{"id":42646,"date":"2021-01-13T06:02:04","date_gmt":"2021-01-13T06:02:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/nyanza-chili-farmers-count-losses-as-buyer-fails-to-pay-rwf-78-million-worth-of\/"},"modified":"2021-01-13T06:01:55","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T06:01:55","slug":"nyanza-chili-farmers-count-losses-as-buyer-fails-to-pay-rwf-78-million-worth-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/nyanza-chili-farmers-count-losses-as-buyer-fails-to-pay-rwf-78-million-worth-of\/","title":{"rendered":"Nyanza chili farmers count losses as buyer fails to pay, Rwf 78 million worth of produce wastes in gardens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The cooperative comprises of 55 farmers practicing agriculture on over 16 hectares using irrigation technologies under \u2018Rwabicuma Project\u2019 launched 2015.  <\/p>\n<p>Farmers say that \u2018Diversity Venture Ltd\u2019, a Kenyan company contracted to buy their produce did not pay Rwf 24 million worth of supplied produce, leading to the loss of chili in garden worth Rwf 78 million.  <\/p>\n<p>The company is locally represented by Mujawayezu Marie Immacul\u00e9e.  <\/p>\n<p>Habimana G\u00e9rard, the president of \u2018Jyambere Muhinzi Nyanza\u2019 cooperative has told IGIHE that the contractor has only paid Rwf 2 of Rwf 24 million he owed them.<br \/>\n\u201cHe only paid us Rwf 2 million.  Considering the unpaid balance and Rwf 78 million chili produce wasted in gardens, we count over Rwf 100 million losses,\u201d he said.  <\/p>\n<p>Habimana has explained that agreements between the Kenyan company to buy produce were entered in August 2019 that supply started in February 2020.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe contractor said she would pay in installments within two weeks and pay the rest on 30th August 2020.  However, she only paid Rwf 2 million leaving the balance of Rwf 22,249,400 which she promised to pay upon return to take the remaining harvest. We ended up missing her that our produce was wasted in gardens,\u201d he noted.  <\/p>\n<p>Habimana says the failed promise was made in May 2020.  <\/p>\n<p>Farmers appealed for support to different institutions including Nyanza district, National Agricultural Export Development Board (NAEB) and the delegation of parliamentarians visiting the cooperative in November 2020 but efforts remained futile.   <\/p>\n<p>One of members called Batamuriza Martha has told IGIHE that he has left the cooperative due to underperformance emanating from the loss.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI got discouraged and no longer participate in the cooperative\u2019s activities because the contractor didn\u2019t pay us. I can\u2019t afford further investments,\u201d she said.  <\/p>\n<p>Other members of \u2018Jyambere Muhinzi Nyanza\u2019 cooperative have appealed on leaders to help them recover the debts and find the right market for their produce.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe would appreciate if we get direct access to the market without supplying to the contractor.  We also request for support to process chili produce before selling,\u201d said Habimana.  <\/p>\n<p>The mayor of Nyanza district, Ntazinda Erasme, recently promised these farmers to address the problem in collaboration with NAEB.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cPeople owing debts to farmers were summoned to explain how they will clear payments. We scheduled a meeting next week after Christmas for farmers to get details on how they will get payments,\u201d he said.  <\/p>\n<p>Towards the end of December 2020, the contractor wrote a letter promising to visit farmers in January 2021 to discuss how to make payments in installments.  <\/p>\n<p>IGIHE has tried to speak to Mujawayezu representing Diversity Venture Ltd in Rwanda for comments on farmers\u2019 accusations but declined to take phone calls.  <\/p>\n<p>Mayor Ntazinda said that they are designing a project that will set up a factory adding value to farmers\u2019 produce to avoid similar risks.  <\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-37636 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/png\/umushinga_mugari_witwa_nyanza-23_cyangwa_rwabicuma_project_washyiriweho_guteza_imbere_abaturage_ariko_ukomeje_kubashyira_mu_gihombo.png\" alt=\"Farmers practice agriculture on over 16 hectares using irrigation technologies under \u2018Rwabicuma Project\u2019 launched 2015.  \" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-37635 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/abahinzi_b_urusenda_bo_mu_karere_ka_nyanza_barataka_igihombo_cy_asaga_miliyoni_100_frw_bavuga_ko_batewe_na_rwiyemezamirimo.jpg\" alt=\"Farmers grouped in \u2018Jyambere Muhinzi Nyanza\u2019 cooperative which grows chili, fruits and vegetables in Nyanza district express frustrations over Rwf 100 million losses incurred by the contractor who didn\u2019t pay them and later declined to buy from them that the remaining produce was wasted in gardens.\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>{Farmers grouped in \u2018Jyambere Muhinzi Nyanza\u2019 cooperative which grows chili, fruits and vegetables in respective sectors of Cyabakamyi, Rwabicuma and Nyagisozi in Nyanza district, Southern Province express frustrations over Rwf 100 million losses incurred by the contractor who didn\u2019t pay them and later declined to buy from them that the remaining produce was wasted in gardens.} <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-42646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42646\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42646"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=42646"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=42646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}