The next Brussels Development Briefing no. 51 on ”Agriculture as an engine of economic reconstruction and development in fragile countries ” took place on 27 June 2018 from 09h00 to 13h00, ACP Secretariat, Brussels 451 Avenue Georges Henri, 1200 Brussels. This Briefing was organised by the ACP-EU Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), in collaboration with the European Commission / DEVCO, the ACP Secretariat, and CONCORD.

1. Agriculture: a driver for
economic reconstruction and
development in fragile states
The experience of CAPAD and its
cooperatives in Burundi
By:
Annick SEZIBERA
CAPAD executive secretary
Tel.: (+257) 76 652 176
Email: sezannick@yahoo.fr
Skype: sezibera2

2. OUTLINE
I. Presentation of CAPAD
II. Successes and major achievements
III. Factors of success
IV. Opportunities
V. Replication and scaling up
VI. Challenges and limitations
VII. Conclusions

3. I. PRESENTATION OF CAPAD
• Created in 2000 at a time
of civil war, which had the
following impact:
- Loss of productive and
working capital
- Destruction/looting
- Breakdown of trust
between communities
- Despair of a return to peace
- Humanitarian emergency
Aid dependence

4. I. PRESENTATION OF CAPAD
(continued)
• CAPAD is a national farmers’ organisation
that brings together:
 117,000 family farm households
 111 agricultural cooperatives (cereals,
coffee, fruits, vegetables, food crops,
patchouli)
 72 municipalities (across the whole
country)
• Mandate:
 Community mobilisation around
common interests (agricultural and
economic activities)
 Development of farmer leadership and
rural entrepreneurship
 Defending social, economic and political
rights: social cohesion, changes in
national policies and programmes, etc.

5. 2. INTERVENTION STRATEGIES
Agricultural development:
storage, promotion of agro-
food processing units
Agriterra,OxfamNovib,
CSA,CCFD,Cordaid,IFDC,
BTC,SIDI

6. II. CAPAD successes and major
achievements
 Contributing to a return to peace
and trust between communities
- Social cohesion – farmer leaders:
Artisans of peace and social cohesion
who have become real community
leaders, encouraging others towards
the creation of solid and autonomous
local structures (clusters then
cooperatives)
- Facilitating integration and access to
land for displaced people and
returnees
- Mutual assistance and solidarity
between producers through the
structures created
- Development of common strategies
to meet community challenges

7. Construction and consolidation of
the farmers’ movement
• Key role in the organisation of
farming clusters, then
cooperatives: 108 cooperatives
• Mutual assistance and solidarity
through solidarity credit unions
• Support to cooperatives in the
implementation of social and
economic services
• Advocacy actions to influence
decisions: recognition of
farmers’ organisations and
cooperative law

8. Increase in production yields
(30–50%)
 Support for production:
agricultural consultancy, farm
management and monitoring
 Access to production factors:
land, seeds, agricultural
inputs, livestock and tools
 Training: knowledge
management, technical
production processes
 Access to finance: loans and
grants

9. Creation of permanent jobs and
support for economic activities
• Development of empowering
economic activities and new
professions: women and young
people
• Creation of new jobs: 251
permanent jobs created
• Socio-economic integration of
over 12,000 returned women
and young people
• Improvement of living
conditions: housing, well-being

10. Creation of SOCOPA to improve
farmers’ incomes
• SOCOPA is a cooperative society
aimed at maximising added value
for agricultural producers
through the processing and
marketing of surplus agricultural
production
 Six production sites with
modern processing equipment
 Eight product ranges placed
on the market: corn flour,
cassava flour, premium rice,
standard rice, chilli sauce,
tomato concentrate, ketchup,
juice and other liquid products
 Two commercial brands
(MARAME and Taamu)
• 50% of profits in rebates to
farmers

11. III. FACTORS OF SUCCESS
• Failure of the public and private sector
(financing institutions and traders) to support
agriculture and farmers
• CAPAD and its cooperatives have provided an
alternative that is both social and economic
• Political neutrality of farmers’ organisations and
their leaders
• Caution, non-violent communication and
construction of alliances (not everyone is bad)

12. III. FACTORS OF SUCCESS
• Mutual aid and solidarity for
social cohesion:
 Social dialogue around the origin,
prevention and management of
community conflicts
 Key role of traditional structures
and farmer leaders
 Solidarity credit unions have been
a significant lever for social
solidarity and mutual assistance
 Women have played an important
role
 Consultancy, training and
economic services for family
farmers

13. IV. OPPORTUNITIES
• Disengagement of the state from its pyramid
system of supervision and support for agriculture
• Common and unifying interests – responses to the
real needs of farming communities: land recovery,
returning to the hills, peaceful cohabitation,
restoring production and generating income
• Farmer leaders have been relays and messengers
of peace and development
• Women farmers, the family pillar but also the first
victims of wars, have been more receptive and
have become much more involved

14. IV. OPPORTUNITIES (continued)
• Awareness of farmers’ organisations facilitated by
voluntary membership, ownership,
representativeness and inclusiveness
• Neutrality towards peasant leaders: community
trust, freedom of expression and lifting taboos
• Presence of support structures for FOs (NGOs,
international organisations): have delivered
technical and financial support for CAPAD and its
members
• Synergies with other stakeholders (CSOs, religious
communities)

15. V. REPLICATION AND SCALING UP
• Rural pyramid structure allows action both at the
local level through direct services to members
and at national level through advocacy for the
improvement of policies and the establishment
of an environment conducive to agricultural
growth
• Farming organisations are spaces for dialogue,
conflict prevention and management, but also
schools of citizenship, democracy, governance,
tolerance and knowledge management

16. REPLICATION AND SCALING UP
(continued)
• High-level skills among leaders of farming
organisations to inspire others and unite them
around common interests, while avoiding
political manipulations
• A combination of actions are needed, from
emergency aid, to boosting agricultural and
economic production, prevention of crisis
risks, development support, reconstruction of
social and economic infrastructures, and
actions to guarantee farmers’ incomes

17. VI. CHALLENGES AND LIMITATIONS
• In a situation of war and chronic instability,
farming organisations must at all times adapt
to this turbulent environment in order to keep
meeting the expectations of their members
• Human, material and financial resources are
limited, and synergies with other stakeholders
are therefore essential
• Despite a situation of armed conflict, the role
of a public interlocutor remains crucial for the
restoration of peace and agricultural growth

18. VII. CONCLUSIONS
• The strategies put in place by the
CAPAD and its members have
enabled the development of actions
all along the value chains (upstream
and downstream), and the
improvement of incomes of member
family farmers, in spite of the chronic
instability in Burundi
• Difficulties: physical insecurity, theft,
violence, suspicion, etc.
• Strategies: Caution, non-violent
communication and permanent
internal and external communication

19. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION