Drought animal restocking and provision of seeds and tools and support to food security information in Angola

The objectives were to:

• assist the Government of the Republic of Angola in its efforts to reactivate agriculture by supplying draught animals to the most vulnerable populations;
• assist the Government of the Republic of Angola in its efforts to reactivate agriculture by supplying seeds and tools to the most vulnerable families in emergency pockets or those areas only recently accessible; and
  
• strengthen the capacity of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in gathering information particularly regarding farming systems, livelihoods development and household food security, especially in terms of understanding the transition from emergency to recovery needs.

The project components were:

• Animal traction component.
  FAO provided the project inputs (oxen, ploughs, chains and veterinary kits) and technical assistance (preparation of training materials, training of trainers, technical and methodological support). Nine non-governmental organization (NGO) partners were chosen to select the beneficiaries, distribute the oxen, train the beneficiaries, provide them with technical support and monitor the activities. Seven of these NGOs had previous experience in animal traction activities. The Veterinary Services were involved as much as possible in the trainings and the veterinary care given to the oxen.
  Specific activities:
  • procurement and distribution of 600 oxen;
  • procurement and distribution of 300 ploughs and chains;
  • procurement and distribution of veterinary kits;
• Seeds and tools component.
  The project selected implementing NGOs regarding their area of intervention, their activities in the agricultural sector and their past experience with FAO for project implementation. A contract was signed with each NGO at the beginning of the agricultural campaign covering: selection of beneficiaries according to highest level of vulnerability; elaboration of distribution plans; input distribution; training of beneficiaries; monitoring; and reporting.
  Specific activities:
  • procurement of seed and tool kit adapted to the central highlands agro-climatic conditions (10 kg maize, 5 kg beans, 60 g vegetable seeds (eight varieties), one European type hoe, one machete and one file);
  • distribution of 15 000 kits used to support reintegration programmes for persons with physical disabilities, spontaneous returnees and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees repatriation programme
• Dynamic Atlas component.
  This component was implemented directly by the Emergency Rehabilitation and Coordination Unit team in close collaboration with staff from the Institute of Agrarian Development (IDA) and Stations of Agrarian Development (EDA). The objective was to elaborate an Atlas of the 164 municipalities of Angola, presenting data on agriculture, livestock, household food security and general information describing the municipality itself. This Dynamic Atlas of Angola could be the first step in the organization of a new National Agro-Livestock census, given the fact that the last one was carried out in 1974, before Angola’s independence. The information gathered was to also serve as a baseline for assessing and designing future activities related to agriculture and food security.

Challenges

• The animal traction component experienced some difficulties due to the
  • lack of organization of the cattle market making it difficult to find suppliers who could provide the quantity of quality animals required within the specified time frame;
  • weaknesses of the Veterinary Services, especially in terms of access to inputs,infrastructure, human resources and logistics;
  • high prevalence of contagious bovine pleuro-pneumonia and other animal diseases in the South and the risk of spread to the rest of the country; and
  • timing of the project which required the purchase of oxen during a non-ideal period.
• The seeds and tools component experienced some difficulties due to the:
  • lack of access to certain beneficiaries; and
  • reduction of activities carried out by many NGOs as a result of funding problems.
• The Dynamic Atlas component experienced the following difficulties:
  • international procurement of the 4x4 vehicle and national customs clearance delayed the start of the validation processes;
  • bad road conditions hampered access to some locations, and
  • mine infestation or broken bridges made inclusion of certain municipalities in the Atlas impossible.