KAYANZA August 5th (ABP) – The Ministry of Environment, Agriculture and Livestock launched, on Thursday August 3, 2023, the Emergency Agricultural Production Project in Burundi (AEFPF-Burundi).
The activity took place in the Nyawisesera swamp straddling the Gatara and Matongo communes of Kayanza province (north).
Having started in September 2022 and ending in December 2024, the project has an estimated cost of 15 billion Burundi francs and will cover 48,000 households in the 17 provinces, i.e., approximately 255,000 direct beneficiaries, 60% of whom will be women from the said provinces.
In his speech, the representative of the African Development Bank (AfDB) group in Burundi, Mr. Jean Claude Nsabimana, said that AEFPF-Burundi aims to reduce poverty in regional member countries by contributing to their sustainable economic development and social progress. To that end, Mr. Nsabimana raises resources to promote investment in those countries and provides them with technical assistance as well as advice on the policies to be implemented.
He recalled that since February 2022, a war between Russia and Ukraine has broken out and that unheard-of consequences have been a reality in various countries without sparing Burundi. He spoke of the rise in the price of fuel and other basic necessities such as fertilizers, seeds, and phytosanitary products for agricultural production which sustains the majority of rural and urban households.
The representative of the African Development Bank Group in Burundi insisted that in order to support African States to cope with the consequences of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, the AfDB has set up the emergency agricultural facility and that it is within this framework of the AEFPF-B project that was set up. The project specifically aims to intensify the production of cereals (maize and rice) using varieties that are resilient to climate change, promote gender-sensitive policies by facilitating accessibility to agricultural inputs as well as the promotion of digitalization to provide support to farmers to ensure transparency and inclusiveness.
In turn, the assistant to the Minister responsible for agriculture, Mr. Emmanuel Ndorimana, praised the support of the AfDB in various fields such as agriculture, livestock, road layout, electrification, and many other sectors.
Speaking of the project that had just been launched, Mr. Ndorimana specified that the AEFPF-B project’s mission is to provide support, for the people to have what to eat and money.
In addition, he said that this project has highlighted the gender promotion and that 60% of the beneficiaries will be women, especially since they are the first to take care of agricultural work. For him, the promotion of gender undoubtedly results in boosting the country’s economy without putting aside that of women.
The assistant to the minister responsible for agriculture added that, thanks to that project, rice production will increase from 200 to 28,000 tons while maize production, which is 571 tons, will increase to 9,000 tons.
At the same time, Mr. Ndorimana invited agronomists and agricultural instructors to work closely with the administration in order to achieve the success of the aforesaid project.