GITEGA January 16th (ABP) – The Minister of the Environment, Agriculture and Livestock, Dr Sanctus Niragira, proceeded on Monday January 16, 2023, in Gitega (Center of the country), to the presentation of the half-yearly achievements, for the 2022-2023 financial year. According to him, the overall rate of achievement for that semester is estimated at 85%.
Dr. Niragira said that this ministry is committed to ensuring food security for the entire Burundian population so that every mouth has food and money without compromising the environment.
In the field of protection and improvement of the productive heritage, 5,969.65 ha of watersheds have been developed; 71,735 land certificates were issued; 140 ha of marshes have been rehabilitated; 1,850 ha of marshes and plains were irrigated at hill level and 25 irrigation motor pumps were distributed.
He also reported that in the sector of increasing agricultural production, 56,975.53 tons of organo-mineral fertilizers and 24,658.87 tons of dolomite were delivered for food crops at the zone level. He added that the ministry granted farmers different categories of seeds including 1,082,500 sweet potato cuttings, 4,015 bottles of oyster mushrooms, 55,647 banana plants, 35,000 pineapple suckers, 84,500 cocoyam suckers and 186,935 tons of rice seeds.
Minister Niragira also indicated that in that sector, the ministry has set up 3 communal agro-sylvo-pastoral development centers within the framework of local supervision in Nyanza Lac, Kabezi and Rugombo. 6 seed centers were supported with agricultural inputs; 116 radiation centers and 2,911 cooperatives were supervised. He pointed out that 13,515 agricultural households have benefited from loans as part of the financial capacity building of producers.
As future prospects, Minister Niragira reported that this ministry will continue to raise awareness of the establishment of radiation centers and emerging centers in all communes and the establishment of agro-sylvo-pastoral centers. The ministry will also continue and develop the post-harvest recovery component to minimize the losses recorded and support the constitution of sufficient stocks of fertilizer in order to avoid delays in distribution.
He further indicated that it will try to maintain agricultural production at a satisfactory level and put in place mechanisms for its increase. It will also try to revitalize the seed centers; provide technical support to cooperatives in the management of government contributions to the development of the villages; continue environmental protection work through the “Ewe Burundi Urambaye” program and the Thursday dedicated to environmental protection.
Note that in that follow-up of activities, the ministry in charge of agriculture also recommends setting up strategic food security stocks through the National Agency for the Management of Food Security Stocks (ANAGESSA).