On 2 November 2022, the Burundian government through the Ministry of Environment, Agriculture & Livestock (MINEAGRIE) submitted a request to IFAD to mobilize PARM technical assistance to support the country in its strategy to better integrate agricultural risk management into the country’s policies, institutional capacities and investments in sustainable development.
This interest was welcomed by IFAD-PARM and a setting-up mission in Burundi took place from 11 to 15 September to develop an action plan aligning PARM process with the government priorities and to meet with keys national and international stakeholders in the country to explore synergies on agricultural risk management.
Following the official launch of PARM activities in the country in 2023, the Platform carried out agricultural value chain risk assessment studies (AVC-RAS) which focused on Maize, Rice and Rabbit, the three value chains selected by the government based on their role in food and nutritional security, in employment and economy, as well as their exposure to agricultural risks and their priority nature within the national agricultural policy and programs implemented by the State and its technical and financial partners.
From 26 August to 6 September 2024, PARM conducted a design mission in Burundi, supporting the government in the development of an investment project. Following data collection and stakeholders’ consultations, PARM and the Ministry of Environment, Agriculture and Livestock (MINEAGRIE) signed, on 6 September 2024, an Aide-mémoire highlighting the project key components. The Agricultural Risk Management for Inclusive Development and Resilience (GRADIR in French) project under development will contribute, over 15 years, to the resilience of the maize, rice and rabbit value chains. The project will be structured around 4 components: (i) Capacity building in the management of climatic, health and economic risks; (ii) Development of priority commodity chains; (iii) Improvement of infrastructure; and (iv) Strengthening coordination, facilitation and anticipation. GRADIR is aligned with the country’s vision “Burundi emerging country in 2040 and developed country in 2060” and will be co-developed by PARM, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA-CGIAR), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), CAB International (CABI) and AUXFIN in close collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Agriculture and Livestock.
Following the setting-up mission, PARM, in close collaboration with MINEAGRIE, has organized on 24 October 2023, the first training cycle of capacity development in Bujumbura. The workshop gathered almost 80 participants from training centers, universities, producers’ organizations, microfinance institutions, buyers, agri-businesses, microinsurance organizations, government bodies and other technical and financial partners who were sensitized on the importance of agricultural risk management (ARM) based on PARM’s holistic approach with a gender perspective.
In the same context, PARM raised awareness of IFAD project teams and partners on the importance of ARM during a workshop organized on 20 October 2023 in Bujumbura. This was also an opportunity to identify possible synergies and connections with IFAD-funded projects as part of the future ARM investment project that PARM will develop in support of MINEAGRIE.
Additionally, the foundations for the institutionalisation of ARM in Burundi were laid down thanks to the co-financing of the Belgian cooperation to support 2 women from the University of Burundi and IFAD in attending, in July 2024, a CIRAD training in Senegal, also in support of South-South collaborations.
From 23 to 24 May 2024, PARM, in close collaboration with MINEAGRIE and the Agriculture, Environment and Rural Development Working Group (GSADRE – acronym in French), organised a knowledge-sharing workshop to discuss the preliminary results of the studies, which focused on the maize, rice and rabbit value chains with key stakeholders, notably various governmental entities, parastatal entities, and office of the president, financial partners (AFD, AfDB, Embassy of Belgium, Enabel, IFAD…), technical partners (AUXFIN, Cordaid, UNDP, WFP, FAO, Concern Worldwide, CAPAD, …), academia, international agricultural research institutions (ILRI, IRRI, IITA…), private sector companies, farmers organisations, etc.
The workshop resulted in the pre-validation of the AVC-RAS by the Burundian government following inputs and recommendations from stakeholders and the interministerial technical committee.
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