When horrible is taken as normal, we have to do something

Pastor Marcel led the way, down a steep path, through a dense stand of Imperata grass, across a small stream and up the hill on the other side. Fifteen minutes later we stood in middle of manioc fields. Pastoral students, like most of the rural people they will serve, depend on these fields for their daily "bread" -- luku. But as I looked around, all I saw were spindly stems, blotched yellow leaves and short plants. The students accompanying us on our tour don't see anything out of the ordinary. It's just a normal, mediocre field. No one has ever explained to them that their manioc is suffering from a serious viral disease. And almost no one is aware that there are 4 good disease-resistant varieties available for those with the patience to multiply seed cuttings at Kikongo.

A week earlier, Philippe Kikobo was in another manioc field 60 miles to the south, in a river valley below Kipata Katika. Every plant in the field showed signs of mosaic virus. He asked the group of women who planted the surrounding fields what was wrong with the field. They were convinced that lightning had struck the area, damaging the plants. No local farm agent comes by regularly passing on critical information. In fact, those women live only 12 miles away from a group cooperating with an international aid agency to multiply the 4 new disease resistant manioc varieties since 2006. They have never heard of the new varieties nor the disease devestating their main staple crop.

In the past two and a half weeks we visited dozens of villages in the corridor between the Inzia and Lukula rivers, in the Kikongo health zone and in the Mosango health zone. More than 300.000 people, almost all depending on agriculture for their livelihoods, live in these areas People from Baptist churches, Assembly of God churches, and Catholic churches told us the same story. Most know nothing about manioc mosaic virus. And new high-yielding, disease-resistant varieties are available only in isolated pockets to those who were lucky enough to land a contract with an international aid project. Farmers are benefitting from these new varieties only in areas where a strong church group has made a serious effort to inform farmers of the disease problem and to systematically multiply and distribute the new planting material.

The 4 new varieties of manioc are part of God's heritage offered to the people of Congo. All are superior to local varieties. And each is adapted to a slightly different environment, giving alternatives to farmers working in different places. All produce at least two times what diseased local varieties produce. In some places the new varieties produce 4 to 5 times the regional average for manioc. For farm families living in poverty and close to the limits of subsistence, this is an enormous margin of food security.

We have come away from the survey trip troubled. With the limited resources God has given us, how can the church step into the vacuum in areas not close to Lusekele? How can we help people to get information and seed cuttings that can double their manioc production right now? And in the longer term, how can we advocate for an effective government extension program that serves farmers in every district? As committed followers of Christ, our heart compels us to make every possible effort to make God's heritage available to every family in need, and especially to those in the fellowship of faith.

The market just got 146 kms closer

Compared to many pastors in rural churches, Pastor Mubangu (at right) is well-paid. But $30 per month doesn’t stretch very far. His oldest daughter is starting university in Kikwit. School fees for her five sisters and two brothers stretch the family budget further. Pasteur Mubangu and his family depend on their fields to pay the bills.



Turning fresh manioc roots into cash for school fees is a long process. Lift the roots. Strip off the hard skin. Carry the tubers down to a pond near the stream to soak for three days. Carry them back up to the hilltop village where the tubers are dried for a week. Load the dried manioc into a big basin and carry it 5 kms to the river port or 4 kms to the bi-weekly market. And hope that the price is favorable. Then, if the family has 2-1/2 acres of healthy manioc, repeat the process 200 times (!). That means walking a total of 800 kms carrying 50 lbs on one’s head, down into the valley and up the other side – and then another 800 kms back home. It takes time and plenty of stamina to get full advantage from your field.


A few weeks ago, Pastor Mubangu tried something new. He and his wife sold fresh manioc roots directly to the chipping project at Lusekele. No soaking, no drying, no carrying basins to market on their head. And cash in hand for 4.400 lbs of manioc roots. The Lusekele truck pulled up to the trail head less than a kilometer from the field. Basket after basket of roots were hauled from the field, stripped by the roadside, and loaded into the truck – about 100 baskets in all. An operation that would have taken a month of constant hard labor (for Pastor Mubangu, for his wife and for the children) was completed in a day because an affordable means of local transport is available.



Creating that kind of opportunity was what Christians had in mind when ACDI proposed the truck project a year ago. We still have a long way to go to make this same opportunity available to the largest number of farm families possible. But that’s our vocation – helping people to see the opportunities that God places in our hands, enriching our lives and enabling us to be a blessing to those around us.