GITEGA July 24th (ABP) – Burundi President Evariste Ndayishimiye made a trip to the Gitega and Bugendana communes where he visited the vegetable fields of the Mutwenzi and Gitora hill swamps in the Mugera zone to see the state of the fields for the 2021 cropping season C. He appreciated the irrigation techniques practiced by the farmers of those fields which have a good vegetative state.
President Ndayishimiye, accompanied by the Minister of the Environment, Agriculture and Livestock, Mr. Déo Guide Rurema, the Governor of Gitega, Mr. Venant Manirambona and other administrative and development authorities opened that field trip on Friday July 23, 2021 in the field of vegetables and fruits of the Mutwenzi swamp, Birohe village in the Gitega commune, where he participated in the sowing works. He also visited the water catchment source that irrigates that vast field.
President Ndayishimiye continued his trip to the Gitobe field in the Mugera zone of the commune of Bugendana which has good greenery even though we are in the dry season thanks to the hill irrigation practiced by the farmers who are supervised by the NGO AVEDEC.
That field abounds in varied modern crops such as cassava, sweet potato and beans.
In his speech, the Head of State of Burundi congratulated the farmers and their supervisors for that good initiative to practice hill irrigation.
He encouraged them to move forward with those good practices and to continue farming on the hills even during the dry season. This allows them to have a good agricultural production and thus they receive sufficient food and surplus to sell to the market. It also allows them to increase household income and therefore to meet family needs and embark on self-development projects.
The Head of State also urged farmers who have not yet practiced irrigating their fields during the dry season to follow in the footsteps of those who have started. He congratulated the NGO AVEDEC for its technical support to farmers and invited other partners involved in agriculture and livestock to follow that example. He invited the monitors to strengthen the supervision of farmers by reminding them that they must spend more time in the field.
The Head of State continued his visit to the AVEDEC Training Center in Modern Techniques of Agriculture, Livestock and Sanitation, located in the Bugendana commune. He also visited his modern agricultural and livestock farm located in the same commune of Bugendana.