Over 40 tons of maize destroyed

NGOMA - Over 40 tons of maize harvested in Jarama sector of Ngoma district were destroyed after poor storage in cocoons. This was revealed to The New Times by the Vice Mayor in charge of Economic Affairs Charles Ntageruka yesterday.He said Rwanda Agriculture Development Agency (RADA) agriculture officer, Juvenal, who was supposed to help the farmers in the storage of maize in cocoons, never lived to the expectations, hence the huge loss. Ntageruka wondered why RADA allowed to go scot-free after causing such a big loss to farmers. “We punished the sector agriculture officer for the loss which amounts to 6 million, but the RADA technician who is actually the main culprit is free,” he said. He said that farmers suffered this heavy loss, due to the RADA technician who instructed them to put maize in the cocoon and wait for him to close it. “The cocoon was never closed…the maize rotted and was attacked by various weevils. On learning about the loss, Juvenal wrote a letter to cover himself. He must be held accountable because farmers have to be compensated for the loss, which is not of their making,” he noted. The Director General, RADA Norbert Sendege lamented the loss and said an investigation should be carried out to hold the person responsible. He said that it is absolutely wrong to discourage exemplary farmers, like the ones in Jarama sector, due to negligence of individuals. Meanwhile, Ngoma district has also registered heavy losses as a result of a large number of still-born calfs.District officials confirmed that at least 396 cows have had still-born calfs so far. “Farmers are registering a big setback with the current wave of abortions due to unknown reasons,” Ntageruka said. Charles Ngarambe Rwanda Animal Resource Development Authority (RARDA) official confirmed the abortions, and said RADA is handling the technicalities involved to arrest the situation. “We took blood samples to Nairobi for tests; so far, we have succeeded in Bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) tests and are waiting for Infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR). People should avoid speculations as we worked out things,” he said. Ends