GITEGA June 29th (ABP) – The Minister of the Environment, Agriculture and Livestock, Mr. Sanctus Niragira, answered on Monday, June 26, 2023, in Gitega (center of the country), oral questions from senators. He was called to speak on the harvest situation for the 2023 growing season B.
According to Mr. Niragira, the harvest in question was good, citing among others, cereals (maize, rice) and legumes (beans, peas). He specified that the province of Kirundo (north of the country) has returned to its legendary place of being the breadbasket of the country.
He took the opportunity to inform the people’s elected representatives that the farming population has been made aware of the rational management of harvest to prevent them from falling into famine. He indicated that awareness is centered on storage in known sheds, adding that, soon, there will be the setting of prices for those food products to mark out speculation on the rise by traders.
In addition, Minister Niragira revealed the strategies intended for increasing agricultural production. Thus, he mentioned the encouragement of public-private partnership, the sensitization of people having close agricultural properties on the interest of their pooling. This will facilitate agricultural supervision and the supply of agricultural inputs (mineral fertilizers and phytosanitary products), he added. Mr. Niragira also informed the willingness of some members of the diaspora wishing to invest in the agricultural sector.
The senators also expressed the desire to contribute to the increase in agricultural production. To Minister Niragira, they reiterated their request for land for their tea production cooperative, in the Ryarusera zone, in Muramvya commune and province.
In his speech, the president of the Burundian Senate, Mr. Emmanuel Sinzohagera, provided Minister Niragira with recommendations aimed at agricultural development. He asked him in particular to follow up on the agricultural agreements signed between Burundi and bilateral or multilateral organizations, to eradicate the commission agents who intervene in the sale of Burundian coffee and tea on the international scene, to encourage young people working in agro-pastoral cooperatives during capacity building training, to modernize the SOSUMO factories (Moso sugar company) and the OTB (Burundi tea Authority), to dissociate the land reserved for food crops from those for cash crops.
Faced with the apparent lack of the rabbit urine market, which would play both the role of fertilizers and that of phytosanitary products, Mr. Sinzohagera asked Minister Niragira to instruct ISABU to do scientific research on the urine in question to find out why it is useful.
The president of the Senate also issued a recommendation to modernize ISABU so that it effectively meets the needs of the population and bring it into partnership with local and international research centers.