Hon. Governor Suzana Fernanda Pemba Massiala de Abreu is laying the foundations to diversify Cabinda’s economy and position it as a regional business and logistics hub through strategic infrastructure, agricultural development, and investment in human capital.
How is Cabinda progressing toward a more diversified economy, and where is the impact most visible?
Cabinda is a strategic province because of its geographical position, neighboring countries, and access to a market for the future. I was born and grew up in Cabinda, so I know its challenges and potential. For 70 years, Cabinda has been producing oil. It is a strategic resource that created quality jobs and helped develop the province’s middle class. But there was always something almost untouched: agriculture. Cabinda has everything for agriculture to work. We have plenty of water, rain for nine months of the year, a favorable climate, young people who can work, and, above all, a market.
Can you tell us more about Cabinda’s potential in the agricultural sector?
Agriculture is fundamental to food security, and we are seeing a transition from predominantly family farming toward more mechanized agriculture. Banana production has risen from around 250–300 tons two years ago to close to 400 tons, while cocoa production has increased from around 180 tons two or three years ago to approximately 400 tons. We have also gone from around 90 cooperatives two years ago to close to 200 today. The increase in production and cooperatives shows there is already a base from which we can grow. The next step is to strengthen the entire chain, from production to transformation and access to markets. We do not want agriculture to remain only at the level of family farming. Our aspiration is to make agriculture a decisive factor in Cabinda’s socioeconomic development, rather than looking only at oil. If we continue supporting farmers and entrepreneurs and developing product transformation, our goal is self-sufficiency in agricultural production for the local market. To achieve that, we are preparing the Agricultural Institute. Local agriculture is important for putting food on the table, but we must also train farmers, cooperatives, and the people who will work in agricultural projects.
How will projects such as the Caio Deep Water Terminal strengthen Cabinda’s economy and regional integration?
Logistics has always been one of Cabinda’s fundamental challenges. Bringing materials from Luanda, Lobito, Namibia, or elsewhere creates costs and delays the execution of structuring projects. In the last five years, however, we have seen a different dynamic, with projects moving from plans into execution. The Caio Deep Water Terminal will be the gateway that opens what has been locked in terms of logistics. It will drastically reduce the burden created by the lack of a deep-water port, allowing greater movement of goods into and out of Cabinda. This is part of a wider transformation that includes the new international airport, the refinery, and the planned external ring road connecting these projects and facilitating the movement of people and cargo. Around Cabinda, between Angola, the DRC, and the Republic of Congo, we are talking about a market of more than 150 million inhabitants. With the port, logistics platforms, and these connections working together, Cabinda will be another place. It will bring a boom in socioeconomic development.
“With the port and logistics platforms working together, Cabinda will be another place. It will bring a boom in socio-economic development. But infrastructure is not enough; we will invest in people.”
What role do municipalities play in strengthening local production and economic development?
With the new political-administrative division, municipalities have more delegated competencies and can be closer to the population, responding to their needs and identifying opportunities more quickly. Water, electricity, roads, and schools are fundamental pillars for development. We studied the comparative advantages of each municipality and how they can exchange with one another.
Miconje and Massabi, for example, have strong agricultural potential, while Buco-Zau and Belize concentrate much of our cocoa production because the Mayombe Forest provides excellent conditions for cocoa. The idea is to leverage production and create small industries so municipalities can transform and market their products. This allows each municipality to build on what it already does best while becoming more integrated into the province’s wider economy. Infrastructure will facilitate this exchange. The 295-kilometer road connecting the southernmost and northernmost municipalities is particularly important for the circulation of people and goods and for creating the local development we want. Municipalities have a fundamental role in supporting local projects that add value to their economies.
What legacy do you hope to leave for Cabinda, and how do you envision its future contribution to the region?
We have to imagine these structuring projects completed: the second phase of the refinery, the international airport, the 295-kilometer road, the logistics platforms, and the port. But I have always defended that it is not enough to invest in infrastructure; it is fundamental to invest in people. We need local people with the training and capacity to operate and maintain these projects. That is why investments in the university and our planned Agricultural Institute are fundamental. My vision is for Cabinda to become a business hub for the region. With these structuring projects, dynamic agriculture, and the logistics issue resolved, we can produce and export more and import less, reducing dependence on oil. Cabinda can play a fundamental role in Angola’s regional integration. We are creating the conditions for that. My dream is to see Cabinda’s development corridor working and the province consolidated as a business center, with economic development extending to the rest of the country and beyond.
Produced independently of the TIME Africa newsroom by Penresa.