MINING IMPACTS ON AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION AND INCOME OF RURAL HOUSEHOLDS: AN EXPLORATORY SURVEY IN BURUNDI

Mining activities create new activities, jobs and income for local communities. But they also withdraw land and labour force from the agricultural sector, not saying about other impacts like water pollution, which can modify composition of soils, and lead to reduction of agricultural production and income. In Burundi, mining activities formally began in 2014 and no study on their impacts on agriculture has been made up to now, while agriculture is the main livelihood for more than 90% of the population. This study aims to analyse the impacts of those mining activities on household agricultural production and income in the local studied communities. A survey among 210 households, 70 households per hill, and interviews with key informants were implemented in July and August 2022 in Mabayi commune. 140 households concerned experimental hills Gahoma and Ruhororo, where the foreign company "Tanganyika Mining Burundi-TMB" and the local cooperative "Dukorere Hamwe Dusoze Ikivi-DHDI" were carrying out their activities respectively. 70 other households concerned a reference hill Buhoro. Employees of "TMB" were nationals and mostly foreigners, while members/employees of "DHDI" were all nationals. According to results of the survey, it appears that at Gahoma hill, average agricultural production was reduced by 673 kg/household/year and average agricultural income decreased by 29,760 FBu/household/month compared to the reference hill, due to "TMB" company's activities. At Ruhororo hill, average agricultural production increased by 17 kg/household/year and average agricultural income increased by 58,350 FBu/household/month compared to the reference hill, due to "DHDI" cooperative's activities. Thus, impacts are contrasted from one mining hill to another.