Residents cautioned against selling food

EASTERN PROVINCE NYAGATARE — The district vice mayor in charge of social affairs, Emmackly Mukamuhizi, has asked local leaders to encourage residents to make food stocks to avoid food shortages. She cautioned farmers against selling everything they have harvested. “Some people tend to like money and forget how they will survive in future. So what we are emphasizing here is to sell some and keep food that will keep them moving until the next season. We don’t want to hear people complaining about hunger in our district because last season people harvested enough food,” she said. The vice Mayor was on Monday addressing farmers at a half day seminar at Nyagatare Nursing School main hall. The seminar aimed at sensitizing farmers on how to address food shortages and how to protect their crops during the upcoming dry season. During the dry spate, she said, cells, sectors and district agronomists should work hand in hand with the local community to irrigate their crops in order to save them from withering. The seminar attracted the business cooperative members, agronomists, members of farmers’ cooperatives and sector executive secretaries who were represented by the Civil Records and Population Requests staff (tasivil). The farmers were urged to use modern irrigating machines that were innovated by Kigali Institute of Science and Technology [KIST]. The machines can irrigate one hectare per minute and are available at their Nyagatare branch. Major Eugène Mugabo of the Rwanda Defence Forces, in the area cautioned people against rumours that the government has abolished cooperative societies. “You have to be careful with some people out there who are against government policies. There reports indicating that some people are moving in local communities claiming that government no longer wants people to join cooperatives,” he said, urging local leaders to investigate the rumours. He told the participants to focus on government Vision 2020 and shun people whose motive is to derail development and draw the country back to the bad history. Ends