CANKUZO July 24th (ABP) – The Speaker of the National Assembly (NA), Mr. Daniel Gélase Ndabirabe, held a meeting on Thursday, July 22, 2021, at the headquarters of Cankuzo, for members of the committees of Sangwe cooperative societies and representatives of traders working in the province of Cankuzo (eastern Burundi), a check in Cankuzo by ABP revealed.
With the aim of reducing public debt to zero, the agriculture and livestock sectors are now highlighted as a pillar of the country’s development, the speaker of the National Assembly said.
For Mr. Ndabirabe, members of cooperative societies are the pillar of national development. He added that they have the mission to increase production, which will help the valuation of the Burundian currency because, according to him, there will be excess production to export.
The Sangwe cooperative society is the center for increasing productions, said Mr. Ndabirabe, adding that it is the center for the implementation of the Communal Community Development Program (PCDC) because, he explained, the PCDC gives the action plan.
He invited the administration and the Provincial Office of the Environment, Agriculture and Livestock to provide local supervision to Sangwe cooperative societies but also to sensitize the people without any distinction to join cooperative associations to achieve the goals set.
He took the opportunity to call on women to found their own cooperative societies in order to have access to loan through the women’s bank, as was the case for young people.
In his opening remarks, the governor of Cankuzo province, Mr. Boniface Banyiyezako, thanked the State for the support of 10 million granted to the Sangwe cooperative societies. He affirmed that another loan is already on the accounts of the communes.
To the question of the lack of foreign currency allowing businessmen in the province to import materials necessary for the implementation of their projects, the speaker of the National Assembly said that only investors in the fields of agriculture and livestock will receive foreign currency in Burundi.
Moreover, this does not mean that there is a shortage of currencies, but the policy of the State puts forward these sectors as the basis of sustainable development, he explained.
Note that the province of Cankuzo recorded more than 2000 tons of maize production for the past agricultural season.