market.

"We import husked rice and produce 40,000 tonnes of paddy rice. [But] out of every 100 kilos, only the equivalent of 50% is rice that can be consumed, the rest is husk, bran and other products," he clarified.

"We really only have 20,000 [tonnes] to consume," said Wanderley Ribeiro, pointing out that Angola would need to produce 1.2 million tonnes of rice to replace imports of this product.

"When we compare 40,000 tonnes with 1.2 million tonnes we realise how far we are from what is effectively our capacity to supply our country," he said.

He stressed that rice is part of the basic food basket of Angolans, as well as the Congolese, whose consumption is also around 700,000 tonnes, of which 350,000 tonnes are produced locally.

"We have the same consumption configuration, but we are very far apart," said Wanderley Ribeiro, founding partner of Bonsae - a cereal producing company in Malanje province that specialises in rice.

According to the president of AAPA, the municipality of Luquembo "is shaping up to be the rice capital of the country", with at least 300,000 hectares set aside for rice production.

"We only need 300,000 hectares in Angola to become self-sufficient (...), because 300,000 hectares times four tonnes per hectare will give us the production of 1.2 million tonnes that we need," he noted.

NME/AYLS // AYLS

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