The Mennonite Central Committee Canada and Help Channel Burundi are partnering on an agriculture and livelihood project in the Kirundo, Rutana and Makamba provinces of Burundi.
Burundi suffers from chronic and pervasive food insecurity due largely to climate change, extremely high levels of poverty, low agricultural production, poor soil fertility, widespread environmental degradation, devastating post-harvest loses and the lack of coordinated efforts of stakeholders in the food security sector. The participating communities are facing high levels of food insecurity, with many households currently at IPC 2 and 3, and with the potential to reach IPC 4 and 5 without any interventions.
The project will focus on economic empowerment through: establishing village saving and loan associations; enhancing agriculture production through farmer field school and agriculture farming techniques; post-harvest management; gender empowerment trainings; cooperatives establishment; afforestation; promoting kitchen gardens; soil conservation, rural road rehabilitation; and strengthening food systems and value chains. The project will work with 6,834 households and ultimately benefit 38,270 participants.