CODAPAM, a cooperative that wants to transform the rural world in a Marangara commune

NGOZI March 3^rd (ABP) – In Buyongwe swamp of Higiro hill in Marangara commune, a vast rice field attracts the attention of passers-by. It is its greenery that strikes at first sight. In total, it is a field of about 13 hectares divided into plots as is customary in rice growing practice. Its owner is a cooperative of Marangara natives called CODAPAM or Marangara Agro-Pastoral Development Cooperative, headed by Antoine Ndagijimana, a native of Marangara, residing in Bujumbura. The cooperative was born from the idea of natives living elsewhere other than in Marangara, aimed at inculcating the values and practices of development and transforming the rural world, according to the slogan of the Head of State, so that each mouth has something to eat and each pocket, money. According to Colonel of Police Salvator Masabo, leader of the collective of natives of Marangara, that field constitutes a model peasant field. In the forecasts, it will be able to produce 60 tons this season. It should serve as a model for good agricultural practices. It also contributed a lot to household income because its establishment used three hundred workers a day. These should be paid weekly. The field also had the effect of showing that the Buyongwe swamp can be cultivated contrary to preconceived ideas that peat swamps cannot be cultivated. Farmers will therefore be able to borrow the plots of the swamps that belong to the ONATOUR company to grow crops there. According to Colonel Masabo, the CODAPAM cooperative intends to set up a School of Agriculture and Livestock and agro-food processing units and selling points for agricultural products.