Media coverage received by the BecA-ILRI Hub led “Wild edible mushrooms: exploring opportunities for domestication of species in eastern Africa ” project has contributed to increased awareness and participation by local communities in Burundi. Members of the press from Radio Isanganiro , private broadcaster Tele Renaissance and state-owned broadcasting Radio Télévision Nationale du Burundi were present during stakeholder workshops held by the project team in October and November 2012 in Bujumbura.
These workshops brought together mushroom collectors and sellers; forest guides; mushroom growers; members of the scientific community; non-governmental organizations; and members of the public sector involved in dissemination of mushroom cultivation and technology.
The mushroom project team comprising partners from the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (KIRDI); University of Burundi; the BecA-ILRI Hub and Australia’s national science agency – Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), is collecting, identifying and characterizing wild edible mushrooms from forests in Burundi, Kenya and Tanzania. The team will also conduct nutritional analyses and develop cultivation methods for selected varieties to be disseminated to small scale farmers within the region. The mushroom collection often involves local guides from communities living around the forest edges and guards of natural parks who are able to provide first-hand information on the edibility of the mushrooms. To date the team in Burundi has collected 39 species of wild mushrooms. Some of the collected species have been identified, all have been cultivated and so far, only two of the 39 species have fruited.
Through this project, it is anticipated that successful domestication of selected wild edible mushrooms will translate into a rapid source of income and nutrition that is easily available to women and children. These are the two groups most involved in the wild mushroom trade in Burundi according to surveys conducted in Bujumbura, Muramvya, Bururi, Makamba, Rutana, Cankuzo and Karuzi provinces.