World Bank funds food security, land reform initiative

The Executive Board of Directors of the World Bank approved on Wednesday a US $35-million grant for Burundi to improve food security and set up a sustainable land management system, the bank said on Tuesday.

Burundi also received $5 million from the Global Environment Facility (established in 1991 to help poor countries fund projects that protect the global environment) to support the development of a national institutional framework for land management, and to strengthen national planning for land resources.

"The project will contribute to the government's strategic goal of improving the livelihoods of rural people through economically and ecologically sustainable investments," the World Bank said.

It added that roughly 90 percent of Burundi's population lived on agriculture. In addition, agriculture accounts for 50 percent of the gross domestic product and at least 80 percent of export earnings.

On Thursday, the International Medical Corps (IMC) said: "Despite a general improvement in the sociopolitical environment after years of civil war, rural families remain so poor that they have essentially no mechanisms for coping with food security."

IMC Country Director Sonja van Osch said, "The world should be very concerned about this situation, malnutrition rates in Burundi have been increasing since 2002."

Food security is an ongoing problem in Burundi. In June, the country's food security early warning agency, the System d'alerte Precoce-Surveillance de la Securite Alimentaire au Burundi, reported that severe shortages could begin by August and last up to five months.

The agency reported shortages had been largely unexpected this season. However, the early arrival of the dry season and the propagation of a "mosaic virus" among cassava plantations had drastically reduced food stocks.