Sustainable Agroforestry in Burundi: Perfect Village Communities (PVC)

A few decades ago, Burundi was covered with forests and rich biodiversity. Deforestation, poor forest management, and overexploitation has led to land degradation, biodiversity loss, and declining soil fertility. The food insecurity, malnutrition, and severe floods that followed was the catalyst for the inception of Perfect Village Communities Burundi: a locally led and founded organization to initiate land restoration efforts for reviving ecosystems, improving livelihoods, and addressing the environmental and social challenges faced by rural communities.

“Through innovative practices, community engagement, and strong partnerships, we strive to build a future where people and the planet thrive together.”

In 2024, Perfect Village Communities (PVC) Burundi focused on rural areas of the country, particularly in Bujumbura and Cibitoke. A new restorative project of 300 hectares of degraded land has been launched to improve biodiversity and ensure a thriving ecosystem where there was once degraded. Stakeholders include 1,000 farmers in the area, with a special focus on women and youth.

 “It will be difficult to adapt to climate change in the future if we do not take concrete actions today to combat it.”

Restoration is the culmination of PVC’s efforts, and that’s where OFP comes in- local communities will use the OFP ecosystem for tracking and managing their restoration efforts. So far, Perfect Village Communities has achieved:

• Land Restoration: Implementing strategies across 300+ hectares through tree planting, agroforestry, and nature-based solutions.
• Tree Planting: Planted over 200,000 trees and plants, including fruit-bearing and native species, to enhance soil fertility and biodiversity during 2024 and the beginning of 2025
• Community Empowerment: Trained 1,000 farmers in regenerative agriculture and beekeeping each year  
• Beekeeping: Installed 100 beehives, increasing honey production by 10%, while promoting sustainable forest products.
• Training: Conducted 100 sessions on sustainable practices, benefiting over 1,000 individuals.

Challenges have included limited community understanding of agroforestry and restoration practices to enhance soil fertility and restore landscapes and a lack of investments and funding to realise these projects.

With Open Forest Protocol, PVC Burundi hopes to engage more communities in carbon credit project cultivation, enabling them to benefit from land restoration activities and open the doors to carbon finance and investment.

Their first project on the OFP Atlas is seven hectares of reforestation for regenerative agriculture practices. Agricultural production will increase on community land alongside beekeeping to generate additional income.