Angola has started exporting bananas again for the first time in 42 years. An Italian ship, the “Santa Francesca” recently left the port of Lobito, a town in Angola, with a cargo of 17 tons of bananas headed for Portugal. Banana production in Bengo province in the current agricultural year is expected to reach 360,000 tons.  The head of the Fazenda Agro-Industrial Bacilin in Culango, Benguela province, Eduardo Rodrigues told RNA that after inspections and quality certifications in Angola and at the destination, everything was ready for Angola's first banana exports to Europe.

Angola, which once produced 160,000 tons of bananas per year, with Benguela the main focus of production, is now exporting bananas from Benguela once again, 42 years after the last shipment.

Angola, like other oil exporting economies battered by weakening oil prices, is sriously diversifying its economy and is now looking to bananas as an alternative for growth. Angola is Africas biggest oil exporte after recently overtaking Nigeria, but the roughly $50 billion a year in revenue has come at the expense of other sectors. Angola imports 90% of its food at a cost of $5 billion each year. Diamonds are Angola's second biggest export.