NGOZI May 23rd (ABP) – The Minister of Environment, Agriculture and Livestock Déo Guide Rurema proceeded Thursday, May 19, 2022, at the Murama Washing Station in Mwumba commune, to launch the payment coffee growers for the 2022-2023 campaign.
That payment is coupled with bonuses for the 2022-2022 campaign. During these ceremonies, the new governor of Ngozi, Emmanuel Ntaconsanze said that production has been excellent this year. More than 3600 Tons of cherries have already been registered. He asked the coffee farmers not to waste coffee revenue but rather to use the money received in self-promotion activities.
Minister Guide Rurema thanked the coffee growers for having again reinvested in the maintenance of the coffee culture. He said that the laborious government has prioritized the agriculture and livestock sector.
He commends the grouping of farmers into production cooperatives and participation in the government’s policy of agricultural intensification which has made it possible to pool arable land, cultivate, sow and harvest at the same time.
That has made it possible to increase agricultural production in such a way that the country no longer imports food. He said that the government sees all the efforts of the people. That is why he has made the revival of the coffee sector his own. Thus the price has risen since 2015 from 400 BIF to 800BIF in 2022. He set up the ODECA Coffee Development Office to put his foot in this sector which had been liberalized but experienced a lot of disruption.
For the 2015-2016 campaign, there were more than 2 billion in debts that coffee operators owed to coffee growers. The government has made every effort to regularize coffee growers and has no debt today to producers.
Minister Rurema indicated that it was agreed to no longer delay coffee growers in payment. Thus the first installment will always be paid in May, as long as the second must be operated in August.
After the evaluation of the previous campaign, it was noticed significant gains on the part of the operators intervening in the marketing and especially the export of Burundian coffee. This is why the government, in consultation with the other stakeholders, has taken the measure of making bonuses to coffee growers of 150 BIF per kilo of cherry A and 75 for the kilo of cherry B.
Finally, the government plans to compensate the cooperatives that have invested in the production of coffee plants as part of the PACSC coffee sector competitiveness support project, which has suspended its activities. Thus a sum of 1.5 billion will be granted to these cooperatives.