Angola launches the Cassava Regional Centre of Leadership in Malanje

The Republic of Angola hosted the official launch of the Regional Centre of Leadership (RCoL) on Cassava and Cassava-based farming systems on the 29th of September 2022 in Malanje Province. The event was witnessed by the country’s top agricultural scientists, senior Government officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA) and other partners. In the same event, Angola officially engaged the Design and Supervision Firm for the construction of the Cassava RCoL. The firm is a joint venture between DAR Angola and CONSULGAL.

The ceremony was led by the Director General of the Instituto de Investigação Agronómica (IIA), the main public agricultural research institution in Angola, Dr João Ferreira da Costa Neto. Dr Neto urged the firm to work around the clock to beat the tight deadline as the Cassava RCoL building must be delivered before 2025. “Time is not on our side as we need the structures to be handed over within the next 22 months in compliance with the recommendation from the World Bank, which is to complete all activities within the lifetime of the Agricultural Productivity Programme for Southern Africa (APPSA)”, said Dr Neto.

Signing of Design and Supervision contract between IIA and DAR & CONSULGAL.

The Cassava RCoL is being established under APPSA, a six-year initiative funded by the World Bank and regionally overseen by CCARDESA. So far, APPSA has successfully supported the establishment of RCoLs on maize, rice and legume foods in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia, respectively.

In fact, RCoLs are meant to serve the entire region to avoid duplication of resources in research as each country within SADC is to lead on a specific commodity of importance, and all generated research outputs are expected to spillover across borders. Currently, besides Angola (which is focusing on cassava), APPSA is also supporting the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho to establish the RCoL on Horticulture and Horticulture-based farming systems.

In Angola, the engagement of the design and supervision firm is the first stage of the long-awaited construction of the Cassava RCoL. Among the deliverables, the Design and Supervision firm is expected to provide the following: environmental and social impact assessment report, project masterplan, detailed architecture and engineering designs, implementation schedule, phasing, cost estimates, bidding documentation as well as inspection and supervision of the construction works.

The entire Cassava RCoL construction project is budgeted at US$3.5 million to cover an estimated area of 14,000 square meters, and is expected to include: (a) Office blocks and conference rooms; (b) Agricultural experimentation areas and greenhouses; (c) Laboratories and Specialized Storage Areas; (d) Social Area with cafeteria, dormitories, and leisure; (e) Technical Services including Maintenance, Water and Electricity, Meteorology and Communications; (f) Waste treatment; (g) Security (Accesses, guards and fences); and (h) Circulation, Parking Lots, etc.