|
Angola Policies Affecting Rural Society
Prior to independence, most peasants engaged in
subsistence
farming and cattle herding, whereas commercial farms and
plantations, which produced most of the cash crops, were
owned and
operated primarily by Portuguese settlers. Although most
farmers
and herders consumed most of what they produced, those who
did
market some of their output depended on Portuguese bush
traders. A
barter system developed through which agricultural produce
was
exchanged for agricultural supplies and consumer goods
from the
cities. This entire system collapsed with the sudden
departure of
the Portuguese farms and bush traders at independence.
The government acted immediately by transforming the
abandoned
commercial farms into state farms, all of which were large
and
understaffed. The lack of personnel with managerial and
technical
skills, the breakdown of machinery, and the unwillingness
of
peasants to work for wages soon eroded the experiment in
nationalization, and by the early 1980s much of the land
was
appropriated for individual family farming.
The government proceeded cautiously in its dealings
with the
peasants, recognizing that productivity had to take
priority over
ideology. Thus, instead of immediately collectivizing
land, the
government formed farming cooperatives, but this too
failed because
of the government's inability to replace the function of
the
Portuguese bush traders, despite the establishment of a
barter
system managed by two state companies
(see Agriculture
, ch. 3). By
the early 1980s, most peasants, having never received from
the
state any promised goods, returned to subsistence farming
and their
traditional way of life.
A shift in agricultural policy began in 1984 that may
have
provided the basis for a fundamental change in rural life
in the
future. The goal was to restore a flow of farm surplus
products to
urban areas and reduce dependence on imports. Along with
the
dissolution of the state farms, the government began
setting up
agricultural development stations to provide assistance to
farmers
in the form of technical advice, equipment, and seeds and
fertilizer. In 1988 these measures were gradually
reversing the
decline in agricultural production for the market in the
few
provinces unaffected by the UNITA insurgency.
Data as of February 1989
|
