NGOZI May 6th (ABP) – The Cooperative of Young People Engaged in the Development of Agriculture and Livestock (COJEDA) welcomes the certificate of merit just awarded to it by the Burundian Head of State on the occasion of the celebration of work and workers in Kayanza.
In a message signed on May 2, 2024, the president of COJEDA Patric Barutwanayo indicated that the cooperative welcomes the honor of being chosen by the President of the Republic in recognition of its contribution to the development of the country and the driving school employment through mushroom cultivation. He welcomes the incessant support of the public authority so that COJEDA can achieve its objectives of establishing mushrooms as an export crop capable of repatriating foreign currency to the country.
The COJEDA cooperative operates in the province of Ngozi. It began its activities in 2018 on a single site located in Burengo in Ngozi commune and province with 30 young people. Today, she supervises a federation of young mushroom growers using 260 members. The federation includes 13 mushroom cultivation sites. Each of the 13 sites has just benefited from a loan of 10 million for the development of that culture from the Support Program for Economic Empowerment and Youth Employment (PAEEJ).
Mr. Barutwanayo affirms that that federation intends to produce 40 tons of mushrooms that year before reassuring that all production receives a sales market at the SOVER company in Kibimba in Giheta commune and in the hotels of Ngozi. The kilo is easily sold at 6000 Fbu. Mr. Barutwanayo, however, does not hide his cooperative’s ambitions to include mushroom cultivation among the export crops that generate foreign currency in the country by 2025. He asks other young people to indulge in that culture which is an effective way to get rich easily and generate jobs.