Geography
Burundi is a small (10,745 sq miles), mountainous country in Africa surrounded by the DRC, Rwanda, and Tanzania. This country is the home to 10.4 million people consisting of many different tribes and cultures. It lies on Lake Tanganyika which contains a fish called the Indagala, that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Burundi also has significant plots of land that have been beneficial in farming and raising crops.
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The people of Burundi have been able to take advantage of the land they have. More than 94% of employment comes from the agriculture within this country and over 50% of GDP. Also the “agricultural sector supplies 95% of the nation’s food needs and over 90% of its export earnings." The coffee industry is also taking a large part in the income for the country and accounts for 60% of all export revenues for Burundi. It also represents 96% of the total domestic production. Burundians have been able to adapt to their geographic location and have been able to provide food, and financial stability to the country.
Although there have been obvious benefits from the way the people are able to tend to their land and increase the agriculture, there have also been some negatives. They are starting to see a decline in the amount of crops being produced because the land has been overworked and the soil is eroding. They are also beginning to exhaust their natural resources by overfarming and deforesting the land. Not only is this going to hurt the economy, but food resources for the Burundians will become scarce.
Natural Resources
Burundi is not known for its natural resources, however it does have a significant amount of mineral sources such as: nickel, uranium, cobalt, copper, gold, and limestone, making it a potential candidate for investments to be made in mining. However the current instability within this tiny landlocked country is preventing these resources from being explored. Approximately 5% of the world’s nickel reserves are within the borders of Burundi, and if the country had infrastructure (roads & trains) the economy would improve.
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