Scarcity and surfeit : the ecology of Africa's conflicts

130 Scarcity and Surfeit

Table 3: The production of rnaior cash crops per inhabitant

Shrinking forest cover and the concomitant availability of wood fuel are
equally alarming indicators of Burundi's natural resource trends. Total avail-
able potential resources stand at 27.8 million tons. Of this, harvesting has
been steadily increasing from 5.9 million tons in 1997. It is expected to rise
to 6.7 million tons in 2003." According to a report of a prospective study of
the forest sector in Africa by the year 2002, Burundi stands to incur a deficit
of 4.2 million tons of fuel wood between demand for consumption (5.9 mil-
lion tons) and the annual production (1.7 million tons). This deficit should
grow in the future if the growth rate of forest areas remains lower than that
of the population.
The reason for these declines is the absence of prudent management and
the increased encroachment into forest areas, and the unscrupulous acquisi-
tion of forest reserves by equally unscrupulous, well-placed politicians and
government officials.
Conflicts associated with land in Burundi are multiple and manifest at var-
ious levels. Nationally, there is a crisis of unsustainable land use brought
about by the high incidence of population density. This has resulted in pop-
ulation movement to forest zones in Kumoso, north Imbo, Buragane and
Buyogoma. New arrivals are pitted against original inhabitants in fierce com-
petition for land. Natives of these areas are unhappy and hold populations
from Buyenzi and Kirimiro responsible for any and all environmental decline.
Additionally, high population density has resulted into over-exploitation of
soil resources leading to declining productivity and competition for scarce
and dwindling food products. The end result is conflict.
Competing priorities between cultivation and livestock farming cause con-
flicts due to incompatibility. The most notable case is to be found in the
Rusizi flood plain. Farmers, especially local inhabitants, are at pains to put up
with the fact that land dedicated to agriculture degrades when it is subjected

1998

Year Tea

Source: Central Bank. 1999

3.17

Coffee Cotfon

1993 4.53

0.51 5.02

6.29 1.52