KAYANZA, Burundi (AP) — Farmers in a remote part of Burundi know to look for a truck parked by a highway when it is time to sell their avocados. They...
know to look for a truck parked by a highway when it is time to sell their avocados. They materialize from villages and form a crowd around the vehicle, watching closely as crews weigh and load the crated fruits.that’s sometimes ranked as the world’s poorest. But the transactions now promise real earnings thanks in part to the intervention ofJust a year ago, farmers selling their avocados to the transporters earned 10 cents per kilogram , far less than the price for a small bottle of water.
But while coffee and tea exports – Burundi’s traditional sources of much-needed foreign currency – have long been coordinated, the trade in Burundian avocados has remained unregulated, according to farmer representatives and a trade official. They said that avocado exports could be as profitable for the country as coffee if the government asserted its rule-making authority.
Under new regulations, which require foreign dealers to register with local authorities, exporters must submit copies of their supply contracts and specify market destinations for Burundian avocados, according to the Ministry of Trade, Transport, Industry and Tourism. Eric Nsabimana, a farmer in Kayanza, recalled starting as an avocado grower in response to the campaign of former leader Nkurunziza. Some farmers, feeling forced into planting avocados, uprooted the seedlings the government gave them and now rue the missed opportunity, Nsabimana said.Nsabimana, who anticipates making more than $6,000 a year selling avocados now that the price is higher, said he used his earnings to acquire five more hectares of land now planted with 500 avocado trees.
Green Gold Burundi has distributed millions of seedlings in the past year, finding enthusiasm among farmers eager to join the avocado bandwagon. Even growers with only a few backyard Hass plants said they increasingly see avocado as a cash crop.
Green Gold Hass Avocados Farmers Pierre Nkurunziza KAYANZA The Government Ferdinand Habimana
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