Photo of the week – Gitega : the fertilizer shortage threatens harvests and food security

As the planting season for farming season B draws to a close, farmers in Gitega are denouncing insufficient, delayed, or incomplete distributions of chemical fertilizers. Urea and organo-mineral fertilizers are in critical shortfall, jeopardizing harvests and exposing the population to a potential food crisis. Anger is rising and concerns are spreading across several regions of the small east African nation, where farmers are pointing the finger at flawed and biased management of agricultural inputs.

Farmers in the province are sounding the alarm. At the Nyabugogo distribution site, Francine Nkurunziza, 50, a farmer from Kibiri village, expressed her outrage : “Out of five tickets, I only received one bag, even though the planting season is almost over.” How can a bag of urea be shared between two farmers?” She calls on the government to make organo-mineral fertilizers available in a timely manner and in sufficient quantities.

Vianey Niragira, 32 years old, a farmer from Rutoke village, shares the same frustration. “We’re leaving again with our tickets but no bags, no Imbura, no urea. Yet, despite our limited means, we’ve already paid the required amounts,” he laments. He also fears losing his tickets, the only evidence of payment that allows him to receive his supplies. For this farmer, the situation jeopardizes the achievement of national goals, particularly President Évariste Ndayishimiye’s slogan : “That every mouth has food and every pocket has money.”

Fulgence Habarugira, 50 years old, from Jimbi village, shares the same concerns : “I paid for four bags, but I only received one.” “Even during the A farming season, I had to resort to using organic fertilizers.” According to him, the repeated delays in distribution risk preventing some farmers from sowing on time, thus compromising expected yields.

Faced with these concerns, the director of the Provincial Office of Environment, Agriculture, and Livestock in Gitega, Jean Séverin Sinzobatohana, declined to comment.

With the B farming season underway, farmers fear that a persistent shortage of agricultural inputs will lead to a significant drop in production, with potential repercussions for food security in the region.

The situation in Gitega is not an isolated case. In several other regions of the small east African nation, farmers and cooperatives are denouncing insufficient quantities, delays, partial distributions, and sometimes deliveries occurring several months after the relevant growing season, with direct consequences for harvests.

Our photo : several farmers, including exhausted women, wait in vain at a chemical fertilizer distribution point in Gitega, protesting delays and insufficient quantities