The people raise bananas, beans, cassava, corn, and sweet potatoes for food. Some people also raise cattle and other livestock. Coffee is the most important crop grown for export. Other exports include tea and cotton. Burundi has deposits of peat and nickel.
Fish are an important food for many people in Burundi.
Lake Tanganyika is a major source of fish. Most of Burundi's roads are unpaved, and the country has no railroads. Bujumbura has an international airport. Shipping routes to the ocean are long. Overseas trade is expensive and difficult because goods must be loaded and unloaded from ships and railroad cars many times before they reach their destination.