AID-I in the Great Lakes to boost the delivery of technologies to farmers in Burundi
2 June 2023
The Accelerated Innovation Delivery Initiative in the Great Lakes Region (AID-I GLR) was launched in Burundi as Kugwiza Project. Kugwiza means “to increase” in the local Kirundi language.
IITA–CGIAR, the Government of Burundi, and the project donor Feed The Future through USAID, alongside scaling partners, development organizations, seed companies, farmers and farmer cooperatives, and other CGIAR Centers gathered in Bujumbura on 24 May to kick off the Kugwiza Project.
In Burundi, 90% of the population lives in rural areas and depends almost exclusively on agriculture and livestock, representing about 40% of the GDP. Agriculture, therefore, remains a priority for the development of the country.
Kugwiza Project seeks to boost agriculture and enhance food and nutrition security in Burundi through the rapid large-scale adoption of proven technologies and innovations developed mainly by CGIAR and partners.
The project collaborates with scaling partners operating in Burundi led by World Vision Burundi and Confédération des Associations des Producteurs Agricoles pour le Développement (CAPAD), development organizations, farmer cooperatives, and individual farmers to deliver improved agricultural technologies and innovations to farming households, henceforth support smallholder farmers increase production.
