In spite of an expected good maize harvest in Eastern Province, there are fears that millers might reject large quantities due to poor postharvest handling. It is for that reason that the Minister for Agriculture and Animal Resources, Dr Gerardine Mukeshimana and the Minister of Local Government, Prof. Anastase Shyaka, held a meeting on Thursday with local government leaders in Eastern Province, agronomists, farmers’ cooperatives, big maize purchasers, among others. Expected production for maize in season 2020A in the Eastern Province is more than 388,000 tonnes from 118,845 hectares. Nyagatare District will lead with 97,326 tonnes. Mukeshimana speaks at the meeting in Eastern Province. Season A begins in September and ends in mid-February, while the Season B begins February. Dancille Uwamariya, the head of COPICUMA cooperative of maize and bean farmers in Ngarama Sector, Gatsibo District, said farmers face many challenges that affected the quality of the harvest but were overcoming them. “We used to work under trees. We did not know how to collect the harvest and did not have markets. But thanks to a forum linking farmers and the markets, we built an office, have a storage facility that has capacity for 700 tonnes, and we also have maize shelling machines.” Drying facilities issue However, drying facilities are still a problem, Uwamariya’s cooperative, for instance has three drying facilities only but they need six. Gilbert Rutayisire, Director of Agriculture and Mining in Nyagatare District, said they needed about 3,222 more drying facilities. This technique of putting maize on hangars is known as Gusharika. courtesy Rutayisire said 106 drying facilities under construction; 80 of which are for maize while 26 are for rice. Ministry of Agriculture and RAB to provide tarpaulins will make roofs for the temporary dryers. Rutayisire also mentioned that buying companies also buy maize on cobs, which will reduce the needed drying facilities. Emmanuel Ntaganzwa, Finance Director at ProDev, which collects, stores and markets a range of cereals, including maize, beans and livestock feeds, said this year they plan to buy 9,500 tonnes. They are paying rwf300 for a kilo. He, however, said that the problem they face while buying maize was related to impurities. This technique of putting maize on hangars is known as Gusharika. courtesy “The way they shell the maize, we find many cob fragments in the grain, two years ago, we could find that 5 percent of the grain we had bought were impurities,” he pointed out. Mukeshimana said they have to make sure that none is lost due to poor handling and added that the drying facilities under construction must be complete before February 15. The minister also said the farmers have already learned techniques to prevent maize from contracting aflatoxins, especially using the simple techniques of hanging their husks, locally known as “gusharika”. “Not even a kilo should be lost through postharvest handling,” she said. “Every year, crop and livestock resources exports reach 500 million, you find that $150 million of it is tea, coffee going to Europe. $350 million is through cross-border trade. Why can’t we get one billion from cross-border trade?” the minister asked agronomists. Mukeshimana said production was still one-third of the capacity if they used all available resources.
