KAYANZA September 30th (ABP) – The women of the Batwa community of Butaganzwa commune in Kayanza province (north) positively appreciate the permanent livestock stabling measure because it has enabled the existence of the fodder trade, an activity that often occupies them.
Some women that a check by ABP contacted, testify that this kind of business is beneficial to them because it allows them to feed their families. They indicate, however, that they are sometimes accused of destroying other people’s crop fields and deplore the attitude of certain people who spread toxic products in their fields to prevent them from doing so or withdraw the fodder collected from them, the check by ABP revealed.
The fodder trade is an unusual practice, but it is now practiced by members of the Batwa community of Nyamitanga sub-village, Nyabibuye village in Butaganzwa commune. Batwa women who sell fodder in the Nyabibuye center say they are driven there by the precarious living conditions, in order to find food for families.
They indicate that the measure relating to the permanent stabling of livestock has accentuated this type of trade because, since the measure was taken, stockbreeders have been relying on fodder bought from those who collect it here and there in the marshes, especially during the summer period.
“A person can collect fodder per day, the price of which varies between 1,500 and 2,500 BIF, which allows the family to be fed even in the evening”, they estimate. “Now that the summer period is coming to an end, that is also the end of our work,” they continued to say, noting that it is during the rainy season that fodder becomes abundant and therefore cheap.
They ask the administration to take the Twa dimension into consideration in development projects.
Contacted in this regard, the communal administrator of Butaganzwa, Mrs. Janvière Kanyana, informs that the Batwa are not relegated to second place because there is even an association called “Mandela Peace Center” which sensitizes and materially supports Batwa children of Butaganzwa so that they can show their keen interest for school.