BUJUMBURA, June 29th (ABP) – On Friday 21 June, the Ministry of Environment, Agriculture and Livestock, in collaboration with the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), organized a national workshop to capitalize on the activities of the Support Project for Responsible and Integrated Soil Management (PAGRIS) carried out over the past four years. The project was launched by IFDC with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Burundi under the theme “Healthy soils for sustainable food and nutrition security and increased incomes”.
On that occasion, Clément Ndikumasabo, Director General in charge of Land Management and Irrigation at the Ministry of Agriculture, announced that IFDC had launched that project to address land degradation and the continuing decline in the fertility of already poor and acidic soils, which are the main constraints to agricultural productivity in Burundi.
According to him, the activities of the projects and programmes implemented by IFDC and its partners are in line with the priorities of the Government of Burundi and, in particular, the Ministry of Agriculture. He mentioned, among other things, the support provided to farmers in the project’s intervention zone; the development of soil fertility maps for Burundi, which have provided specific information on the degree of acidity and nutrient requirements for each agro-ecology; and the support provided to research institutions.
He stressed that the aim of that activity was to share with partners the contribution of the PAGRIS project to improving soil health, enhancing food security and increasing household incomes, with a view to encouraging a constructive exchange of ideas that could help identify strategies and actions to ensure the continuity of current and future activities. He added that the Ministry of Agriculture reaffirmed its firm commitment to work with and support IFDC through the various ongoing and future projects and programmes in support of Burundi’s vision of becoming an emerging country by 2040 and a developed country by 2060.
During the presentation, the coordinator of the PAGRIS project, Mr Micael Beun, who spoke about the results achieved by the project (PAGRIS), explained that IFDC carried out that project with the aim of facilitating the application of a corrective dose that would enable households to engage in a process of recovery and sustainable management of fertility, stimulate demand in priority areas and ensure a learning process on the use of dolomite.
With regard to the results achieved by the project during its four years of existence. In particular, he cited the facilitation and support given to communities in 755 locations to organize themselves and draw up a plan for the protection and development of micro-watersheds covering a total area of 131,590 hectares; the distribution of 19,851 tons of dolomite to 48,006 farming households to correct the acidity of their soils in order to improve the fertility of their soils and consequently agricultural productivity for the 2023A, 2024A and B seasons, as well as the updating of the soil fertility inventory through ISABU.
Zacharie Nzohabonayo, agronomist at IFDC Burundi, is proud of the project’s achievements on the ground, saying that the PAGRIS project has improved the management of the landscape, slopes and watersheds by promoting collective community actions in which all the farmers concerned draw up a land use management plan to combat soil erosion and implement integrated good practices.
During that workshop, one of the beneficiaries of the project’s training on integrated soil fertility management from the province of Bujumbura, Mr Vincent Bukuru, testified that that project has helped the smallholder farmers on his hill to adopt good agricultural practices for soil fertilization, which necessarily involves the use of organic and mineral inputs, as well as the use of good quality seeds, in order to increase agricultural production and maintain a favorable and healthy environment.
During the discussions, participants recommended that IFDC continue to work with farmers in all provinces of the country to practice good soil fertilization management in order to increase agricultural production in Burundi.