People who are taking cases to court are undermining the mediation efforts intended to help solve, amicably, the chia seed payment dispute between farmers and Akenes and Kernels Ltd, the president of the chia seed farmers&039; committee has said.

Emmy Nsengiyumva told The New Times that the Government wants the issue between the chia seed farmers and Akenes and Kernels be solved through mediation; pointing out that this is the reason it made a commitment to facilitate the cancellation of the controversial chia seed auction.

The auction was to be held in order to pay Didier Sheja, one of the farmers, who had a court enforcement order through which he sought Rwf40 million in chia seed payment from the firm.

But, on Thursday, five cases in which five people were seeking legal intervention to get their payments from Akenes and Kernels, were scheduled to be heard in the commercial court.

"People should not continue to resort to court cases because this weakens mediation efforts," Nsengiyumva said.

"The Government cannot engage in mediation to help solve people's issues, while others are in courts. That would be complicating the work of either the judiciary, or executive organs that want to find a remedy to the issue," he said.

Octave Nshimiyimana, Director General of Agriculture Value Chain Management and Trade at the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources, said that though some are suing the company in court, overall, farmers wish to take a mediation route with the company, "which is also what the Government is facilitating".

According to the farmers' committee, the firm owes over Rwf20 billion to more than 3,000 farmers.

It is worth mentioning that on November 22, during a meeting in Kigali that drew key stakeholders in the chia seed value chain with a view to address farmers’ concerns, Yves Ndayisenga, Chief Finance Officer of Akenes and Kernels Ltd, said that the company was battling court cases filed by up to 189 people.