Early dry season causes food deficits in some provinces

Several provinces in Burundi face a food deficit following an early dry season and a viral disease affecting the cassava crop, an official of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) told IRIN on Thursday. An FAO consultant, Méthode Niyogendako, said the latest rainy season had ended early, adversely affecting the crop yield this year, especially beans. "Provinces of the north and the east of Burundi are the most affected," he said. The agricultural director in the northern province of Kirundo, Juvénal Karagira, told IRIN on Wednesday that crop production would drop by 40 percent this year. He said hardest-hit were the communes Bwambaragwe and Gitobe in Kirundo, where only two sub-counties were expected to have good harvests. The situation in Kirundo and in the neighbouring province of Muyinga has been worsened by the loss of cassava yields following the outbreak of a viral disease that has attacked the crop since 2001. Cassava is one of the staples in the region, and residents of the two provinces have had to get supplies from the eastern province of Ruyigi, some 250 km away. An FAO bulletin, entitled "Système d’ alerte précoce, surveillance de la sécurité alimentaire", of 22 April reported that the price of cassava flour had increased from 30 francs (about 7 US cents) per kilogramme in 2003 to 250 francs. In the southern province of Makamba and the central province of Gitega, the rainy season also ended in early May, compromising the bean harvest yield. A provincial agriculture official in Gitega, Mathias Wakana, said the province expected a 20 percent drop in bean production this year. The provincial director of agriculture in Makamba, Stanley Sindaye, said agricultural production in general would also be low in the province. He said agricultural experts were assessing the situation to determine the level of the food deficit. The price of beans in Makamba has risen, with a kilogramme being sold at 300 francs, up from 180 francs previously. Niyongendako said the UN World Food Programme, the UN Children's Fund and FAO, in conjunction with the Burundian agriculture ministry, would evaluate the situation next week to establish the level of the expected overall deficit. In the meantime, he said, the UN agencies would alert the international community to the situation. He said area residents were also being encouraged to maximise production in the next agricultural season, due to begin in June.