Famine Early Warning Systems Network

As food stocks typically dwindle ahead of the lean season and staple food prices increase, food access has been further constrained. However, some rural households have additional cash from recent coffee and cotton sales and casual agricultural labor opportunities from 2018 Season A land preparation. The majority of poor households face Stressed (IPC Phase 2) outcomes, but during October and November, particularly in Bubanza and Cibitoke provinces, where there were localized production shortfalls, some poor households are expected to face Crisis (IPC Phase 3). 

According to WFP, average national staple food prices in August were higher than last year’s by three percent for beans, 25 for rice, 42 for maize grain, 57 for cassava flour, and 111 percent for sweet potatoes. In addition, food prices are expected to escalate ahead of the Season A harvest, spurred by fuel shortages that frequently occur and lead to higher transportation costs. Despite easing of domestic migration restrictions, the income-earning capacity of poor, labor-dependent households is unlikely to improve in the short-term due to uncertainty about security and socio-political conditions.

In July 2017, about 1,200 Burundians registered in neighboring countries as refugees and asylum seekers, including 600 in Rwanda. Since then, approximately 12,000 refugees in Tanzania registered for voluntarily return to Burundi. The increased level of returns appears tied to food security improvements in Burundi, a deterioration of living conditions in refugee camps due to funding shortfalls, and Tanzania’s prime facie refugee status suspension for Burundians asylum seekers in January. On the other hand, the number of IDPs and refugees residing in Burundi remains stable.