The Japanese Agency for International Cooperation (JICA) had planned to send their experts to Angola for experimental cotton cultivation in the Capanda Agricultural Hub in Malanje province. Field trials with cotton varieties using a drip irrigation system, in collaboration with the Angolan Institute of Agrarian Development, will assess their adaptability and yield.
JICA support will bring in irrigation equipment, seeds, fertilizers and cotton pressing machinery, a Portuguese news agency report cited the Japanese Embassy in Luanda as saying. The first cotton cropping in Angola was witnessed in the mids of 16th century. Since then the country’s cotton production reached a record of 86,000 tons in 1973, making it one of the world’s largest producers. However it ended by after civil war proclamation of the independence in 1975.
Once again with the said initiative, during the study, which will be carried out in conjunction with the Institute of Agrarian Development (IDA), there will be field trials with varieties of cotton using a drip irrigation system, with the support of international experts, to “assess the adaptability and yield of different varieties of seed cotton.”
The support from JICA will also ensure the “acquisition of irrigation equipment, seeds, fertilizers, cotton pressing, and other needs,” according to Portuguese news agency Lusa.The programme coordinator for cotton production in the Ministry of Agriculture, Carlos Canza, in July announced in July the intention of a Japanese company to deploy this experimental system in an area of 10,000 hectares, and expecting to see a yield of 5 tons of cotton per hectare.
