President Evariste Ndayishimiye and the first lady have cushioned their family against hunger and food scarcity that comes with a long dry season around this period of the year.
The Burundian leader wore all green gumboots, a marching truck suit and T-shirt. He and the first lady took to their garden at a hill in the country’s administrative capital Gitega.
‘Accompanied by the First Lady , President Ndayishimiye has taken advantage of the government holiday to harvest potatoes in his field located on Bitare hill in the Commune, Bugendana, Gitega,’ said his handlers at Ntare Rushatsi House.
However, with the long dry season expected to scotch through until early october, Burundi is expected to experience food shortage, high food prices and a rise in the cost of living.
Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world with more than 70% of the population living in poverty. Food insecurity levels are alarming with 52% of children under 5 stunted and even higher levels of malnutrition among rural communities.
According to a report by ReliefWeb, a humanitarian information portal for this period, over 1 million people (9% of the analysed population) are classified in crisis, while over 4 million people (34%) are classified in Stressed and over 6.6 million people (57% of the analysed population) are food secure.
The portal notes that the low resilience is linked to structural problems of poverty and lack of access to solid and diversified livelihoods is a major contributor to the food insecurity experienced by the majority of affected households.
