ADFP Launched in Benguela, Angola

Items produced under the ADFP.

On March 1, 2007 the Embassy’s Agricultural Development and Finance Program (ADFP) was officially launched by Ambassador Cynthia G. Efird in Benguela.  Present were, among others, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Maria Filomena Delgado and Governor of Benguela Dumilde Rangel.  Senior members of Chevron Corporation also attended the event.

ADFP is a five-year $5.5 million public-private partnership involving USAID and Chevron Corporation.  The project is implemented through the Cooperative League of the USA (CLUSA) and its sub-grantees ECI Africa (a South African Consulting firm), and Action for Rural Development and Environment, and AGROMARKET (a Huila-based development non-profit). ProAgro Angola will work closely with the Angolan Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Agrarian Development Institute (IDA), among other public and private stakeholders, to increase the growth of selected commodity value chains such as bananas, potatoes, vegetables and coffee and to create greater business opportunities and capabilities for all its clients.

ADFP will apply a market-oriented value-chain approach to facilitate sustainable business relationships among participating producers, input suppliers, banks, processors and distributors of targeted high-value cash crops in the provinces of Benguela, Kwanza Sul, Bengo, Luanda, Huíla and Huambo.

Training and technical assistance will help increase production and productivity of selected

High level dignitaries attend the ADFP presentation in Benguela city hall.

crops, as well as improve access to finance and markets benefiting 3,000 small- and medium-sized farmers and related agribusinesses. Specifically, ADFP will:

• Identify specific domestic and international market opportunities; 
• Work to increase productivity and reduce production and transaction costs over time; 
• Improve the coordination among value chain participants to better access finance, input and output markets; 
• Promote an expanded role for private small- and medium-sized enterprises in addressing agribusiness constraints; and
• Strengthen the capacity of local service providers to ensure sustainability.