KARUSI May 7th (ABP) – The Agro-Pastoral Investment Cooperative (CIAP), parent cooperative, remains convinced that fledgling cooperatives need support for their self-development. The CIAP is looking into this question according to its Director General, Mr. Révocat Mubiro during his visit to the Rimawihe cooperative of Kidibwe in Nyabikere commune.
Agro-pastoral cooperatives lack technicality, hence the need for supervision, he noted. With the little financial means that these cooperatives have, they need inputs to launch them, he indicated, adding that these nascent cooperatives need advocacy to be open to the world.
The Rimawihe cooperative of Kidibwe is then one of the beneficiaries of CIAP support and the results are satisfactory, he demonstrated by a comparison with other unsupported cooperatives.
Indeed, a large marsh called “Nyamuzi-Cintama-Kidimbwe” was developed by PRODEFI and left to the rice-growing cooperatives of Nyabikere, Buhiga and Shombo, we learned on the spot.
The CIAP therefore supported the Rimawihe cooperative of Kidibwe in Nyabikere commune by providing it with a technician, and by giving it seeds and fertilizers.
As the rice is still flowering, the harvest is already estimated at more than six tons, whereas it was 2.5 tons, before benefiting from the supervision. The supervising technician announces that out of 234 ha available to marshland exploitation cooperatives, CIAP support has worked on 50 ha and Chinese cooperation has done the same, but 134 ha remain in deficit.
In supervised cooperatives, nurseries, ploughing, sowing, application of fertilizers, weeding and harvesting follow a calendar. The administration and services of the Provincial Office for the Environment, Agriculture and Livestock (BPEAE) intervene for strict compliance, according to information gathered on site.
Note that the rice cooperatives of that vast marsh register 4845 members.