The regional project (Burundi) for agricultural transformation in East and Central Africa is structured around 5 components, namely (i) Regional Programmes on value chains (Establishment and strengthening of a Regional Leadership Center on beans and National Specialization Centers on maize, rice, cassava and milk; development, rice, cassava and milk; collaborative development, transfer and dissemination of agricultural technologies); (ii) Agricultural
Education, Skills Development and Service Delivery; (iii) Enabling policies and markets agricultural; (iv) Emergency response plans and (v) Management, project coordination and monitoring-evaluation. Only the first two components will be concerned by investments in terms of infrastructure, specifically buildings with laboratory equipment, irrigation structures, access roads and units for the processing, storage, conservation and marketing of agri-food products.

In Burundi, the project sites are not yet specified but the project area will cover the 5 ecological zones of the country, namely the Imbo plain, the western Mumirwa escarpment, the Congo-Nile ridge, the Congo-Nile ridge, the central plateaus, and the central plateaus and the depressions of Moso (in the East) and Bugesera (in the North). In these ecological zones, there are a series of protected areas and aquatic environments that are very rich in biodiversity and that may interfere with project activities. The rest of the project area consists of land under various crops (rice, maize, wheat, wheat, potato, sweet potato, banana, cassava, beans, palm oil, coffee, tea, fruit and vegetables, etc.) whose levels of importance differ according to ecological zones. Agriculture represents the dominant activity of the economy of the zone and the main source of income for the population. But it is essentially subsistence agriculture practised in a rudimentary way on very small farms whose average size
is around 0.5 ha. The yields obtained are very low compared to African averages. The dominant breeding is that of cattle and goats with local breeds that are less productive but rustic; it remains extensive despite the small size of the land.

Given the possible infrastructures within the framework of the project, a certain number of the obligations of the legislative and regulatory framework must be taken into account, in particular those relating to: (i) the management and protection of the environment (environmental code and its implementing texts, the law on protected areas); (ii) to the rational management of space and water resources (water code and its application texts, mining code and its texts of app). In addition, reference should be made to certain conventions ratified by Burundi (Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, Convention on Biological Diversity, Convention on Climate Change, Regional Convention on the Sustainable Management of
Lake Tanganyika) and to the World Bank's safeguard policies (PO/PB 4.01 - Environmental Assessment, PO/PB 4.01 - Environmental Assessment, PO/PB 4.01 - Environmental Assessment, PO/PB 4.01 - Environmental Assessment, PO/PB 4.04- Natural Habitats, PO 4.09-Pest Management, PO/PB4.10 - Indigenous Populations and Po/PB 4.11 - Physical Cultural Resources and Po/PB 4.12 - Involuntary Relocation) .

According to the Bank's environmental assessment policy, the project is classified in category B. Thus, some sub-projects will have to undergo a simplified environmental impact assessment with mandatory consultation of the groups affected by the sub-projects.
Based on public consultations, the analysis of the most recent documents that exist and the experience acquired by other similar projects in the country and in the region, the project could have very significant positive impacts and negative (unwanted) effects from a socio-economic and environmental point of view.