Officials at the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI) should move faster to recover more than Rwf11bn worth of fertilisers that was loaned to farmers, Members of Parliament have urged.

The call was made, yesterday, by members of the parliamentary Standing Committee on Political Affairs and Gender as they quizzed Tony Nsanganira, the state minister for agriculture, on issues in the sector raised in the 2014/15 report by the Ombudsman.

The report, which was released last year, indicated that farmers across the country still owe Rwf11,062,039,460 to the ministry for fertilisers that were distributed between 2010 to 2015.

"We need to know the tangible measures in place to recover this money. It has been a long time since the fertilisers were distributed. We should even consider legal action against those not willing to pay so they are forced to do so,” said MP Esperance Nyirasafari, a member of the committee.

MP Alfred Rwasa Kayiranga, the committee chairperson, also urged for a systematic follow-up on the farmers, to talk to them to find out why they are unwilling to pay.

"If people are not paying for the fertilisers, it probably means that they didn’t find them useful. If the fertilisers were useful, the people could have paid for them and went ahead to acquire more. The debt raises issues on how this programme is being followed up,” he said.

In response to the MPs’ queries, Nsanganira said that plans are underway to recover the money, explaining that the ministry has commissioned an investigation to determine how much exactly is owed for the fertilisers and who is responsible for paying the money.

A report of the investigation will be completed in a month, Nsanganira said.

"Once the report is out, everyone involved in delaying the payments will be held accountable. If it is found out that some members of the private sector have a role in delaying payments of the money they could be taken to court,” he reassured the MPs.

Since 2008, the government embarked on a nationwide campaign to promote the use of fertilisers.

Entrepreneurs were contracted to distribute the fertilisers to farmers who were expected to pay after harvest.

That’s how the over Rwf11 billion debt accumulated amidst challenges to recover the money from the farmers who used the fertilisers but were not eager to pay afterwards.

"People didn’t think enough about how to recover the money since we cared more about sensitising farmers to use the fertilisers. Today, we have to go back and look at how to recover the money,” Nsanganira said, explaining that entrepreneurs who were given the fertilisers keep saying that they wait for farmers to pay.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw