Banana production in Bengo province in the current agricultural year is expected to reach 360,000 tons, said Thursday in Panguila Market, Dande district, the provincial director of Agriculture.

On the sidelines of the opening of the Nationally Produced Banana Fair, which runs until Sunday, 29 May, Faustino Ngonga told Angolan news agency Angop that the province continues to lead banana production in Angola, with the aim to exceed the 2015 harvest, which totalled 344,000 tons.

The Banana Fair, organised by the Bengo provincial government, in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture, aims to encourage associations and cooperatives to seize business opportunities, marketing their agricultural products and allowing for exchange of information between producers, exhibitors and buyers.

The 5th edition of the event was inaugurated by the minister of Economy, Abraão Gourgel, and on that occasion the Minister of Trade, Fiel Constantino said that could become a big business exchange due to the level of organisation and the growing number of domestic and foreign exhibitors.

In addition to bananas, this fair has exhibited other agricultural products and crafts, and the Minister of Trade said that it might be a place for “operators of distribution networks, who have difficulty finding foreign exchange for import to find alternative local products of the same quality.”

Last Sunday, the Italian ship “Santa Francesca” left the port of Lobito with a cargo of 17,000 tons of bananas headed Portugal, 42 years after the last export of Angolan bananas to Europe. (macauhub/AO)