Angola’s First Lady, Ana Dias Lourenço, Tuesday appealed to the government to strengthen, in a substantive and sustainable way, the support for rural women, as the main driving force of the family and rural economy in the country.

According to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), in Angola, rural women, as recognized as an important economic agent, represent a universe 5.3 million people an overall 18.6% of the population estimated at over 30 million inhabitants.

Ana Dias Lourenço, who hosted, by videoconference, the Webinar on “The Contribution of Rural Women to the Agro-Food Systems and the Economy”, an initiative supported by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Programme, called for the improvement of the public policies in this field, providing better education, health and access to technologies.

In Ana Dias Lourenço’s view, it is urgent to regenerate agribusiness, providing communities with the capacity to settle, increasing investment in rural areas, and the diversification of the financing modalities, based on micro-credit.