In a press briefing on the evaluation of crop seasons A and B hosted on Saturday June 8, 2024, Prosper Dodiko, minister responsible for agriculture, indicates that the country experienced a surplus in corn production. While the corn collection is not finished, the actors involved are called upon to remain vigilant to avoid rotting of this product stored in sheds.
Prosper Dodiko, Minister of the Environment, Agriculture and Livestock: “We can confirm without being mistaken that in Burundi, we had a surplus of corn production.”
«Currently, we have already collected more than 37,000 tonnes of dry corn grains and the capacity of the sheds located at the municipal level has been exceeded, thus forcing us to temporarily stop purchasing » indicated Prosper Dodiko, the Minister of the Environment, Agriculture and Livestock during a press briefing on the evaluation of the 2024 A growing season and the 2024 B growing season hosted this Saturday on June 8, 2024. Minister Dodiko also indicates that the survey carried out by the administration reveals that more than 40,000 tonnes remain to be purchased.
«From all this we can confirm without being mistaken that in Burundi, we had a surplus of corn production.“, he concluded.
That the actors involved in the corn grain purchasing campaign be vigilant
However, it is obvious that those involved in the agricultural production management process, including the National Strategic Stock Management Agency (Anagessa), were not ready to ensure the proper management of this harvest. As an illustration, in a meeting held on Wednesday June 5, 2024 in the capital of Ngozi province with all provincial administrators and stakeholders involved in the corn purchasing campaign, Prime Minister Gervais Ndirakobuca had to suspend the relaunch of the corn grain purchasing campaign following the lack of equipment and chemicals. This is so that the rotting of corn kernels stored in sheds observed in 2022 is not repeated. Thus, he alerted all these actors.
«Any actor, whether municipal or provincial administrative authorities and agents of the ministry responsible for agriculture and livestock, who are involved in this corn purchasing process and who are not vigilant during this period, their heart no longer works “, he indicated before announcing that the government of Burundi has already committed more than 68 billion FBu in the purchase of corn grains this year alone.
According to Prime Minister Ndirakobuca, officials involved in the purchase of the maize harvest face a test of their responsibility once there is rotting of this product due to poor management of the harvest. He indicated: “We will all be excommunicated by Burundian society »
For this, he ordered that June 10, 2024 be the deadline for the actors participating in the corn purchasing campaign to address all the challenges that are blocking the smooth running of this activity. Prime Minister Ndirakobuca took this opportunity to announce that non-vigilant actors will be severely punished.
Couldn’t exporting or processing corn reduce the risk of crop rot?
The Burundian government is making efforts to increase agricultural production, but this policy should be accompanied by a harvest management system, because poor production management can also hamper household resilience. Research carried out by the Agricultural Risk Management Platform (PARM) on maize cultivation revealed that maize is a growing food crop and is increasingly becoming the income of farmers. However, this platform indicates that growing corn presents a number of risks that prevent corn farmers from being resilient. PARM says that in cases of overproduction, mismanagement of the crop sometimes results in rotting, wastage or disruption of prices in the market. It will then be necessary to resort to corn grain processing industries or seek the market outside.
However, the export of Burundian products is not in itself reliable. She faces a lot of barriers. Denis Nshimirimana, secretary general of the Federal Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Burundi (CFCIB) lists certain challenges to be faced in the field of exports in Burundi, in particular a huge gap in statistics on production. According to him, an economic operator hesitates a thousand times before committing to exporting a product of which he is unaware of the annual production in quantity and quality.
He also recommends the promotion of a “business mind” business culture to seek customers outside Burundi. The export of agricultural products from Burundi also faces insufficient logistical infrastructure and a very long export authorization application process. Addressing these challenges could usher in new horizons that facilitate the export of agricultural products.
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