KARUSI February 27th (ABP) – The Bread Wheat Production and Reclamation Company (SOPROVAP) led an awareness-raising session on February 22, 2023 for its partners in favor of the cultivation of bread-making wheat, which cost more than 54 billion Burundi francs in the year 2022, according to Mr. Onesphore Ntakirutimana, general manager of the company.
He pointed out that Burundi loses threefold by buying bread wheat in Ukraine to satisfy bread consumers. That wheat is bought in foreign currency, which is very expensive for the government on the one hand, the cost of transport in the current conditions of apparent lack of fuel on the other hand and the long journey which causes possible delays in refueling afterwards. These are the main reasons that push the company to popularize this crop, Mr. Ntakirutimana added.
He said that the crop has already been tried in the provinces of Bururi, Kayanza and Muramvya and gave more than satisfactory results. As commonly grown wheat adapts to several parts of the country, bread wheat can also adapt to Karusi, he said. All volunteer applicants will receive seeds and fertilizers on loan through the services of BPEAE at a minimal interest rate of 8%. The SOPROVAP company will take care of the harvest, packaging, conservation and purchase of the production, according to the general manager. All the Sangwe cooperatives will benefit from the donation of seeds and fertilizers on an area of one acre for trials, he said.
For her part, the governor of the Karusi province, Mrs. Dévote Nizigiyimana, understood and accepted that this important crop for the country be grown, but she asked that its trial on large areas be postponed for the next crop year.
On this, Director General Ntakirutimana pointed out that the sowing period is fixed between February 20 and March 10 and that exceeding this date, the probability of having bad harvests is great.