1. Improve economic viability of farmers An introduction to the Burundi case April 13, 2012 Hanneke Heesmans and Christy van Beek

2. Contents  Burundi: a country struggling with its post-war traumas  Project definition and objectives  Approach: economy meets health meets agriculture  Guiding principles  The concept of the project  Recent experiences

3. Burundi, a country with…  A history of violence between ethnic groups such as the Tutsi and Hutu people.  One of the lowest GDP per capita in the world  A densely populated country  Two periods of large scale displacement.  more than half a million refugees who returned to Burundi in the past 5-10 years.

4. Sharing land  These refugees are returning to their land... ... which is already (legally) occupied by residents.  A standoff is created.  Land can only be shared when both parties (refugees and residents) have equal benefits.  Land is scarce; the only way forward is to increase productivity (i.e. production per hectare).

5. the potential for yield increase is enormous

6. Problem definition and objectives  Social tension between groups because of increasing demands on limited resources.  Main objective: To reduce social tension by improving rural livelihoods. ● To improve agricultural productivity. ● To reduce production risks. ● To improve market diversification. ● To improve social cohesion.

7. Approach: Improve agricultural productivity Information makes stakeholders ready to act:  Joint learning through quantified information on farm management and farm performance  appeal to entrepreneurial skills.  Information ≈ motivation  Participative, evidence based and tailor made.  Feed-back workshops, policy recommendations, etc.  Adult literacy for ownership

8. Approach: Reduce production risks  Micro-credits and insurances Health risk Property risk (agriculture) Capacity building Micro-finance: Micro credit & Micro-insurance  Adaptation to the market through storage (hangars)

9. Approach: Market diversification  The right crop for the right place.  Huge diversification in agro-ecology.  At present: everybody is doing the same thing everywhere at the same time.  Periods with market overload or shortage.

10. Approach: to improve social cohesion  More stability (social balance)  Better health  Improved food security  Economic resilience The improved incomes and health care will be financed and protected by micro insurance.

11. Know Your Farm: guiding principles  Farms are complex systems; mere single value chain approaches will not succeed.  At the end of the day only the overall farm results count for farmers. However, there is a very poor quantitative understanding of farm management and farm performance.  Markets benefit from diversity, not from everybody doing the same thing everywhere.  Feed-your-family-first

12. Concept of the project Economic viability and environmental robustness Increase productivity through uptake of best practices Agro- ecological and socio- economic environment Conducive Environment Farm Right practice on right place. Make farmers entrepreneurs: access to inputs and quantitative understanding Refugees and residents

13. Recent experiences  ZOA initiated a project in which residents and refugees are rewarded with fertilizers, seeds and agronomic advices when they succeed in peaceful sharing.  Until now the project looks very promising (land is indeed peacefully shared), but it is also risky because of dependency on external inputs.  There is a need for a more profound approach in this project.

14. Making a change  Make packages of innovations; the problems are too complex to be solved by mono- disciplinary projects.  Include farmers in the process: learn by what you see with your own eyes.

15. Thank you for your attention Hanneke.heesmans@wur.nl