CIBITOKE December 21st (ABP) – Two activities, namely the planting of bamboo for the protection of the banks on the Ruhwa River, on the common border with Rwanda; and the planting of jackfruit trees, along the Bujumbura-Rugombo road (RN5), will be the priority for the year which begins for the Cibitoke province (north-west of Burundi) as part of the national reforestation project “Ewe Burundi urambaye “, revealed to the ABP the head of the provincial branch of the Burundian Office for Environmental Protection (OBPE), Mr. Fidèle Nzigamiye.
26,520 bamboo plants in production will be planted on the banks of the Ruhwa river (Burundian side), from Mabayi commune to Rukana 1 in Rugombo commune where the Ruhwa river flows into the Rusizi river, said the chief antenna of the OBPE.
For those bamboos, three nurseries are installed in the Mugina commune, which has the majority to be protected, in three different localities, to facilitate the movement of the plants. Those are Ngoma, which must supply Ngoma and Nyamihana in Mugina commune, and the Miremera and Ruhororo hills in Mabayi commune.
The Nyamakarabo center, with 12,000 bamboo plants, will take over to serve Nyamakarabo, while the third bamboo production point is located in Camakombe and will serve the Camakombe and Gitumba villages of Mugina commune, as well as Rukana 1 in Rugombo commune arriving at the mouth with the Rusizi River. Concerning jackfruits, 6,000 plants will be planted on the RN5, and the launch took place last week, when the governor of Cibitoke province, Carême Bizoza, participated in the planting of 3,500 jackfruit plants set up from the border commune of Bubanza and Cibitoke provinces, from Nyamitanga towards Ndava.
That planting is being done in particular with volunteers from the Burundi Red Cross (CRB), who will continue to maintain those plants in collaboration with the owners of the planted land, a check on the site by ABP has disclosed. The provincial head of the OBPE specified that the fact of associating the CRB aims above all to make the latter and the hill chiefs responsible for the maintenance of those plants with a view to monitoring their progress. Mr. Nzigamiye said that his service also plans to rehabilitate some parts of the Kibira natural forest destroyed by bush fires, with indigenous plants.
He did not forget to point out the presence of other partners in the protection of the environment and arable land, such as the CNDD-FDD political party which took the lead in planting agro-forestry trees, eucalyptus and fruit trees on all the hills of Cibitoke province.