Northern Region Foodcrops Development Project

Northern Region Foodcrops Development Project

This project was initiated in the wake of the Lusaka Peace Accord, signed in 1994. When the civil war broke out again in 1998 the project was interrupted, and it was resumed after 2002, once peace had been re-established and the security situation had improved.

The project is located in the northern highlands of Angola. It was designed to encourage a return to farming, to stimulate the country’s food production and rural economy, and to help shift labour and capital to rural areas. It has moved through a series of phases and shifts of emphasis, from meeting immediate food requirements after the ceasefire to working towards the more long-term development goal of re-establishing an agricultural system based on the small-scale farmer sector and its capacity for producing food for national and international markets. The main focuses of project activities are to:

• help increase farmers’ access to improved production inputs and techniques
• help strengthen product diversification
• improve planting materials for staple crops, cash crops and the farming system as a whole
• work with the government to reorganize public agricultural services
• help set up farmers’ groups to receive extension and research assistance and form the basis of community rehabilitation work

By mid 2006 seeds and planting material had been distributed to help increase cultivated areas and production levels. This has been an important contribution to re-establishing poor farmers’ production base, especially for cassava. The planted areas have doubled since 2002. The extension system operated in 12 municipalities, serving 240 villages. The project has also been successful in bringing together and integrating research and extension services for the benefit of farmers.

Source: IFAD