Economic impact of climate change on agriculture in Burundi: An application of the Ricardian model

For several years, climate change has been at the center of both political and scientific concerns. Burundi is one of the countries which is very much concerned because its economy is mainly based on the rainfall agriculture. The aim of this study is to examine interactions between agriculture and the climate and assess the economic impact of climate change on agricultural production using a Ricardian approach applied to Burundi data from 1961 to 2020.The results show that climate has a non-linear and significant effect on agricultural production. However, any temperature above 18.6°C or rainfall above 1359.5mm would reduce agricultural production. Forecasts of estimated marginal impacts suggest that global warming of 1.5% and 2.5%would lead to an overall drop in agricultural production of about 0.93% to 2.27%per hectare. These findings call on policymakers and development planners to propose necessary climate change adjustment measures and adaptation options to reduce climate change negative impact.