BUJUMBURA December 10th (ABP) – The Provincial Office of the Environment, Agriculture and Livestock (BPEAE) in Bujumbura province, in collaboration with the provincial and communal administration and the Coffee Development Office (ODECA), launched the provincial campaign of spraying, fertilizing coffee fields and planting young coffee plants at Mihororo hill, Mageyo zone, Mubimbi commune, Wednesday, December 6, 2023, noted the ABP on the spot.
That activity began with a demonstration of mixing the phytosanitary product and spraying, followed by the application of fertilizers around the coffee trees. Subsequently, coffee growers followed how to properly plant the coffee tree.
The administrator of the Mubimbi commune, Mr. Dismas Harimenshi, said that there have already been 1,075,405 coffee trees and the population wishes to expand the plantings.
The Director of the DPEAE, Mr. Daniel Mazarahisha, urged the population to spray their fields to protect them against the coffee bug which reduces production, and to fertilize them, in order to increase yield and expand their fields by planting new ones to increase their income.
As for the representative of ODECA, he informed the participants that the government has plans to install industrial blocks of coffee trees, a project which is being implemented in certain provinces and called on administrators to target state lands in the communes in order to install state fields.
The chief of staff of the governor of Bujumbura province, Mr. Dieudonné Bizimana, said that the participants learned a lot about coffee culture and recommended that the population expand their coffee fields because that culture provides foreign exchange which are used to import goods and services that the population so desperately needs.
He urged older people to encourage young people to plant and maintain coffee trees, noting that young people are not interested in the said crop.
He recalled that coffee culture is interesting in several respects as long as it can be associated with other cultures.
He closed his speech by recalling the government rabbit breeding program, and invited the population to practice that breeding and have at least 5 rabbits per household.