Agriculture in Angola Agriculture in Angola Agriculture in Angola has a tremendous potential. Angola is a potentially rich agricultural country, with fertile soils, a favourable climate, and about 57.4 million ha of agricultural land, including more than 5.0 million ha of arable land. Before independence from Portugal in 1975, Angola had a flourishing tradition of family-based farming and was self-sufficient in all major food crops except wheat. The country exported coffee and maize, as well as crops such as sisal, bananas, tobacco and cassava. By the 1990s Angola produced less than 1 percent the volume of coffee it had produced in the early
Agriculture in Angola volume of coffee it had produced in the early 1970s, while production of cotton, tobacco and sugar cane had ceased almost entirely. Poor global market prices and lack of investment severely limited the sector after independence. The Angolan Civil War (1975-2002) and the consequent deterioration of the rural economy and neglect of the farming sector dealt the final blow to the country’s agricultural productivity. The departure of Portuguese farmers and traders from rural Angola after independence undermined agricultural productivity. In response the government set up state farms on land formerly owned by the Portuguese and established the National Company for