FAO/GIEWS - Foodcrops & Shortages 09/98 - BURUNDI* (3 September)
A recent FAO Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission to Burundi estimated the 1998 B season food production at about 1.85 million tonnes, an increase of 4 percent on last year’s season B. Cereals suffered a 1 percent decline, while pulses, roots and tubers, and bananas rose respectively by 7 percent, 5 percent and 4 percent. The season was characterized by an improvement in the security situation except in the western and southern provinces. This allowed some of the population in re-groupment camps to return to their homes. As a consequence, cultivated land has increased, particularly for tide-over crops. Rainfall in 1998 B season was adequate and well distributed except in localized areas in the northern and eastern parts of the country.
Total food output in 1998 is forecast at 3.68 million tonnes, or 15 percent above 1997 production and about the same level as in the pre- crisis period. Food import requirements in 1998 are estimated at 42 000 tonnes of cereals and 69 000 tonnes of pulses. While, the food supply situation has improved with the satisfactory harvest of this season, it remains precarious for people still living in the displaced camps, where access to land remains insufficient to cover the food needs.
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