"The Government has put more effort into seed multiplication and easy access to seeds, a hope for increasing agricultural production," replied Dr Sanctus Niragira, Minister of Environment, Agriculture and Livestock, during the oral questions session in plenary of September 30, 2022.
As part of the monitoring of the Government’s action, the Bureau of the National Assembly and the Enlarged Bureau, during the meeting of August 29, 2022, took a decision requesting the Standing Committee of Agriculture, Livestock, Environment, Communal Development and Public Works to prepare oral questions to be asked the Minister of the Environment, Agriculture and Livestock.

The purpose of these questions was to collect information allowing the understanding of the situation regarding the availability of selected seeds, FOMI fertilizers and plant protection products for the A2023 cropping season.
It should be noted that the commission indicated that the choice was made for the seeds most currently grown by many farmers, such as maize and beans.
Following the statistics provided by the services in charge of the environment, agriculture and livestock highlighting the quantities of seeds, agricultural inputs and phytosanitary products needed.

The Standing Committee reported that the 2022 cropping season was characterized by a shortage of seeds and fertilizers and a delay in their delivery to the stores in the targeted provinces, communes and zones. This has caused a decrease in harvests in some regions compared to expectations. The question was to know what was done to ensure that such situations would not re-occur in the following season. To address this problem, the Minister reassured the plenary that strategies to revitalize the distribution chain have already been developed. He nevertheless asked for the involvement of the elected representatives and the administration at grassroots so that the implementation of these strategies be a success.
  Besides, the Minister of Environment, Agriculture and Livestock promised to combine efforts to ensure that these agricultural inputs are available on time and in sufficient quantity.
  Similarly, the fertilizer company FOMI is under the supervision of the Ministry’s experts to produce more fertilizer by category with a good grade.
  As for phytosanitary products, the Minister replied that his services have already begun to supervise the population in the good use of these products which are also toxic.
  If we take into account the opinions and desiderata of the population we met as well as the findings of the MPs in the field throughout the country, some shortcomings have been noted:
  The non-existence of supervision and monitoring by agricultural instructors;
 Lack of availability of seeds and fertilizers in well-equipped places for good conservation;
 Poorly organized communication in the distribution chain, from the ministry to the citizens;
 The high cost of fertilizer and seed.
 The high cost of fertilizer and seed. Rainfall below the climatic norm in some regions.

After a rich debate by the deputies, Rt Hon Gelase Daniel Ndabirabe, Speaker of the National Assembly closed the session by summarizing the major recommendations made to the Ministry of Environment, Agriculture and Livestock:
 Support the staff in charge of monitoring the agriculture sector from the Minister’s office to the CBPEAE hill, the experts at the level of the communes, zones and hills, the ONCSS, the ISABU in particular by providing experts with the means to displace themselves and with the equipment;
 Ask ONCSS to closely monitor and ensure adequate packaging of seeds and their transportation to known and secure stores;
 Publish and disseminate the prices of selected seeds and follow up on them for the benefit of the population;
 Promote the channel of communication between extension workers and applicants for selected seeds;
 Subsidize phytosanitary products, as is already the case for fertilizers.
Dr Sanctus Niragira welcomed all these key recommendations to improve the agropastoral system and the input management structure through the implementation of a comprehensive operational review within the ministry for which he is responsible.