Conflict and Coffee in Burundi 127
Land ownership patterns show that various social categories exist in
Burundi:
displaced landowners: refugees, internally displaced and urban empioy-
ment migrants;
poor peasants: these hold small parcels of land in constant degradation
caused by intensive farming. Others rent their land or do other intensive
work to gain revenue;
smallholders: these are medium income earning people and tend to
become peasants because of land fragmentation resulting from repeated
subdivision;
medium owners: these are relatively well-off people having easy access to
land resources; and
big owners: these are rich people with access to and control over both land
and land development resources.Also of importance are the inheritance and successor rights which disinherit
women. The system is patrilineal and characterised by successive subdivi-
sion of land between sons.
Productive use of land requires the following:
Capital: critical as it is to productive activities, capital is ill distributed and
is largely inaccessible in rural areas. It is however abundant to the author-
ities and some government workers who are well placed and 'politically
correct: Left to their own devises, the majority of the rural population rely
on family gifts and inheritance. NGOs, banks, community organisations as
well as trade associations provide potential sources of capital.
Security: in Burundi where the population is divided into conflicting eth-
nic groups, security is a prerequisite in considerations for the setting up of
different productive activities. Here again, the most secure group is the
Tutsi community that enjoys protection from the army and the authorities,
as well as commanding political influence. One of the reasons for the cycli-
cal episodes of ethnic conflicts between the Hutu and Tutsi is the deter-
mination of the latter to ensure security for the community's productive
activities and that of the former to gain a foothold in controlling the same.
Besides, security is critical in the acquisition of capital in Burundi.
Knowledge: this is accessed through NGOs, family and bank support, and
the government. Exclusionary government policies have ensured that a
majority of the peasant Hutu community lack the skills and knowledge
necessary for the exploitation of economic opportunities, including the
harnessing of natural resources.
Transport facilities: the landlocked status of Burundi is a major impedi-
ment to production. Transport beyond the country's frontiers is facilitated