Green Revolution Possible -- with a fight

A green revolution is so tantalizingly close in Congo . . . and still so very far away. New high yielding varieties of manioc, peanuts, cowpeas and corn could easily DOUBLE food production if adopted widely. But few farmers know they exist. For government representatives and officials, "Agriculture: priority number one!" is just a catchy slogan. Money for agricultural research and extension programs is never allocated. Most farmers never see an extension agent except when they are collecting taxes. Rural people remain in the dark. A small measure of prosperity remains an elusive dream. And those on the margins still scramble for daily bread.

In the meantime, Christians are committed to making at least a small difference in the Vanga area. ACDI's 4 extension agents make over 120 farm visits per month, sharing information and arranging for people to try the new varieties. Putting new technologies in the hands of farmers is simply a matter of making the connections and sharing seeds. Accepting the rutted roads, the river crossings, the bamboo mat for a bed is the cost of giving people hope.

The payoff? Small glimmers of hope begin to shine in people's lives -- God's offer of a green revolution that should be available to all. Here are some vignettes from the ACDI Lusekele notebook:

Mama Kinzuiy Munganga is married to a man in Mboma who has two wives. She has young children. A few years ago she was living a hand-to-mouth existence. She and the second wife worked for other women, hoeing fields, doing other chores. They both had a reputation for being lazy. The women paid her in manioc and seldom paid well. Her children really didn't get enough to eat and they never had enough money to pay for school.

ACDI was working with a farmer's association in Mboma promoting two simple changes -- a new variety of high-yielding peanut and several new disease-resistant manioc. For the first time many of her neighbors were producing surpluses from their tired out fields. Mama Kinzuiy saw the results and decided to join the group. That first year she learned (maybe for the first time) about growing a crop you are proud of and that satisfies your family's needs. The new varieties wowed her with a surplus. She redoubled her effort.

The next year her husband joined the group. And then his second wife followed. Within a couple of years they were regularly producing enough for the growing family and surpluses for sale. With the example and encouragement of the group, these two women with a reputation for laziness (probably more the result of resignation to the inevitability of poor harvests) became two responsible providers for their family.

Today Mama Munganga makes sure her children have enough to eat. She sends them to school. She even dares to dream that their lives will be different from the life that she was leading them toward just a few years ago.

Tata Mukobo is small man, with a wooly gray beard and an engaging smile. He has two families. Years and years ago he married and quickly had a passle of young children. Life was poor and hard. Tata Mukobo scrabbled to feed his family. School was hit and miss for the kids. Difficulty upon difficulty finally broke up that marriage. The kids are grown, the oldest having kids of their own. They have settled into the familiar, demanding life of subsistence farming. Without education their options are limited.

After the demise of the first marriage, Tata Mukobo married a younger women. She expected to have children of her own -- and she did. A few years later Tata Mukobo and a few friends formed a farmer's association to do some cooperative farming -- knowledge, strength and security in numbers perhaps. In 2002 the association fell in with ACDI Lusekele in order to try 4 new disease-tolerant, high-yielding varieties of manioc. Armed with better planting material and regular advice on best farming practices from a Lusekele extension agent, the group surprised even themselves with a bumper manioc crop, easily 3 times what they had been producing before.

They moved on to a high-yielding variety of peanuts and much better harvest. In 2004 Tata Mukobo planted some new high-yielding oil palm trees and continued with the new peanuts and manioc. This year the palms are really beginning to produce nuts. Surpluses and new oil production mean that the family eats better and the younger kids, the second family, are going to school now. And Tata Mukobo has even recovered some ground for his first family. The youngest finally finished high school. Farming income paid for his first year of university, a new door of opportunity.

Kapita Gabi lives in Wamba. He and his wife have 6 growing kids. The oldest two are in their last year of high school and the youngest is 6. The family started growing new high-yielding manioc in 2004. In four years they have literally put a roof over their head and sent the kids to school. This year they built a new house out of adobe bricks. Bricks can be (and were) made by hand ("sweat equity"). But manioc and peanut surpluses paid for the tin sheeting for the roof. Kapita has contributed money for his youngest
brother to go to college.

Kintibidi of Longo, near Djuma, moved out of his village when disputes in the extended family starting gnawing his family's well-being. He came 40 kms to Lusekele to get manioc seed cuttings from ACDI when he heard about the new "miracle" varieties. He planted a small multiplication field and the next year supplied the whole village with cuttings. His farmer's association continued with several big multiplication fields which provided thousands of meters of new cuttings. They sold those to farmers from other areas for a big profit. And with the income he was able to secure rights to a farm of 32 acres. In rural Congo that makes him a wealthy person. He is now working on establishing a small plantation of oil palms.