Sustainable Farms - Angola

Sustainable small-scale farming is the goal of a ChevronTexaco-sponsored self-help agricultural program that seeks to change the lives of more than 1,500 families in Angola’s Cabinda province.

Under the program – launched in 2001 with Cabinda’s Provisional Director of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Environment – residents of 10 rural Cabinda villages* are taught how to prepare land, and plant and harvest crops. Besides training residents in modern farming techniques, the project has distributed 4,700 agricultural tools – including hoes, axes, shovels, sharpeners, and clearing cutlasses – and 35 metric tons of corn and cowpea seed. High-yield cassava and sweet potato varieties also have been introduced.

Project objectives are to mitigate food scarcity and improve household income. Cassava provides a major source of calories for families; its leaves are a rich, inexpensive protein source and vitamins A and B. Sweet potatoes also offer a good source of vitamin A, and both plants are considered hardy, with relatively short growing cycles. Sweet potatoes, for example, mature in 4-6 months and, because of their vitamin A, help prevent night blindness and other eye health problems.

Africare, a nonprofit organization that works closely with Cabinda government agencies, supervises. Following good “trial year” results in 2001, Cabinda officials encouraged ChevronTexaco to extend the initiative to other parts of the province. Training is continuing through field visits and establishment of demonstration plots.

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* Malembo, Futila, Chiazi, Buco-Mazi, Caio, Mbuco, Vala, Cabassango, Simulambuco, and Chinga.