Residents urged on land use

EASTERN PROVINCE RWAMAGANA - The new Minister of Local Government Christopher Bazivamo, has called for proper land use in order to realise much production.Bazivamo made the remarks over the weekend in Rwamagana while participating in the monthly community work commonly called Umuganda. He was flanked by the newly appointed Minister for Cabinet Affairs, Protais Musoni, “Land was degraded at a high rate in past years due to various reasons. We have initiated an integrated development programme. Each area has identified its crop of priority. We consequently expect to conserve land and produce much due to this kind of specialisation,” Musoni, who was until last week the Minister of Local Government, said. Land conservation demands proper use of agriculture land. This equally calls for modern methods of crop growing. Bazivamo, noted that peasants know better methods of farming and they only need guidance from experts. “They have been practicing the modern methods since we started the [agricultural] reforms. If we talk about banana plantations, they are now experts,” he said. One of the priority crops allocated to Rwamagana is banana. But maintenance remains a big challenge. “Banana plantation takes 23% of the total agricultural crops we have in Rwanda. But 10% of it is in poor shape. We thus want to make it better. The population’s response is positive and we shall succeed,” Bazivamo added. During the community work, the ministers and top security officials joined peasants to dig proper holes to plant banana suckers. During the same occasion, transformation of agricultural methods from the poor tradition one, to a more productive was exhibited. A contrast was shown by two different harvests. People’s harvests have increased and there is no doubt that hunger and poverty will end if the trend is maintained. The two government officials noted that Rwanda’s main aim of the Millennium Development Goals and Vision 2020 is to enable Rwandans to emerge from under-development and poverty. Ends