Part II: How much will it cost President Ndayishimiye to have a successful mandate by 2027?
Special Edition
Dear Readers welcome to part II of our Special Edition,
Once upon a time, a very talented songwriter named Jeremy Riddle, wrote in his lyrics that “every dream has a process and a price tag. Those who embrace the process and pay the price, live the dream. Those who don't, just dream.” You may agree with him or not, but today as Burundians celebrate one year after they elected President Evariste Ndayishimiye, I invite you to discuss Burundian dreams and political goals that we have heard over and over again. Leaders come and go and the slogans tend to remain the same.
What would be the cost have a sustainable change?
In 2020, President Evariste Ndayishimiye after forming his current cabinet announced a priority program in six points that revealed the focus of his mandate (Good governance, Public Health, Agriculture, Youth Employment, Social Protection, Peace and Reconciliation). Beyond political campaign promises, commentators saw yet another leader with beautiful words, and the question remained “will he deliver?”. The answer to that question can only be given in 2027, but today let's examine the real cost of his promises and goals.
If you missed part I, you can read it for free via this link
3. Agriculture Sector
There is a lot to be said about Burundi’s agriculture and livestock, but for the sake of clarity and simplicity, I will focus on one challenge that has huge potential to make a great difference if dealt with in priority. And the challenge is called “agricultural efficiency”.
A brilliant Burundian named Kwizera Eloi-Edouard, published a great article in the Asian Journal of Agricultural Extension, Economics & Sociology, where he noted a positive correlation that exists between agricultural productivity improvement and poverty reduction. But the interesting fact he pointed out was a low level of agricultural efficiency in Burundi.
In December 2020, when President Evariste NDAYISHIMIYE was launching a retreat on the implementation of the Agricultural Policy Document of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and the Environment in Muramvya Province he insisted on the importance of giving the right orientations to all stakeholders involved in agriculture, namely the officials of the Ministry of Agriculture, the administrators, the businessmen as well as the technical and financial partners.
President Ndayishimiye specified that his government will play the role of mentor to the farmers by providing agricultural techniques for the increase of production. The great challenge here will be, in years to come, the grasp of the factors that drive the increase of technical efficiency and what could policymakers focus on to improve agricultural productivity and standards of rural life.
Due to the fact that the rural population is the majority of the population and the agricultural sector is the core income generation source sector, it is fundamental to exploit it efficiently and boost agricultural productivity, and consequently permit the movement of labor and surplus to other sectors, notes Eloi Edouard.
In Burundi, the population is growing, and the agricultural holding area per household is decreasing each year. The arable land per capita is decreasing, it passed from 0.22ha per capita in 1981 to 0.11ha per capita in 2014. As Eloi Edouard points out, considering this decrease in the arable land per capita and increasing population, it can be assumed that the increased agricultural productivity as the major economic sector could be one of the solutions to the problem.
Although 88.2% of the total population is in agriculture, the main source of income in rural areas is agriculture, but its productivity does not allow rural people to get enough food and have high living standards. The price to be paid will be to find creative ways to leverage agricultural technical efficiency that leads to the increase of agricultural productivity.
President Ndayishimiye will need to focus on agricultural efficiency enhancement by facilitating access to market, accessibility of market information, and support to the market efficiency of rural farmers. To achieve efficiency the price to be paid will be to increase access to roads, local market, access to extension centers, and agricultural credit. The agricultural efficiency will be achieved by reducing the vulnerability of young farmers and households headed by females through supporting rural young farmers and female farmers.
4.Youth Employment
All experts and analysts who have documented and commented on youth employment agree that Burundi is embroiled in an employment crisis generated by the poor performance of its economic growth over the past three decades. Several studies indicate that the employment scenario for youth has further complications. When a young person eventually does find a job, it is usually an informal one, with poor working conditions, instability, low wages, and no social protection or rights.
All initiatives launched to address these challenges are still in their embryonic state, here we can cite programs such as Burundi Agency for Youth Employment established on May 31, 2010, the Burundian Youth Employment Agency (ABEJ), the Burundi Office for Employment and Manpower (OBEM) created in 2015 to implement the National Employment Policy, the Youth Investment Bank (BIJE) launched on April 15, 2020, to reduce youth unemployment by helping them to have and create jobs, and the upcoming Economic Empowerment and Employment Program for Young Graduates. The price to be paid will be to find effective ways to coordinate these initiatives and bring them to maturity for optimum impact.
In their report “ Africa's Got Work to Do: Employment Prospects in the New Century” Louise Fox and her coauthors, estimate what kinds of jobs workers would have in the future based on optimistic projections of overall economic growth, and high estimates of the formal sector wage job creation that would be associated with that growth. The results showed that African countries would have close to 60% of workers in agriculture, 20% in household enterprises, 13% working for wages in the services sector, and only 6% working for wages in the industrial sector.
President Ndayishimiye will need to address the quality of basic education and remove obstacles that hinder progress in agriculture, household enterprises, and manufacturing. The price to be paid will be to ramp up efforts to support the informal sector and to recognize its importance, initiate a transition to formal, and ensure the legal status of those who work in it.
According to experts, improving the economic position of informal workers is a powerful potential lever for raising living standards and reducing poverty in the developing world.
As the COVID-19 crisis is threatening to destroy more jobs in the formal economy, new strategies are needed to assist young workers pushing towards the informal route.
Beyond all strategies and the price to be paid, commentators agree that fostering decent work needs to remain a fundamental objective when it comes to improving living standards for Youth in Burundi.
END- PART 2
How much will it cost President Ndayishimiye to have a successful mandate by 2027?Part3: To be published on Thursday, June 24, 2021
> Social protection, Peace and Reconciliation
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Fabrice Iranzi, Editor in Chief | RegionWeek.com
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