Support for agriculture will consolidate peace in Burundi, UN agency says

With a population expected to grow by more than half within a generation, Burundi needs to expand its agriculture’s economic potential, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today, calling for continued support from the international community.

“Peace in Burundi can be consolidated by stabilizing the country’s rural communities,” the FAO said in a press statement released today. The agency called for ongoing support for aid to vulnerable farmers and to develop the economic potential of Burundian agriculture.

The agency’s $60 million action plan for Burundi currently assists 1.25 million people under a two-year initiative designed to increase food production, support income-generating activities such as producing poultry, vegetables or fruit for sale and food processing, and encourage farmers to join forces to produce marketable surpluses.

“The aim of our assistance is to support farmers in moving away from subsistence farming to more economically viable forms of agriculture,” said Hubert Chauvet, FAO’s Representative in Burundi.

“Most people eat what they grow, and don't have the means to buy food,” said Angela Hinrichs, a Senior Operations Officer with FAO's Emergency Operations and Rehabilitation Division. “If nothing changes, this is a recipe for disaster.”

Burundi’s population is expected to rise from around 8.5 million today to 13 million in 2025, FAO said.

“Ensuring local food production for a growing population will be a major challenge, as almost all the country's arable land is already being farmed.”

Burundi’s demographic pressure is exacerbated by a massive return of refugees from the country’s 12-year civil war, while climatic vagaries, crop pests and rising food prices pose additional threats to food security, FAO said.

Since 1993, when civil war broke out, Burundi's per capita agricultural production has more than halved. Undernourishment has risen, from 44 percent of the population in 1990-92 to 62 per cent in 2005-07, according to FAO hunger statistics. Conflicts over land have become more frequent, while these pressures also translate into continued land degradation and deforestation.