NGOZI, March 7th (ABP) – In an interview with ABP, Emile Kubwimana, director of the provincial office for the environment, agriculture and livestock in Ngozi, said that ploughing was almost complete in all the communes in the province. According to him, farmers are getting ready for the bean sowing season. This is despite the shortage of FOMI fertilisers, including “Imbura” and urea.
Kubwimana points out that the B cropping season in Ngozi province began for rice growers in December 2024, when rice was transplanted over an area of more than 8,000 ha. For the moment, he said, rice growers are busy weeding and fertilising rice fields. Despite the fact that farmers are getting ready to sow the fields, they are facing a shortage of FOMI “Imbura” fertiliser, since the quantity received for this growing season is estimated at more than 2,543 tonnes, or 53%, while the quantity ordered is estimated at 4,777 tonnes, the official said.
For urea fertilisers, Kubwimana reports that the stock is empty, whereas the quantity ordered is estimated at 1,156 tonnes. For bagara fertiliser, 99 tonnes of the 109 tonnes ordered have been received, and for dolomite, 1,105 tonnes are available, i.e. 99% of the 1,231 tonnes ordered.
Farmers who came to collect their orders from the stockroom at BPEAE Ngozi complained that they had received a small quantity compared with their orders. As a result of this shortage of fertiliser, they fear that yields will not improve as a result of the late sowing this growing season.
The BPEAE Ngozi director took the opportunity to call on the FOMI factory to make urea fertiliser available to farmers to facilitate the fertilisation of rice fields during the weeding season, and Imbura fertiliser so that farmers are not late for this growing season.
As for the farmers, he urged them not to be late on the pretext that they had run out of fertiliser, but rather to make use of organic manure.