Resilience; Rural area; Burundi; Social capital; Kirundo Province
Abstract :
[en] Burundi, family agriculture occupies more than 90% of the active population and plays a vital role in food production and participates of more than 50% of GDP. Before the civil war of 1993, Kirundo was deemed "breadbasket of the country" for the simple reason that fed many parts of Burundi in particular food legumes and cereals, so that family farming was oriented the market. Kirundo alone includes 8 lakes with opportunities for field irrigation. Today, this is the first province in Burundi shows a high rate of malnutrition, poverty increased and a sharp decline in agricultural production up more than 500%. In this study, 73 farmers were surveyed in Kirundo, supplemented by secondary data collection. Analysis of data showed us that, despite recurrent droughts in that region which was caused several deaths due to famines and several displacements of people to neighboring countries such as Rwanda and Tanzania, we found 44% of farmers surveyed who had the resilience to climate change. The analysis of data shows that these farmers were members of local development associations, having learned specific topics such as financial management, processing and storage of agricultural products and livestock. That social capital network influences positively their income because they practice not only farming but also revenue-generating activities such as trade and crafts.