Burundi

Since 2011, we have been working in Burundi as the local brand Tubura - serving smallholder farmers in the country to break from the cycle of subsistence living, grow more food, and enhance their overall quality of life.

Recently, our Burundi program marked a 50% growth as we expanded to meet the high demand for our program.

Approximately 70% of smallholder farmers, who form the core of Burundi's agricultural sector, continue to experience food insecurity due to less effective farming techniques and limited access to quality farming inputs.

How we serve farmers

We provide farmers with access to loans for seeds, fertilizers, and lifestyle products such as solar lights, and training on efficient farming practices. To supplement our regular bundle of services, we also focus on ways to broaden our impact, including:

• Supporting commercialization: We offer our services to farmer cooperative groups that are set up by the Burundi government.
• Expanding agroforestry options: This supports rural farmers in generating additional income while also benefiting the environment and improving soil health.
• Exploring crop commercialization initiatives: This is an impactful income diversification strategy for rural subsistence farmers.
• Nutrition: We are working with farmers to address income and nutrition challenges by encouraging and supporting smallholders to diversify into poultry and mushroom farming.

Our impact in action

Growing up in Burundi, Asterie Ntahonvukiye wanted to be a teacher. But, as fate would have it, she did not get a teaching job after completing her teacher training course. Instead, she took up farming and quickly realized that this path, which was integral to her upbringing, ignited a newfound passion within her.

Initially, Asterie farmed to earn a livelihood and sustain her family. However she soon realized that to earn well from it, she needed to improve her farming skills and not rely on the same methods her parents had. A need heightened by the ever increasing impacts of climate change. 

“Before joining the One Acre Fund program, I struggled to get a good harvest because I did not know about effective farming practices. This affected my harvest, and I could not produce enough for my family’s consumption. With One Acre Fund, I get access to farm supplies on credit, and I am taught how to farm better” says Asterie.

Asterie now measures the spacing of her crops, micro-doses her fertilizer at the root zone and has adopted techniques – from contouring to composting – to help her adapt to the ever-changing climate. 

Younger farmers like Asterie are inheriting the mantle of farming from their parents at a time when the impacts of climate change are accelerating. It is therefore crucial for them to acquire climate-smart farming skills to ensure that they are still able to harvest well and support their families. 

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