Bad times for the Organo-Mineral Fertilizers Industries (FOMI) which can no longer meet the demand of growers for organo-mineral fertilizers. This caused a drop in the harvest during cropping season B of the year 2022.
Indeed, the Burundian government has banned since 2019 all imports of chemical fertilizers into the country and has granted the monopoly of its manufacture to a company, Fertilisants organo-mineraux Industries, which officially belongs to a wealthy businessman. of the ruling party. But the problems multiplied. The factory failed to meet the demand, even though the peasants had paid in advance. A real drama in this country where more than 80% of the population lives from subsistence farming. It is in this difficult context that the President of the Republic announced the establishment of a new factory to make up for the deficit.
President Evariste Ndayishimiye explained that agriculture has experienced difficulties mainly related to the lack of fertilizer. This lack of fertilizer has cost Burundi dearly. The president speaks of a 40% drop in the harvest during cropping season B of the year 2022.
On the side of the Burundian peasants, they do not cease to lament since the granting of the monopoly of the production of chemical fertilizers to the FOMI, a company of private law. The reason ? The authorities practically force these farmers to pay part or all of the fertilizer before it is delivered to them. A contract that is not always respected. Gérard, a peasant from central Burundi, does not hide his anger.
“Here in Gishubi, farmers paid for their agricultural season A fertilizer in September (2022), but a good part of them have not yet received these agricultural inputs today. And we are angry because we have not yet received the fertilizer already paid for. And now they are asking us to pay an advance for the fertilizer for season B when we haven’t received the one for September yet”. The same is true in almost all provinces of the country.
“Iyo amazi abaye make aheberwa impfizi” “The little water available is reserved for beef rather than cows,” says the president. He was referring to the fact that when everyone mightn’t have access to fertilizer, what little there was was for the most powerful. The small farmer is not privileged. A situation that has given rise to speculation around this product.
On Friday January 13, 2023, FOMI, which has a fertilizer production monopoly, tried to reassure farmers and public authorities by ensuring that this time, its products will be available from Monday January 16, 2023 and in sufficient quantity.
Without convincing too much, because the problem is rather “structural” believes Gabriel Rufyiri, the president of Olucome, an organization for the fight once morest corruption, which criticizes the monopoly granted to the owner of the FOMI factory. “The whole market has been given to a single company when it is not able to satisfy the whole population. The government needs to change its strategy because enriching a single individual at the expense of millions of people is unacceptable”.
A second fertilizer manufacturing plant to meet the challenges
For the president, the FOMI fertilizer manufacturing plant might not satisfy all the demand from the growers. The reason mentioned by Mr. Ndayishimiye is that the agricultural population has increased, followed by the expansion of cultivable land. FOMI was not prepared to serve this good world, he remarked.
To overcome this trend, the president announced the establishment of a new fertilizer manufacturing plant. Initially, FOMI’s production capacity was 120,000 tons per year, divided into 50,000 tons of organo-mineral fertilizers and 70,000 tons of agricultural lime.
Remember that two years ago, the country had lost part of its production because of poorly dosed fertilizers. This time, Burundi has lost 40% of the agricultural production expected for agricultural season B due to the lack of fertilizer, the Burundian President, Evariste Ndayishimiye, recently admitted.
Moctar STAYED / VivAfrik