After riminding them that the main war we are fighting is against poverty, he went on to explain logic behind this year’s theme centred on agricultural development and protection of the environment. He deplored for example the fact that, in 2007, when a famine befell the country and it is Egypt that sent food assistance while we send them water (from the Nile).
In the eyes of the President, the diaspora is a well-informed part of the burundian population, who can joint hands and make a significant contribution to the farming sector. As the saying goes, “Akanyoni katagurutse ntikamenya iyo bweze” which literally means that a bird which does not fly never knows where to find ready food.
In the context of the Burundian diaspora, this entails that they are exected to have explored and experienced different ways of modern technology farming in their countries of residence. It is this knowledge and experience that President Ndayishimiye wants the diaspora to implement in their motherland.
He illustrated the feasibility with different example of diaspora members who have already initiated various projects in producing mushrooms, millet, etc. He indicated that the “raison d’être” of the diaspora week is not simply sitting and listening to different speeches but rather to unite minds and put efforts together and through their expertise, to give practical strategies to embark of productive farming in order to defeat the main ennemy of development, hunger.
