Louis Fabrice SHAKA

The agricultural sector is the pillar of many African economies in general, and Burundian in particular. Due to a growing domestic consumer market and new needs for agricultural products not covered on a global scale, the agricultural sector is seen as a source of business.

Tomato cultivation has been known in Burundi for a long time. Tomato is a seasonal crop from warm regions that gives short-term yields. The tomato is a fruit-vegetable appreciated by adults and children alike.

Since May 2016, we have come together to form a company called “TWITEZIMBERE” to rent the marshes and cultivate tomatoes in Gihanga commune, Gihanga zone, 2nd Avenue. We were new students from different universities, so we raised the funds to carry out an income-generating activity in order to better study. At that time we worked as an informal enterprise, but currently we are a legally recognized cooperative. We used to sell our harvest at the Bujumbura City Market, but currently we sell them at the COTEBU market. The major problem that slows down our activities is the lack of market sales, especially during the good harvest season. During this season, the basket that we sold at a price of 15,000 FBU during the rainy season sold for 20,000 FBU, which caused a heavy loss for us farmers.