Download the Report
-
Season B harvests are nearly complete and households are reporting above-average yields, except for beans, due to heavy March to April rains. With the September to December 2018 rains forecast to be above average, consecutive average to above-average Season C and A productions are also expected. Food availability has improved and prices have decreased since the start of the Season B harvest, leading to Minimal (IPC Phase 1) food security outcomes across most of the country. However, poor households in localized flood-affected areas, including Gatumba and Mutimbuzi communes in Bujumbura Rural province, remain in Stressed (IPC Phase 2).
-
In flood-affected areas with shortfalls in bean production, surplus tuber and root production has depressed prices and lowered household income from crop sales, constraining purchases of protein-rich beans. This holds true even though cross-border trade in beans lowered bean prices in June by 22 and four percent compared to last year and the three-year average, respectively, in key markets in Kirundo. Due to this decrease in food access, flood-affected households are expected to experience Stressed (IPC Phase 2) outcomes through January 2019.
-
IDP and refugee populations living in settlements are dependent on humanitarian assistance, consisting of periodic three-month, cash-based transfers from WFP. At the end of June, the number of Burundian IDPs and non-urban refugees from the DRC were estimated at 178,267 and 36,000, respectively. Meanwhile, an estimated 34,000 Burundians have officially returned from Tanzania since October 2017 and returns from Rwanda are on the rise. Without assistance, many of these households would likely face Crisis (IPC Phase 3) outcomes.
This Key Message Update provides a high-level analysis of current acute food insecurity conditions and any changes to FEWS NET's latest projection of acute food insecurity outcomes in the specified geography. Learn more here.