admin | August 22, 2016
Farmers and traders in Burundi are watching their products rot and prices fall after the government banned food exports to neighbouring Rwanda.
Generose Nisabwe grows and sells tomatoes, onions, and other vegetables. She says: “My tomatoes are getting rotten in the fields because we are not allowed to sell any food item to Rwanda…. The government should suspend this measure because most of the people living near the border with Rwanda sell their food products in Rwanda.”
Raphael Berahino is also a vegetable farmer. He says the price of eggplants is only one-sixth of the former price, and he is concerned about having enough money to pay his children’s school fees.
The Burundian government claims the trade ban is an effort to protect national food production. But relations between Rwanda and Burundi have deteriorated since the Burundian government accused Rwanda of hosting and supporting perpetrators of the failed May 2015 coup.
Rwandan trade minister Francois Kanimba says he is not worried about the Burundian trade ban, as Rwandans can import the same goods from Uganda or Tanzania.
To read the full article, go to: http://exchange.co.tz/burundi-farmers-and-traders-pillory-govt-ban-on-export-to-rwanda/
For more, go to: http://www.newtimes.co.rw/section/article/2016-08-03/202282/
Photo credit: The Exchange