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Agriculture in Burundi is the mainstay of its economy. Burundi agriculture mainly comprises of subsistence farming. Of the total land area of Burundi, around 1,100,000 hectares is suitable for cultivation. This comes to about 43% of the total land area. The agricultural sector is the chief contributor as far as the GDP is concerned. Coffee and tea are the primary agricultural exports and make a substantial contribution to the economy. The regulation of the prices of these exports is carried out by the government. Agriculture in Burundi yields several food crops which include bananas, corns, sweet potatoes, manioc, sorghum and beans. The mountainous regions of Burundi are used for the cultivation of wheat and tobacco. There are several plantations in the adjoining area of Lake Tanganyika where palm oil is extracted from trees. Agriculture is practiced widely across the length and breadth of the country but adequate efforts to restore the fertility of a particular tract of land are not undertaken. Recurrent practices of sowing, plowing and harvesting the lands have taken a toll on its productivity. Unscientific agricultural methods, inadequate rainfall, poor quality of fertilizers have all contributed to turn arable lands barren.
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