Workers drying coffee cherries on raised beds in Angola. Photo credit: Companhia de Café de Angola
Angola is pursuing an integrated approach to revive its collapsed but promising coffee industry. The plan involves a mix of government and private financing and new agriculture-focused policy strategies.
The coffee sector revival program is led by the National Coffee Institute of Angola (INCA), which is responsible for the promotion, technical coordination, monitoring, and control of coffee activities. INCA has several measures already in place to revamp coffee output, including upgrading existing farms, investing in the modernization of coffee processing facilities, and distributing and planting modern arabica and robusta coffee varieties in at least three of the country’s ten main coffee-growing provinces.
A notable project under the coffee sector revival plan is the ‘Mukafe’ scheme, which was launched in 2023 with financing from the European Union through the French Development Agency in the provinces of Uíje, Cuanza Sul, and Cuanza Norte, which account for more than 80% of the total coffee production in Angola.
The ‘Mukafe’ project is among the first to benefit from the 2021 government-approved private investment law, which paved the way for the introduction of a contractual system for all private sector investments in any sector of Angola’s economy.
For instance, companies and individuals who have obtained the private investment registration certificate from the government to start a business in the coffee value chain no longer need to obtain additional permits and authorizations from other government bodies as a prerequisite to embarking on actual coffee production. This reduces the bureaucracies and delays identified by investors as an impediment to the thriving of startups in Angola.
Moreover, the investment law allows the investors interested in transferring dividends from their business to other countries to do so even if they have yet to fully implement their project of choice, such as establishing a commercial coffee farm.
The Mukafe project focuses mainly on the production of high-quality arabica and robusta coffee varieties, although Angola is more known for producing the latter variety.
INCA, which is also responsible for implementing government-driven coffee policies and developing technology and technology transfer in the sector, is touting government-supported incentives such as tax breaks for farm inputs, both locally produced and imported, and farm subsidies to entice more small-scale and commercial coffee investors into coffee production.
Angola, which in the 1970s was ranked the fourth biggest global coffee producer with output of more than 230,000 metric tons at its peak, recorded a near collapse of the industry, with production declining to slightly more than 5,000 metric tons as civil war raged in the country between 1975 and 2022. Production levels slightly increased to 16,000 metric tons in 2022 as the government liberalizes the industry and woos more private investment in crop production, processing, and marketing.
Coffee production is primarily concentrated in the high-altitude provinces of Uige, Cuanza Norte, Cabinda, Zaire, Bengo, Cuanza Sul, and Malanje.
“However, years of civil war and weak investment severely affected the production, and today coffee constitutes 3% of the total agricultural exports of Angola,” says a previous report by the International Coffee Organization.
Furthermore, the Association of Industry of Angola (AIA), one of the leading government entities in revitalizing the coffee industry, has recently unveiled the Federation for Relaunch of Robusta Coffee (Recafe). Coffee growers and cooperatives that join the Federation will have access to a credit facility from the National Bank of Angola.
In early 2024, the Angolan government dedicated AOA 10 billion ($12 million) to support a coffee production plan to produce 12,360 tons by the end of 2024.
The government is also working with the private sector to provide at least 40 million coffee seedlings annually and rehabilitate and upgrade 20,000 hectares of farms under coffee annually.
Other government-driven initiatives targeting the revival of the Angola coffee industry include combating coffee pests and diseases and supplying farmers with seeders and sprayers.
With an increase in coffee output, Angola, currently the second largest oil-producing country in Sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria, expects to reduce its reliance on hydrocarbon exports and diversify into other economic sectors, especially agriculture. This will reduce the national import bill and boost the country’s foreign exchange reserves.