Burundi

KEY FACTS

• Population: 7.3 million

• GDP per capita: US$ 90

• Population below poverty line: 68%

• Labour force by occupation: agriculture 93.6%, industry 2.3%, services 4.1%

• Total land area: 25 650 sq km, bordering Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Tanzania

• Total arable land: 35%

• Life expectancy: male: 43 years, female: 44 years

• Literacy rate: male: 58.5%, female: 45.2%

• Human Development Index: 169/177

(Source: UN; World Bank; CIA Factbook)

FAO IN BURUNDI

In 2005, FAO relief activities included the distribution of seeds and tools to 625 000 households. FAO also expanded recovery activities for 40 000 households, including those with reduced land access as well as HIV/AIDS-affected families. Support was also provided to 42 000 IDP and refugee households to assist in their resettlement.

Background

The start of a civil conflict in 1993 halted years of sustained economic and social progress in Burundi. Combined with the effects of a regional economic embargo from 1996-99, Burundi underwent a ten-year period of economic decline. In August 2000, a peace and reconciliation accord was signed and a transition government was established in 2002. The political transition ended successfully in 2005 with the first democratically elected government since 1993.

Despite remarkable progress, the situation in Burundi is still characterized by fragile living conditions as a result of acute food insecurity, affecting large parts of the population and limited access to basic services. Moreover, on-going armed conflict in some provinces still requires a specific emergency response and attention to the protection of civilian populations.

Since the beginning of the conflict in 1993, over 300 000 people have lost their lives and approximately 1.2 million (16 percent of the population) have been internally displaced or made refugees. In 2005, 117 000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) were still living in 160 sites countrywide. The return flow of refugees has been continuous since early 2004. Of the estimated total of 431 000 Burundians who have been living in Tanzanian refugee camps and settlements, 271 000 returned in the period 2002 to September 2005.

The reduced capacity of the Burundian government, especially in terms of policy planning and overall management, continues to be of special concern. A strengthening of these capacities will require extensive investment in the short- to medium-term to enable efficient support for urgently needed social and economic recovery and development programmes.

Needs analysis: Food security and agriculture sectors

Persistent levels of extreme poverty combined with declining agricultural production have been a cause of major concern in Burundi. Current estimates show that over 60 percent of Burundians live below the poverty level, with 69 percent suffering from malnutrition. National nutritional statistics for children under-five show high rates of chronic malnutrition. The quality of rural families’ diet has eroded substantially with an estimated reduction of 32 percent of main protein diet sources compared to 1993.

A high demographic growth has led to the atomization of household food production and rising pressure on dwindling natural resources is resulting in further reduction of land fertility and productivity. Furthermore, the country has experienced periods of drought over the last three years. The subsequent sharp decline in the production of staple crops has been aggravated by the occurrence of new forms of crop pests. Particularly grave is the Cassava Mosaic Disease that affects a staple food item, which represents 70 percent of the daily food consumption of the most food-insecure households. Seasonal and regional variations exacerbate the food security picture in Burundi.

Agricultural production and food security is also threatened by the fact that HIV/AIDS prevalence is on the rise. The number of people infected with HIV has tripled in the last decade, with a significantly higher proportion among women.

If sustainable agricultural production is not secured, food insecurity will prevail for a high number of vulnerable households, particularly returning refugees and IDPs.

PROPOSALS

FAO RELIEF AND REHABILITATION ASSISTANCE
Funding required: US$ 10 387 750

Issues addressed: Large numbers of displaced populations are returning to provinces that have been gravely affected by the war. Fragile ecosystems require rehabilitation to sustain improved household food security. Adequate equipment (i.e. brick presses, scales, rice hulling devices) is necessary to complement infrastructure rehabilitation and reconstruction.

Objectives: Improve agricultural production by rehabilitating rural and communal infrastructures.

Activities: Enhancing household food security both by supporting the rehabilitation of formerly developed zones and by rehabilitating communal infrastructures. Rehabilitation activities will cover 700 hectares in seven provinces.

Beneficiaries: Rural communities in the provinces of Cankuzo, Kirundo, Makamba, Muyinga, Ngozi, Rutana, and Ruyigi.

Implementing partners: Ministries of Agriculture and Territorial Development, Environment and Tourism, WFP, NGOs and the private sector.

Duration: January 2006 - December 2006.

Funds requested: US$ 1 310 000.

Issues addressed: Livestock assets have considerably dwindled (between 32 percent and 46 percent, depending on type of livestock) as a result of looting, illegal trade and general depletion of stocks.

Objectives: Improve families’ diet quantity and quality. Expand household income resources by supporting small livestock production.

Activities: Rearing livestock such as chickens and/or ducks, rabbits and small ruminants (i.e. goats and sheep). Support to fodder production and veterinary product provision and training.

Beneficiaries: Extremely vulnerable households: returning refugees and IDPs, Batwa minority communities, demobilized combatants, widows, and orphans.

Implementing partners: Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and NGOs.

Duration: January 2006 - December 2006.

Funds requested: US$ 450 000.

Issues addressed: Many hectares of forests have been destroyed by populations searching for cooking fuel, pasture and new arable lands urged by demographic pressure, security forces and former rebel groups. IDPs and refugees will soon be returning to their lands, causing an increased pressure on remaining forests.

Objectives: Rehabilitate community systems for wood production and environment protection, restoration of forests at community and household levels.

Activities: Strengthening small animal breeding, river basin development and marsh rehabilitation. Seed, tool, forest and agro-forest seedling will be distributed to facilitate the reinstallation of returning refugee and IDP households. The project includes a training component to promote the involvement of local, uneducated youth and demobilized former combatants.

Beneficiaries: 200 000 vulnerable households, including returning refugees and IDPs in the provinces of Ruyigi, Makamba, Rutana, Cankuzo, Bururi, and Gitega.

Implementing partners: Ministries of Agriculture, Environment and Country Development; provincial Departments of Agriculture, NGOs.

Duration: January 2006 - December 2006.

Funds requested: US$ 468 600.

Issues addressed: In provinces bordering Lake Tanganyika, as well as in the North, years of crisis have left fish processing installations pillaged and destroyed, reducing the fishing sector to a subsistence activity with the majority of fishing communities unable to replace lost equipment. Lakeside populations, left with few fishing tools, have resorted to the use of foreign materials, such as mosquito nets, which threaten the ecological sustainability of the fishing sector.

Objectives: Equitable access to fishing equipment to improve food security of fishing families who have suffered losses due to war and conflict.

Activities: Delivery of fishing equipment to fishing families with large numbers of young children. Local associations will receive fishing material including eight-metre wooden boats, fishing nets, lamps, ropes and pulleys.

Beneficiaries: 120 local fishery associations (approximately 3 000 households).

Implementing partners: Ministry of Agriculture, National Department of Water and Fishery and NGOs.

Duration: January 2006 - December 2006.

Funds requested: US$ 299 800.

Issues addressed: The quality of rural household diet in Burundi has deteriorated drastically. The vegetable portion of the diet in particular has plummeted by 34 percent, compared to the period immediately prior to the war. The situation is aggravated by the fact that cassava is under severe attack from mosaic pest.

Objectives: Provide vulnerable households, particularly returnee and resettling households, with sound and high-return plants.

Activities: Delivery of agricultural inputs to achieve an increase of high-yield, pest-resistant colocase, sweet potato and cassava varieties among affected households, communities and local associations.

Beneficiaries: 145 000 vulnerable households organized in local rural associations.

Implementing partners: Ministry of Agriculture, WFP, NGOs, local associations and the private sector.

Duration: April 2006 - May 2007.

Funds requested: US$ 964 000.

Issued addressed: During the last ten years of crises, around 500 000 farming households have been severely affected by climatic shocks and crop pests. Particularly IDPs, returning refugees, widows, and the chronically ill, have limited production capacities due to lack of agriculture inputs such as seeds, tools and fertilizers.

Objectives: Provide agricultural inputs to disaster-affected rural populations during three forthcoming agricultural seasons.

Activities: Identification of beneficiaries according to criteria established by the Food Security Coordination committee. Purchase of agriculture inputs and/or choice of suppliers. Distribution of agriculture inputs and/or the organization of their fair-sale in collaboration with partners such as NGOs, local administration, WFP and beneficiaries representatives.

Beneficiaries: 500 000 vulnerable households targeted nationwide during the agricultural season 2007A, 2007B and 2007C.

Implementing partners: Ministry of Agriculture, WFP, international and national NGOs.

Duration: January 2006 - December 2006.

Funds requested: US$ 4 400 000.

Issues addressed: Support to home gardening rapidly improves access to greater quantities and quality of food while generating household income resources. It also provides a solution in the context of limited land access, the most important cause of food insecurity in Burundi.

Objectives: Improve the quantity and quality of household diet by supporting market gardens and fruit production. Improve nutritional status and income-generating activities for extremely vulnerable populations.

Activities: A distribution of market-garden seeds, fruit seeds, fertilizers and tools will be complemented by training on production techniques and nutritional behavior.

Beneficiaries: 30 000 highly vulnerable households and displaced persons living in urban and peri-urban zones.

Implementing partners: Ministry of Agriculture, provincial Departments of Agriculture, WFP, the United Nations Childrens’ Fund (UNICEF) and NGOs.

Duration: January 2006 - December 2006.

Funds requested: US$ 1 182 000.

Issues addressed: A need to enhance surveillance and monitoring of food security and malnutrition at the community and household level in order to generate an appropriate response at the grassroots level.

Objectives: Improve integration of agriculture and food security early warning in nutritional surveillance systems in areas recording high levels of malnutrition.

Activities: Strengthening the National AIDS Committee’s approach to community-based nutrition. Identifying rapid joint interventions. Enhance community and parent knowledge on the preparation of healthy and balanced food. Nutritional training manuals as well as communication materials will be prepared and disseminated. Food and nutrition strategies will be designed at the provincial level.

Beneficiaries: Provincial Departments of Agriculture and Health, households and communities living in regions prone to climatic shocks and seasonal malnutrition impact.

Implementing partners: Ministries of Agriculture and Health, UNICEF, WFP, the World Health Organization (WHO) and NGOs.

Duration: January 2006 - December 2006.

Funds requested: US$ 261 700.

Issues addressed: The FAO Emergency Rehabilitation and Coordination Unit (ERCU) has set up a series of supporting activities whose main objective is to provide the Ministry of Agriculture and most vulnerable populations with access to basic agricultural services. Support activities include the evaluation of sector needs, the assessment of harvest seasons jointly carried out by the Ministry, WFP and UNICEF, the distribution of food aid, seeds and tools and marketing activities.

Objectives: Support to enhance government capacity for coordinating emergency agricultural programs. Provision of technical and logistical assistance for coordination and implementation of emergency agricultural programs. Enhanced management of early warning and control systems and food security surveillance.

Activities: Monitoring and evaluation activities will be regularly carried out and sector technical groups will be reinforced. Effective monitoring of needs-based analysis and response plan implementation by the Agriculture Coordination Committee, including nutritional surveillance, frequency and quality of early warning data collection, compilation and analysis.

Beneficiaries: Ministries of Agriculture and Public Health, technical provincial departments, the international humanitarian community and local NGOs.

Implementing partners: Ministry of Agriculture, WFP, UNICEF and NGOs.

Duration: January 2006 - December 2006.

Funds requested: US$ 975 000.

Issues addressed: Mines are not only a constant threat to farmers, their presence limit freedom of movement and the re-establishment of agricultural production, their victims also have to be given an opportunity to reenter into the labour market and secure their livelihoods.

Objectives: Develop micro-farming activities through training and the employment of disabled and mine/unexploded ordnance (UXO) victims in order to improve their economic and nutritional situation. Emphasize livelihoods rather than jobs and integrate local rural development.

Activities: Promote local food production through a community micro-development project in small farming activities. Survey the needs of mine victims, their families and local populations to identify zones for further follow-up development and rural initiatives. Set-up a traditional agricultural mine victims skills/reinsertion programme.

Beneficiaries: Victims of mine/UXO accidents, as well as 1 000 rural community members and their families living close to mine/UXO contaminated areas.

Implementing partners: Ministry of Agriculture, Provincial agriculture and cattle office, National Mine Action Coordination Centre/Authority, AVMIN.

Duration: January 2006 - December 2006.

Funds requested: US$ 76 650.