Article Outline
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Literature, Music, and Dance
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Burundians cherish strong oral traditions. Folk tales and fables are often set to music and no distinction is made between music and poetry. The Tutsi are particularly known for their epic songs and dynastic poetry, strongly flavored with traditional mythology. Cattle, local history, and the travels of the god Imana throughout the country are the most important themes of Burundian literary and musical traditions. Tall, splendidly adorned intore dancers and tambourinaires (drummers) were traditionally entertainers for the royal elite and tourists.
Traditional Burundian art includes basketry, ironworking, and the making of gourd containers. The Twa are famed for their pottery. The traditional Tutsi hut or rugo is considered the most important local architectural style, while modern European-style construction predominates in the capital and in government buildings.
One of the world’s poorest nations, Burundi has a predominantly agricultural economy. The country’s estimated gross domestic product (GDP) was $800 million in 2005. Export earnings are dominated by a single crop: coffee. National budget figures for 1999 showed a large deficit, with $128 million in revenues and $167 million in expenditures. The government and foreign companies dominate the export sector of the economy. Burundi is heavily dependent on foreign aid, principally from Western Europe. Past austerity measures have added to ethnic tensions. In turn, ethnic and political instability has severely affected Burundi’s production capacity. Burundi’s labor force numbers 3.8 million people, of which 15 percent are engaged in agriculture, 22 percent in industry, and 59 percent in services.
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Agriculture and Fishing
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Subsistence agriculture is the main means of livelihood. Chief food crops are sweet potatoes, cassava, bananas, beans, and maize. The most important cash crop is coffee. Cotton and tea are also grown for export. In 2005 livestock numbered 395,741 cattle, 750,000 goats, and 242,933 sheep. Social and cultural importance is attached to the ownership of large cattle herds. They are, however, economically underutilized and overgrazing has contributed to soil erosion. Commercial fisheries and subsistence fishing around Lake Tanganyika supply domestic demand.
Mining includes the small-scale exploitation of gold and peat. Important reserves of uranium and nickel (estimated at 5 percent of the world’s reserves) remain to be exploited. Tin and bastnasite ores have been mined sporadically in the past. Test drilling has indicated the presence of oil under Lake Tanganyika, but petroleum exploitation has not yet proved significant.
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