Conflict and Coffee in Burundi 147
The assets management entity of OCIBU, Service du Pahimoine, lacks the
necessary legal authority.
There is a lack of coordination between the service in charge of public
enterprises and the inter-ministerial committee on privatisation.
There are delays in the enactment of privatisation-enabling legislation by
the government.
A bad state of domestic savings exists and thus a shortage of financial
means in the private sector and thus of private buyers.
Insufficient incentives persist under the prevailing remuneration and price
setting policy.I4'The foregoing points to two major observations. Clearly, the subsector's legal
and organisational framework is without teeth and is open to abuse. The
financial status of the subsector is not up to the task of providing either the
necessary motivation for increased productivity or the additional capital
investments to make it more efficient and fair.
Part of these bottlenecks stem from the government's reluctance to relii-
quish its direct control of the coffee subsector, which it rightfully views as
strategic. However, in order to stimulate production, which has stagnated in
the last ten years and provide producers with the incentives, the restructuring
of the sector to give farmers more say is not only necessary, it is imperative.
The disproportionate government investment in the service and industrial
sectors at the expense of the agricultural sector demands immediate redress.
Although the industrial and service sectors have grown marginally since inde
pendence, they remain the near-exclusive preserves of a small petit bourgeoirie
within the country. There is need for equity in the operations of the state.
The suffocating state omnipresence has had a negative effect on Burundi's
coffee's subsector. A meaningful broadening of the range of actors and play-
ers to include the producers in policy and decision making, as well as greater
transparency and accountability in the operations and management of the
subsector is needed.
Although the EU market offers hope for the future growth in demand for
coffee, fierce competition is expected in the global coffee markets and price
dip vulnerability of producers is set to continue because of the structure of
the whole coffee chain at the international level and market saturation in the
key United States market. Similarly, and partly because of the first observa-
tion, intra-African coffee producers' competition for a share of the global
market will continue. The viable option is for regional producers to pool pro-
duction to enhance their bargaining power in the global markets. Here.
regional cooperation offers a viable promise.
Regional cooperation will need more attention. The revitalised East
African Community (EAC) and the Southern Africa Development Community