Despite the fact that the coffee sector provides about 80% of Burundi's income from foreign currency, it is witnessing a continuous decline as the financial deficit of the producers worsens, at a time when the country's overall indicators are falling significantly due to the political and security crisis that has rocked it for more than a year. .
The breakdown of the crisis began in April last year, the date of the outbreak of the crisis, according to "Joseph Ntiarabamba," President of the Confederation of Coffee Growers, which indicated that 12 thousand coffee growers in the provinces of "Kayanza" and "Ngozi" and "Kirundo" and "Muyinga" , The north of the country, have not yet received their financial benefits for the 2015 season.
Netrambamba also pointed out that the public debt owed to these farmers is estimated at 664 thousand dollars, which means that their inability to continue their agricultural activities threatens the value added of the sector in the gross domestic product, especially as the northern regions alone provide 70% of the domestic production of coffee.
Delays in repayment of farmers' benefits The source said that it is obvious that they directly affect their finances, especially as coffee is the main source of income for 600 to 750,000 Burundian families. In a related context, most coffee farms are family , Which means that one family depends on a single source of income, and this complicates the situation.
"I have been waiting for my dues for more than a year and a half, so I had to apply for a loan to keep my land, and now I am paying for this debt," says Kapura Ponsian, a coffee farmer in Kayanza province.
Kapura and his fellow farmers point fingers at their country's government, considering that I am showing some kind of complacency about the difficulties that are almost in their activities.
"How can we explain the continuation of this problem for more than a year, at a time when we have officials we elected to help us," said Socolysta Nyabinda, a farmer from Gatara, who expressed her deep dissatisfaction with leaving her colleagues and her colleagues in the profession. To solve our problems, "the woman asks in a tone of disdain and frowns that showed anger that went beyond what her words carried.
In response to a question about the reasons for the delay in payment, the Burundian Minister for Governance and Planning, in a press statement, the fluctuations in the prices of coffee in world markets in 2015.
In the face of what the president of the Burundi Confederation of Coffee Farmers has considered a "lack of commitment on the part of the authorities," many farmers have decided to change their activities, preferring to go to some other crops that they see as "a guarantee of their income," such as tea or other crops that can be food for the population General.
Nietrambamba also mentioned that many families had replaced coffee with tea, without giving specific figures in dealing with it, due to the lack of statistics in this regard, only to name the "converts" to these farmers, and use the term in the plural.
One of these "converts" was a farmer who had previously planted his land in Banga, in the province of Caianza, Burundi, before deciding to change the focus of his agricultural activity. "I chose to go to farms that allow their owners to manage them, The latter, like tea, instead of entering into endless conflicts with the government and traders, and other speculators and intermediaries, "says Gabriel.
Others chose to grow beans, corn, green peas, and others, based on the conviction that "little money is consistently obtained better than the subordination of the coffee industry emperors," said Pascal, a farmer from Bandaga.
Coffee, despite its central importance in the local economy, but the sector was associated with the minds of the Burundians in the colonial era, since its first appearance dates back to 1920, during the period when the country was subject to Belgian colonialism.
"Pascal" whose parents lived colonial era in all its details, and was forced to work in the coffee fields during that period, expressed his condemnation and condemnation of the privatization policy adopted by the authorities of the country on the sector, starting in 2007 .. A policy that "reminds us of colonial methods, , Just a few years after its approval, it is a disguised strategy that uses a cover to facilitate the dominance of foreign investors in the sector.
"The current situation in the sector will have serious long-term consequences, including the migration of farmers to their fields, the sharp drop in production, the illegal export of coffee, and other reversals that could lead to the collapse of the sector," Nietrambamba said. Full.
"For the 2016 harvest," says Ntirambamba, "we were waiting for a crop of 17,000 tonnes, but in fact we would only get about half the number, since most farmers lost confidence in traders, All over the country "
According to Nterambamba, coffee farmers who chose to continue this activity would henceforth prefer to go to Rwanda to sell their crops, where they could get three times the price they receive in Burundi, where the price of one kilogram of coffee and 500 Burundian francs , Ie less than one dollar.
A situation that calls, according to the same source, urgent action by the authorities concerned to save the sector is the cornerstone of the local economy .. The Burundian government considers, for its part, this file of "priorities", according to the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, "Duo Ged "The government will take the necessary measures with regard to the acquisition of financing by commercial and government companies to facilitate payment of the benefits of coffee growers by the end of next August," he said.
The minister also said that $ 55 million had been allocated by the World Bank and was expected to inject, in the near future, an aid to create dynamism in the Burundi coffee sector. The objectives of Joseph Ntrabamba are that their embodiment needs to renew the coffee trees, Adding that 30% of the more than 122 million Benn trees in Burundi need to be replenished, according to official data of the Ministry of Agriculture.
This is a renewal between the Minister of Finance of Burundi, Dumisian Ndihyukubayo, in a press statement, that he is programmed within a scheme of 6 years, and is expected to be able to obtain production from 15 thousand to 30 thousand tons .. Attention that the last number A record record of his country's coffee production is due to the 2010-2011 season, at about 48 thousand tons, the Treasury's general security revenue in hard currency reached $ 80 million.
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