The African Development Bank Group has approved a $211.4 million financing package to boost agricultural production and create thousands of jobs in eastern Angola.
The Agricultural Value Chain Development Project in the Eastern Region aims to transform the area into a major food hub for Angola and neighboring countries by leveraging its strategic position along the Lobito Corridor economic zone.
The project will create 7,500 direct jobs, at least half of which will go to women and one-third to young people. It will benefit 1.2 million people across six provinces: Lunda Norte, Lunda Sul, Moxico, East Moxico, Cuando, and Cubango.
"This transformative project is essential to making the Lobito Corridor a logistics infrastructure and a catalyst for development, leveraging both infrastructure and the potential for food production and processing,” said Pietro Toigo, Country Office Manager for Angola and São Tomé and Príncipe at the African Development Bank."By combining cutting-edge technology, climate-smart infrastructure, and youth empowerment, we are not only investing in agriculture—we are investing in Angola’s future prosperity and food sovereignty.”
Angola currently imports billions of dollars’ worth of food each year, despite having 35 million hectares of arable land, of which only 17% is cultivated. The eastern region—rich in water resources and favorable agro-ecological conditions—has remained largely underdeveloped due to decades of conflict and limited investment.