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Burundi

Burundi Remote Monitoring Update, April 2017

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Well-distributed and favorable rains support Season B crop growth

KEY MESSAGES

  • Average to above-average February-April rainfall has been beneficial for crop development, already increasing the availability of tubers, bananas, and bean leaves ahead of the harvest. This additional food availability during the April-May lean season has likely kept the majority of poor households in Stressed (IPC Phase 2), following a poor Season A. However, many poor households in portions of Kirundo, Muyinga, Bubanza, and Cibitoke provinces are likely still facing Crisis (IPC Phase 3) outcomes due to nearly exhausted household food reserves and low purchasing power.

  • Staple food prices are stable, and some have started to decline ahead of the 2017 Season B harvest expected in mid-May. However, food prices remain above last year’s levels and the five-year averages, constraining poor household access.

  • Despite the Tanzania Government’s decision on January 20 to no longer grant prima facie refugee status to asylum-seekers from Burundi, and increasingly difficult food provision in refugee camps, the flow of asylum-seekers estimated at 450 per day over the last three months, has not abated. Inside Burundi, humanitarian assistance to Congolese refugees is also facing funding difficulties. Approximately 36 percent of the 2017 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for Burundi is for assistance for Congolese refugees. According to OCHA, as of April 21, the total HRP was only 29.2 percent funded, leaving a funding gap of USD 52.2 million.