UN-Supported Project to Benefit Burundi’s Small Farmers

The United Nation's International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) announced plans to provide USD13.7 million to a project in Burundi that seeks to improve the lives and livelihood of rural people, particularly farmers. Some 90,000 farming families in Burundi are expected to benefit from the Agricultural Intensification and Value-enhancing Support Project, most of which are smallholder farmers with less than 1 hectare of cropland.

A decade of war has left Burundi with one of the highest poverty levels in the world. A spiraling population and the return of hundreds of thousands of refugees have taken a heavy toll on the country's land, with population density exceeding 500 people per square kilometer in some areas. The average farm size is shrinking, the soil is rapidly becoming degraded and nearly all public land has been distributed or occupied. Malnutrition and diseases are also becoming more rampant.

The project is expected to help farmers increase their yield and income, improve their food security and nutrition, enhance women status and allow farmer organizations better market access.

For more information on the project, visit http://www.ifad.org/media/press/2009/24.htm