Introduction to current event: Burundi's coffee regular has set a plan in motion to increase coffee production in amounts to almost double the output of the previous year. The plan is to increase the output production to an amount of 30,000 metric tons or more by the year 2016. Farmers are uneducated on the particularly flourishing demands for various agriculturally rich exports (coffee) that Burundi has; so they are not farming nearly as much coffee as demanded by other countries around the world. These farmers are unaware of how much of an increase in revenue and GDP growth could happen just by producing significantly larger amounts of coffee.
Why did you pick it: I picked it because Burundi is a country that hasn't really been posted often by the class, and I wanted to choose a country with an issue that wasn't already posted. I also picked it because I googled "Burundi Current Events," and the first thing that came up was this article. I also wanted to stray away from the horrific and depressing articles that are more commonly posted by my class.
Explanation of why we should care about this issue: We should care about this issue because agriculture is such a crucial part of the barely surviving countries economies and GDP growth in Sub-Saharan Africa. These Farmers are so incredibly uneducated about which agricultural resources are more crucial and which are less. This goes to show that the government should educate the farmers more elaborately because it could have a direct effect on the nation's people as a whole, (everything boils down to money). The government is also doing something beneficial to its society, which we hope won't be taken into neopatrimonialist measures. ( The government using all of the revenue from the mass produced coffee to increase the income of its cronies).
An analysis of what could happen based on theories we have discussed in class: This is so important because if one single crop is mass produced and becomes a huge import, it can have a trickle down effects on the governments economy, which essentially can lead to better public resources: education, healthcare, etc. What could happen is that the government increases the revenue by having the farmers each start a coffee farm and give all or most of the proceeds to the government. When it is in the government's hands, it could go two different directions. It could take a neopatrimonialist approach along with inherent corruption by the Burundi government pocketing all of the extra yet much needed revenue, along with fictitious farm jobs created to allow for a more elaborate scheme to make sure the revenue goes directly into the regime's followers/supporters/govt officials pockets. The other direction it could take would be that the increased revenue be put into public welfare so that the people can not only have greater access to public education, healthcare etc. but have a higher quality of such.
Recommendations of what should be done for policymakers: What should be done by the policymakers is that the coffee production should continue to increase and that each farmer should try and have as much coffee produced as possible because of the inherent demand around the world. What also should be done, is the farmers get a substantial and fair amount of the proceeds by the coffee production, and the policy makers distribute the funds publicly to ensure the wellbeing of their people.
Nimubona, Desire. "Burundi Plans to Nearly Double Coffee Output to Meet New Demand." Www.businessweek.com. Bloomberg, 15 Nov. 2012. Web. 15 Nov. 2012. <http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-11-15/burundi-plans-to-nearly-double-coffee-output-to-meet-new-demand>.
This seems a bit like a Green Revolution seen in other developing countries, which can have a beneficial effect on growth and development. Your comment about mass producing one import leading to a trickle down benefit to the whole society could be possible, but there is a danger in becoming dependent on one export and leads to a lack of economic diversification and exposes the country to a risk of external shocks. Yet, this is a hopeful story from a normally glum continent.
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