After the visit, Minister Prosper Dodiko said he was satisfied with the results because the observation is that the yield has doubled with the three additional varieties of hybrid rice. The Minister explained that initially, with the local variety, the harvest was estimated at 4 tonnes per hectare, but with the new varieties, the harvest is estimated at more than 8 tonnes per hectare.
The Minister is delighted with these results because initially, we were used to being able to develop these hybrid seeds in the Imbo plain and in the provinces at medium and high altitude, we had varieties which could not not exceed a harvest of 4 tonnes per hectare. Provinces like Gitega, Karusi, Muyinga, Kirundo will soon also benefit from high quality hybrid seeds, added the Minister. “What is also surprising in a positive way is that we have noted that the parents of these seeds are identified in Burundi,” the minister in charge of agriculture was surprised. For the Minister, it is a sigh of relief for the country because it was spending a lot of resources to import these rice seeds from abroad.
The Minister in charge of Agriculture thanked the Chinese agronomist technicians who contributed effectively to the introduction of these seeds in Burundi and affirmed that these seeds are resistant to diseases, which also shows their durability.
The Minister of Agriculture Prosper Dodiko asked the NSSO and ISABU to quickly proceed with the approval of these varieties in order to begin large-scale multiplication, to make them available to farmers.
The Minister of Agriculture finally reported that the country is developing a major project with Chinese agricultural technicians where they will set up a professional center for the production and multiplication of hybrid corn and rice seeds in the plain. of Imbo.
2024-04-29 08:14:55