126 Scarcity and Surfeit
another. The price per kilogram also varies in the field. The production of cof-
fee faces a myriad of problems today, as little is done to encourage farmers.
The price per kilogram is far below production outlays, and the government
recently dismissed agricultural instructors. The dynamic of the conflict and
land fragmentation have undermined the productivity of the cash crop sub-
sectors, as has competition for land within the context of increased demand
for food production.
The management of the livestock subsector is the preserve of the Ministry
of Agriculture and is thus removed from the management of pasture, which
is entrusted to the Ministry of Land and Environment. The lack of co-ordina-
tion results in programmes working at cross-purposes. The prudent and coor-
dinated management of this subsector is even the more crucial owing to
diminishing arable land and the dangers inherent in overgrazing, which has
led to the increased cases of serious soil degradation.
Demography plays a significant role in the distribution and exploitation
of natural resources in Burundi. As illustrated earlier in this chapter,
increasing population density has intensified inter-regional migration and
accentuated violent competition for scarce land resources. A considerable
size of small parcels of land are to be found in the country's central plateau,
which is the older, populated and the bigger of the less populated regions
that were recently inhabited (Kumoso and northern Imbo). The most impor-
tant intra-regional migrations are those directly related to the search for
new agricultural land, notably the flow of population towards these areas
and Buragane. The tensions emanating from these population movements is
aggravated by returning refugee caseloads, which are bound to settle fur-
ther spaces as their pre-flight settlements and land had been occupied by
the remaining population.
Politics and political decisions have greatly influenced natural resource
redistributive patterns in Burundi. Various legal provisions (the Land Act,
Forestry Act) and other pertinent legal conservation measures point to large
parts of Burundi demarcated as forest reserves, especially protected areas and
swamps. However, the political class has remained largely indifferent to these
laws, expropriating and appropriating the country's natural resources to
themself.
Economic decisions and planning in Burundi has ensured that production
plants such as factories were established near industrial crops, for example
the Sosumo (the Mosso sugar plant) located in the plain of Kumoso, the palm
factory of Rumonge, and the tea factories. This arrangement has alienated
rural populations, who lack the level of qualifications required for working in
the plants. The result has been the 'importation' of urban populations to staff
the factories. This has been a portentous source of resentment and conflict,
more so because of the near-coterminous relationship between the Hutu,
laraelv rural and Tutsi, urban and skilled.