Portugal has expressed full willingness to share agricultural knowledge and technology with Angola, with a view to unlocking what Lisbon describes as the country’s vast and largely untapped farming potential.
The commitment was made on Thursday in Icolo e Bengo province by Portugal’s Secretary of State for Agriculture, João Moura, on the sidelines of a visit by Angola’s Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Isaac dos Anjos, to the stands at the Agritech Show Luanda 2026 agribusiness, technology and innovation fair. The event is running until Sunday at Fazenda Quiminha, in the municipality of Cabiri.
Moura described Angola’s agriculture sector as a sleeping giant, citing the country’s enormous potential, vast territory and a climate capable of supporting high-quality crops that remain largely unexploited.
‘Today, given the various conflicts in different parts of our planet, we must look to and strengthen those who are our friends and our preferred partners — and Portugal considers Angola a preferred partner,’ Moura said.
The Portuguese official is in Angola specifically for the AgriTech Show, with the stated aim of reinforcing bilateral relations and highlighting the scope for greater coordination between the two governments, particularly between their respective agriculture ministries.
Moura said he was encouraged by the participation of several Portuguese business operators at the fair, who had brought with them knowledge and technology currently being applied in Portugal.
‘Angola has potential that Portugal will never be able to match — it has a business expansion opportunity that Portugal simply cannot offer,’ he said. ‘But Portugal also has a gateway into Europe and into other continents that Angola can and should take advantage of.’
He added that his presence at the fair could serve, in symbolic terms, to motivate Portuguese entrepreneurs and farmers — who operate in the highly competitive and rigorous European market — to apply their scientific expertise in Angola, with an eye to a broader and more far-reaching expansion.
As concrete examples, Moura highlighted cereals and tropical fruits, two categories where Portugal faces significant production constraints domestically.
‘Portugal has very real limitations and a significant production deficit in cereals, given the size of its territory,’ he said. ‘Angola could be a territory with enormous potential where Portugal serves as an export gateway for Angolan products into the various markets where it already has a presence.’
Moura confirmed that some facilitation agreements along these lines are already in place.
He further disclosed that Portugal’s Ministry of Agriculture, the National Institute for Agricultural and Veterinary Research (INIAV) and the Directorate-General for Food and Veterinary Affairs had all expressed a desire to establish agreements enabling technical experts from both countries to share the results of their scientific research.
‘We have already done this very recently with Brazil, through an entity called EMBRAPA, and there is every interest in aligning our institutions, our knowledge, and sharing it rather than keeping it exclusively for our own consumption,’ he said.
The Agritech Show Luanda 2026 brings together 60 Angolan and international companies and farms. The programme runs until Sunday and includes roundtable discussions, conferences, agricultural machinery demonstrations, field product exhibitions and visits to production sites.
Source: ANGOP / Original article: https://www.angop.ao/noticias/agricultura/portugal-deseja-ajudar-a-desenvolver-a-agricultura-em-angola/
