Working Paper No. 24 of 2017 on a Scoping Study on Burundi's Agricultural Production in a Changing Climate and the Supporting Policies

Abstract

Climate change will impact on agricultural production and productivity around the world and the agricultural sector will have to adapt to climate change in order to achieve global food security. The general consensus among experts is that agriculture is highly vulnerable to the increased frequency of severity and unpredictability of extreme weather-related events caused by climate change, which is manifested in hurricanes, droughts, floods, rising sea levels, among others. From the East Africa Climate Change Projections published by the International Panel on Climate Change (2007), Africa will warm up during this century and in all seasons. For East Africa, it’s expected temperatures will increase by 3°C to 4°C from 2080 to 2099 period compared to the 1980 to 1999 period. Moreover, this will be followed by dryness across most of eastern Africa even though the projections for East Africa, point out an increase in rainfall for the same period. Burundi agricultural sector is the main contributor to food security and contributes approximately 46% of GDP. Despite its importance, the sector is characterized by high production risks due to its over-dependence on rain-fed agricultural system. This makes climate change a threat to Burundi’s food security. There are several constraints in achieving food security in Burundi. The most challenging are the progressive atomization of farms resulting from high demographic growth, climate change as agriculture is dependent on rainfall and traditional farming methods with no or less investments. In addition, agriculture trades and prices are highly influenced by climatic patterns which negatively impact on food security and trade, market accessibility and affordability. There are a number of policies governing agricultural production and food security in Burundi. However, a lot more needs to be done to implement or improve these policies. The inter linkages between climate change, trade and food security need to be addressed to create reforms that will improve a favorable environment for business. It is also important to address land issues and population increases which negatively affect food security. In Burundi 2025 Vision, the government will set up a voluntarism politics (policy) of control of demography by the elaboration of an aggressive strategy in partnership with socio-economic development actors. This is particularly with support of religious confessions, the civil society and NGOs.