In rural Burundi, poultry keeping plays an important role in food security and economic security. This activity is often the preserve of women, permitting them to improve their social standing. But it is also an activity that requires knowledge and skill. Denise Kansuraheba’s career is living proof that, with sufficient training and some material assistance, poultry farming can become a highly profitable activity. The grandmother’s success means that she is now a role model in her community.
Livestock keeping: vindication for women in Burundi
Everywhere where we work, women are a priority group among our beneficiaries. Both single mothers and widows are often more exposed to precarity and, as such, they are identified by their communities as the first who should benefit from our activities. By distributing goats to women, we offer them the chance to put an often difficult past behind them. Livestock keeping, which is normally a male preserve, is also a way for them to emancipate themselves from the traditional status of women. We got to know two such women in northern Burundi.
A holistic approach in Burundi, ten years on:
thousands of lives transformed
In Burundi, agricultural overexploitation is progressively reducing the fertility of the land. The problem is jeopardising the food security of nine out of ten people in the country, who depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. To put an end to this vicious circle and stimulate crops, livestock keeping is proving to be extremely effective. However, owning animals is beyond the means of most people in rural areas. That is why we distribute goats to vulnerable families in the north of the country. Over the past ten years, almost 6000 families have benefited from our holistic approach.
Burundi: creating opportunities for the local population
On the Burundian countryside poverty prevails: 7 out of 10 inhabitants are hungry. Children are only eating a poor meal twice a day. Due to the high population density there is a shortage of fertile ground and thus food is scarce. Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Belgium wants to do something to improve this situation. That’s why we started a development program in Burundi in 2014.