GITEGA June 21st (ABP) – The effective decentralization of the activities of the Ministry of Trade, Transport, Industry and Tourism is necessary for the supervision of cooperatives in the agri-food sector, with a view to producing in compliance with certification standards and procedures.
That came from the interventions of the representatives of the cooperatives of the aforementioned sector from the communes of the provinces of Gitega and Karusi, during a workshop that the Ministry of Trade, Transport, Industry and Tourism organized for them with the UNDP support, from June 16 to 17, 2022, in Gitega (center of the country).
Thanks to that workshop, the participants realized that they were working without knowing that production is subject to standards and that marketing is conditioned by the certification of the product.
The head of the department for monitoring industrial activities at the said ministry, Mr. Marc Mbasha, indicated that compliance with standards and certification in production confers the quality of a product and its appreciation on the market both at the local, regional or even international level.
He challenged the participants in the workshop to pass on the lessons learned there to the members of their respective cooperatives. “From now on, we want your products to be cleaner, and therefore competitive on the market” at all levels, insisted Mr. Mbasha, before adding that the export of these products will therefore generate currencies which the country needs enormously in its imports.