Getting acquainted with research projects in the fields of environmental surveillance, fruit-growing, and coffee cultivation was the purpose of the visit by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Republic of Angola, Gilberto Buta Lutucuta, to the Savannah Unit of the Brazilian Agricultural Research Company (Embrapa Cerrados), in the Federal District.
Besides Embrapa, Angola intends to form agricultural research partnerships with Petrobras, the Brazilian state petroleum company.
According to the general manager of Embrapa Cerrados, Roberto Teixeira Alves, Brazil maintains technical cooperation agreements with such countries as Mozambique, Angola, Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay.
“We want to establish more partnerships with African and Portuguese-speaking countries,” Teixeira explained.
The Angolan Minister observed that his country already has agricultural partnerships with Brazil.
“Our goal is to expand this exchange to aid in the post-war reconstruction of our country,” Lutucuta said.
“Research is the mainspring of all agricultural production activity, because it provides the guidance we need to produce in the countryside,” the Minister concluded.
According to Lutucuta, his country is also interested in scientific exchanges encompassing Brazilian and Angolan research on coffee.
In his view, only a little remains to be done to permit the intensification of instititutional cooperation between Ministries and research institutes in Angola and Brazil.
Lutucuta, whose visit to Brazil is being sponsored by Petrobras, met October 30 with the Brazilian Minister of Agriculture, Roberto Rodrigues.
“We have a special interest in the area of coffee. Everybody knows that Brazil is the biggest coffee producer and that Brazil’s production uses cutting edge technology.
“We believe that through collaboration with Brazil in the area of production, we only stand to benefit,” he affirmed.
According to the Angolan Minister, other areas of interest for exchanges are seed production, agronomic and veterinary research, and the formation of agricultural cooperatives.
Agência Brasil
Translator: David Silberstein