The present study is carried out as part of the program set up by the National Institute for Environment and Nature Conservation (INECN), current Burundian Office for Environmental Protection (OBPE) and the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (IRSCnb) under a partnership agreement concluded in 2010 by these two institutions. The study consisted in doing an analysis of the mushroom chain from the natural environment, which is the open forest of Rumonge, to the markets and finally to the households.

 

To achieve this, we had to go to the forest every morning, in the company of a local person who is familiar with the different species of edible mushrooms found in this forest and who is able to provide their vernacular names. We also had to count the people who frequented the forest to gather mushrooms, to know the quantity species by species of mushrooms collected using scales. We also had to take photos of the mushrooms species by species and ask questions to the pickers to find out if these mushrooms were intended for consumption or for marketing.

In households, the survey was carried out among households in the hills bordering the Rumonge open forest in order to know the most preferred types of mushrooms in households, the place of mushrooms compared to other sources of proteins and vitamins such as vegetables, fish and meats, the quantity of mushrooms consumed per week in a household, the quantity of mushrooms consumed per week in a household and to know whether the mushrooms consumed are collected or purchased. We also needed to know how to cook mushrooms.

The present study was carried out by Ms. INAMAHORO Aline and Ms. NIKUZE Ninette under the supervision of:

Mr NZIGIDAHERA Benoit and

In the markets, it was first a question of knowing the different points of sale of these mushrooms and then talking with the sellers in order to know the price of one kilogram of mushrooms, the mushrooms most preferred by buyers, the frequency of customers, the weekly income that these mushrooms bring per household, the weekly income that these mushrooms bring per household, the quantity brought to Bujumbura from the markets of Rumonge and the sources of supply for the markets in Bujumbura.

The field work for this study went well and the data is being processed to release the results of the study very soon. The present study is carried out by Mesdemoiselles INAMAHORO Aline and NIKUZE Ninette under the supervision of:

Mr NZIGIDAHERA Benoit and