Rutegama Area Program

The Rutegama community is located in central Burundi. It is a rural area where the main crops cultivated are beans, maize, cassava, sweet potatoes, bananas, and pumpkins. Agricultural productivity is generally very low, and most households are unable to produce enough food to last from one harvest to the next. Some try to supplement their farming income with casual labour, handicrafts, brewing banana beer, and petty trading.

There has been a tremendous reduction in rainfall over the past ten years in Rutegama. Dry seasons have become longer, and rainy seasons unpredictable. This has drastically affected families food production. Crops that don't dry up are often destroyed by rain-induced floods or landslides. This reduces household incomes and increases poverty, leaving families hungry.

Years of civil war and the spread of AIDS have devastated community life. Many people were killed, others were displaced, and children were traumatized. A large number of people are marginalized and extremely vulnerable to poverty, including orphans, female-headed households, people with disabilities, the chronically ill, elderly grandparents supporting young children, and displaced and landless people. The children of these families are even more disadvantaged.