CIBITOKE November 6th (ABP) – At a time when the activities of the 2024 growing season are in full swing, the majority of Twa families in the Bihindo zone, Murwi commune, in Cibitoke province, say they have not sown anything, until nowadays. According to the testimonies of some of them. Two parents from different families, Goreth Niyonkuru and Daniel Ndabarushimana, admitted to us that they have no portion of land at home for sowing, but that they are content to go and cultivate with neighbors, compared to 2000 or 3000 Burundian francs per day. Another by the name of Claude Gihene revealed to us that even those who have small lands to cultivate for themselves, lack seeds for sowing, at the same time as they do not have money to buy bean seeds at the market. at 4500 or even 5500 BIF per kilogram or maize at 2500 francs per kilo. The Buhindo zone leader, Lazard Horugavye, confirmed that his leaders of the Twa ethnic group are extremely lacking in cultivable land, except for a few who own small areas.
However, apart from those who are worried about not having found seeds for that current season, others rent their portions of land to neighbors in exchange for small sums of money, he lamented. He added that those who only have small plots of land to build their shelters are content to give birth to children of up to five or six, whom they do not send to school. It is the latter who will be recruited later, by thieves of growing crops or household goods in the locality, he declared.
As for David Bitonde, a leader of a Batwa association, he appealed to the government to grant land or selected seeds to Batwa families, who lack so much. But also, he asked the provincial office of the environment and livestock (BPEAE) Cibitoke, to contribute to the supervision of the Batwa communities of the province, in modern agricultural methods, in the maintenance of kitchen gardens, in order to allow owners to have good yields, despite the exploitation of small portions of arable land.