Ondjiva – The President of the Republic, João Lourenço, Monday in Ombadja, Cunene province, highlighted the importance of State investments in the field of water, stressing that they allow a deep transformation of the local population’s food habits.
According to the Head of State, who was responding to journalists after inaugurating the Cafu feeder canal, with the increase of water volume in that region, there are no more reasons for the populations to continue, in the next years, depending on humanitarian aid.
President João Lourenço said that the local agriculture is almost insufficient, but the increase in water will allow the population to produce for consumption and sale.
The population of Cunene province essentially lives on livestock, and it is estimated that there are over two million head of cattle in the southern region of the country.
The Angolan President said that, with the abundance of water and the support of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and non-governmental organizations, training had been given to the local population on how to use the land to produce food.
João Lourenço promised direct support to local producers, mainly in essential means of cultivation, such as tractors, as well as other incentives for the creation of agricultural cooperatives.
The President of the Republic is in Cunene on a working visit, the high point of which is the inauguration of the Cafu feeder canal in Ombadja.
This is the first of a batch of five Angolan government projects, created as part of the programme of structural actions to combat drought in the region, which will benefit 235,000 people from the municipalities of Ombadja, Cuanhama and Namacunde.
It is valued at 44.3 billion kwanzas and will also make it possible to water 250,000 animals and irrigate 5,000 hectares of agricultural fields.
The contract to build the canal was decided after a visit by the President of the Republic to the Cacimbas in Ombala Yo Mungo, Ombadja municipality, in May 2019, at the time affected by severe drought.
In this system, metallic structures of the suction chamber and water intake zone, electric substation building, with three generator groups with a capacity of one megawatt and one-dimensional reservoir, and solar panels capable of generating 1.5 megawatts of energy were installed.
The project has an open-air canal, in a length of about 160 km.
The main canal is 47 km long, from the Cafu station to Ombala yo Mungo, and two others that link the municipalities of Ndombondola (55 km) and Namacunde (53 km).
The project has 30 chimpacas( water reservoir), which are 100 metres long, 50 metres wide, five to six metres deep and water storage capacity ranging from 25,000 to 30,000 cubic metres.
Source: Angola Press News Agency