KAYANZA, November 9th (ABP) – The Burundi Landscape Restoration and Resilience Project (PRRPB) carried out on Tuesday, November 7, 2023, the distribution of 270 cows to households in the nine villages of Matongo commune, Kayanza province (North).
That activity was honored with the presence of the Minister of the Environment, Agriculture and Livestock, Prosper Dodiko.
PRRPB coordinator Odette Kayitesi said that this project aims to protect the environment, promote the farming sector, and establish nurseries for forest and agroforestry trees, to name but a few. She specified that the cows already distributed, via this project, number 1,479 and that some of them have already given birth, while others are at the gestation stage.
Minister Dodiko reminded the beneficiaries that these improved breed cows are not treated like those of local breed. They require several precautions to raise them, he told them. So, he invited them to feed them properly so that they would benefit from it. He added that the cows distributed do not only belong to the beneficiaries, but also to the entire community, hence the surrounding people and the administration are called upon to ensure their maintenance. He also invited the inhabitants of Kayanza province to combine their efforts to preserve arable land, in order to make it more fertile.
Speaking on the national rabbit livestock policy, he indicated that a modern slaughterhouse is already being built in Gitega province and that all residents are called on to adopt this type of livestock because, according to him, rabbits reproduce very quickly. He revealed that research into the properties of rabbit urine has already begun because, he explained, it is used in fertilizing and spraying plants.
In his opening speech, the chief of staff in the office of the governor of Kayanza, Mr. Vianney Ndikumana, commended the distribution of those cows and took the opportunity to provide advice to the beneficiaries. He invited them to take them carefully.
He also called on them to combine the pastoral domain with the agricultural domain, with a view to allowing each mouth to have something to eat. Mr. Ndikumana also urged the beneficiaries of the cows to continue the permanent stabling, especially by drawing the contour lines and installing there fodder fixing grasses which will feed those cows.