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Case Study

Photo: ACDI-VOCA

Cacongo resident Palmira Lando supplies fresh fruit and vegetable produce to local and cross-border markets. “Cabinda is not just about oil,” says Palmira Lando, a 48-year-old Angolan farmer from Cacongo in Cabinda Province. “We have plenty of land for fruit production, and we are looking for new markets. We don’t want handouts from the government.”

Challenge

Palmira Lando is a widow of a solider and a mother of six. A 48-year-old Angolan farmer and supplier from Cabinda province, she has supplied fresh fruit and vegetables to local and cross-border markets since 1998. “I had a hard time making ends meet when my husband died in the war,” said Lando. “I was trucking fresh produce from Cabinda to the Congo border market in Massabi, but I had high losses due to the lack of storage facilities and delays due to customs formalities.”

Initiative

Lando saw an opportunity to change things when she learned of an initiative to strengthen business links between farmers, like herself, and local produce buyers. The project helped Lando and 470 other farmers and their families nearby establish the Cabinda Farmers’ Association. With help from USAID and its partners, including oil companies such as Chevron, the association established strong business links with buyers in both regional markets and in markets that serve consumers living in the oil-producing consortium. Referring to the region’s oil wealth, Lando said, “Cabinda is not just about oil. We have plenty of land for fruit production, and we are looking for new markets. We don’t want handouts from the government.”

Results

Thanks to her hard work, and to the new markets she is tapping into, Lando’s household income rose to about $540 a month — a huge jump. In 18 months, she sold 12,558 kg of bananas and cassava products for a total of $9,223. She said that now she is able to pay her children’s school tuition and medical expenses and buy clothes for the family. “I deliver my fruits to the cold storage warehouse each week, and I receive cash payments each month,” Lando said. “Cabinda has not seen a project like this in my life. [It] has opened markets for us farmers, and we have lots more produce for sale.”

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