Angola's coffee production will soar to 17,000 tonnes this year, from 12,000 tonnes in 2008, on the back of rising coffee prices and local demand for coffee, the head of the nation's Coffee Institute said on Friday. Joao Neto said the government plans to invest $130 million in four years in the coffee industry, starting in 2010, and provide $150 million in low-interest loans to farmers that invest in the coffee sector.
World coffee production dropped last year but prices for robusta coffee, which is produced in Angola, rose 45 percent to $2,650 a tonne. "Production is rising at around 30 percent per year and should reach 17,000 tonnes this year," said Neto. Coffee exports should be around 8,000 tonnes in 2009, up from 6,000 tonnes last year, he said. Neto expects commercial coffee production to reach 50,000 tonnes per year by 2013.
TOP PRODUCER Wrecked by the 1975-2002 civil war, the African nation's coffee sector is still a long way from its 200,000 tonnes per year production level reached in the 1970s.
But coffee farms are gradually replacing basic food crops like cassava and maize. Angola was the world's fourth-biggest coffee exporter before the civil war. The government is teaching farmers how to produce coffee in higher quantities, providing them with vehicles and modern roasting and grinding machines in a bid to speed up the revival of Angola's once-prosperous coffee sector.
Comments
Comments are closed.