KAYANZA October 28th (ABP) – Rice farmers exploiting the Ruvubu hydro-agricultural marsh, near Muhanga commune in Kayanza province (north), are recommended not to plow or germinate the seeds of stored rice at home as long as the communal administration and the authorized bodies have not yet given the signal, we learned on Monday during a meeting organized by the communal administration of Muhanga.
In addition, the rice seed germinators will be shared, which will allow any rice farmer exploiting this marsh to benefit from certified rice seeds free of charge.
During this meeting organized for rice farmers exploiting the Ruvubu hydro-agricultural swamp recently developed by the Sector Development Program (PRODEFI) on an area of 800 ha, the advisor to the Muhanga communal administrator in charge of business economic, development and statistics, Mr. Simon Ntabahungu, deplored the fact that there are some rice farmers exploiting the said swamp who have arrogated to themselves the right to start plowing or germinating rice seeds stored at home while the communal administration and the agricultural technical services have not yet communicated the plowing schedule.
Otherwise, he insisted, those who ignore those measures will be removed from their rice fields to be distributed to others who are able.
At the same time, Mr. Ntabahungu asked users of the Ruvubu hydro-agricultural marsh to respond massively to the cleaning activities of the sprinkler gutters to block the road to flooding. To both administrative and agricultural officials from the village to the zonal level, Mr. Ntabahungu proposed to take the lead in raising awareness from plowing to harvest. Here, he called on the rice farmers of Muhanga not to wait for officials to come and educate them on weeding their rice fields while the harvest that will come from it will belong to them.
During the discussions, some rice growers exploiting the said marsh asked the technicians who developed that marsh to return to develop the places not yet developed, especially the 3rd perimeter, the sprinkler gutters and some dikes which have already collapsed. As a result, they asked the Muhanga communal administration not to proceed with the reception of that swamp until everything is in order.