EASTERN PROVINCE

NGOMA — The district mayor Francois Niyotwagira has cautioned traders against buying agricultural products without channeling them through farmers’ cooperatives.

Speaking during a meeting with the farmers, and heads of cooperative societies recently, Niyotwagira said the district would crack down on all those buying products directly from farmers.

Cells, sector executive secretaries and sector agronomists also attended the meeting.

He said, "We are now going to try our level best to curb this down. All products should be bought from the cooperative societies where farmers belong and no farmer is supposed to sell his or her product to any buyer before they (farmers) are authorised."

He explained that this would help those farmers from being cheated by the buyers and they will sell their products at a time prices appreciate.

The meeting aimed at designing strategies on how farmers can store their produce until prices appreciate to protect them from unscrupulous buyers.

Niyotwagira said storing will help them set official price for a kilogram of each product stored so that farmers do not incur losses.

Jean Baptiste Bizimungu, the District Executive Secretary proposed that farmers be given about three weeks to allow all farmers harvest and store before they are allowed to sell.

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