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.