Harvest “good” in some communes

Reports from Burundi’s provincial department of agriculture and livestock and NGOs have said that the harvest was good in some communes but reduced in others. In this week’s WFP emergency update, the government department and NGOs mention Muhuta, Bugarama and Mutambu communes as having had good harvests unlike the communes of Mukike and Mugongo-Manga. WFP also reported an improving food security situation in Karuzi province, eastern Burundi. The agency assessed the “unsafe” areas of Gitega (west-central) and Bujumbura Rural provinces. “Malnutrition in may communes of Bujumbura Rural province is mainly resulting from the looting of crops by armed groups and the general insecurity, limiting population’s access to their farms or forcing them to flee their home,” WFP said.

WFP and its partners assessed the nutritional situation in many areas of the country and reported relative improvement, greatly due to WFP targeted food distributions and control of malaria epidemic. “A number of Therapeutic Feeding Centres (TFCs) and Supplementary Feeding Centres (SCFs) were being closed due to the decrease of admissions,” WFP said. “Given the good crop yields in many provinces, the nutritional status is likely to continue to improve,” it added.