Roadmap of Enabling Agricultural Policies to Deal with Poverty in Burundi

Abstract

Located at the heart of the African Great Lakes region, Burundi has weathered nearly two decades of conflict and troubles, which have contributed to widespread poverty. Burundi is ranked 185th out of 187 countries on the 2011 United Nations Development Programme’s human development index, and eight or nine out of ten Burundians live below the poverty line. (World Bank, 2015) Per capita gross national income (GNI) in 2016 was US $170, about more than half its pre-war level some 20 years ago. The long period of fighting was extremely disruptive to agriculture, which is the main source of livelihood for nine out of ten Burundians. The destruction and looting of crops and livestock, as well as general insecurity, has put rural Burundians under serious strains. Burundi was traditionally self-sufficient in food production, but because of conflict and recurrent droughts, the country has had to rely on food imports and international food aid in some regions. The vast majority of Burundi’s poor people are small-scale subsistence farmers trying to recover from the conflict and its aftermath. Fortunately, the country is now rebuilding itself after emerging from recurrent conflict and ethnic and political rivalry. The four underlying objectives of this paper for the Burundian government’s poverty reduction strategy are improving governance and security, promoting sustainable and equitable economic growth, developing human capital and combating HIV/AIDS.

Keywords: Burundi, entrepreneurial agriculture, land locked country, development