BUJUMBURA October 16th (ABP) – The Minister of the Environment, Agriculture and Livestock, Mr. Déo Guide Rurema, said during a press briefing on Tuesday October 15th that the 2019-2020 coffee campaign shows a remarkable improvement in the respect of payment deadlines compared to the last two campaigns (2017-2018 and 2018-2019).
For this campaign, he said, the situation has improved thanks to the intervention of the State via the granting of the approval on the loans granted to certain actors.
Indeed, most of the coffee peelers paid the coffee growers. Out of a total amount of more than 22 billion, more than 21 billion was paid or a payment rate of 98.38%. There are still more than 360 million to pay, which is 1.62%. He invited the coffee companies in debt to take the necessary measures to pay all the arrears by the 21st of this month at the latest. If not, drastic measures will be taken against them, he insisted.
With regard to the production, on September 30, 2019, of a forecast of 75,000 tons of cherry coffee, 47,653 tons were collected, an achievement of 63.5%. As for fully washed parchment coffee, 8 573 tons is already sent to the shelling and packing plants. The green coffee already produced is 5,296 tons, of which 2,101 tons have already been sold for a value of more than six million US dollars.
Regarding the return of foreign currencies, for the 2018-2019 coffee campaign, on a forecast of 47 506 943 USD, an amount of 44 920 456 USD has already been recovered, or a recovery rate of 94.55%. Comparatively, the value of coffee already sold for the 2019-2020 campaign is 6,478,392 USD, of which the recovered amount is 1,464,327 USD, representing a recovery rate of 22.6 per cent.
The Minister also informed the public that the current price of cherry coffee B is 250 BIF / kg, and therefore the minimum price of washed parchment coffee is set at 1250 BIF / kg for the 2019-2020 campaign.
Transporting washed parchment coffee from a province to the plant for further processing must necessarily require provincial authorization including the route. Transport beyond 6 pm is strictly forbidden, said Minister Rurema, calling on the people, the administration and the police to remain vigilant in order to fight against the illicit trafficking of that product to neighboring countries and to comply with the price of coffee, set for the producer.
