A closer look at the earth beneath our feet

A heavily eroded road makes a deep cut through the soil in hill country near the Nko River. Philippe and Philo take notes on soil characteristics.

If a traditional farmer practicing variations on shifting cultivation wants to increase surpluses, she can choose from a wide number of strategies. At Lusekele we have focused on new varieties that use limited resources more efficiently or minimize losses from pests and diseases. These usually give an immediate boost to yields without major changes in the basic way that people farm.

But in areas with growing population and limited land resources, the increasing intensity of agriculture uses up limited soil nutrients more quickly. Traditional bush fallow sometimes cannot accumulate nutrients (particularly nitrogen) quickly enough to sustain the demands of more frequent cultivation of a particular piece of land. As a result, even the most efficient varieties of basic food crops are susceptible to declining yields.

Women from the agricultural high school near Nzala watch Philippe enlarge a sample hole.

One strategy is to use nitrogen-fixing cover crops to capture atmospheric nitrogen and fix it in a form that becomes available to food crops in the rotation. Managing cover crops is still a new science in Congo. Even a basic question like, Where can we plant Mucuna pruriens (Velvetbean) for acceptable results? does not have a precise answer.

The extension team at Lusekele is starting to whittle away at the questions. With encouragement from the Catholic charity CARITAS and the European union, Philippe Kikobo and Philo Bidimbu are leading a rapid reconnaissance of soil and vegetation complexes to identify those conditions where leguminous cover crops are likely to prosper.

Most soils in the central Kwilu region are sandy. But occasionally one runs across soils with enough clay to be slick and very sticky when wet.

The rapid reconnaissance started with a 2-day shakedown survey to make sure that we all know what basic observations we want to make: soil texture, color, depth, distinctive layers (if any) in the soil profile and the characteristic land cover type. If all goes well, we hope to sample more that 300 sites over the next two weeks.

While this is no substitute for a serious soil survey, this reconnaissance WILL give area extension agents their first chance to begin to see the variation of soil and vegetation conditions in the region.

Philippe explains the soil reconnaissance to ag teachers at the Baptist high school of Ngulanko.

It also gave the team a chance to encourage the principal and teachers of the agricultural high school at Ngulanko. Often high school teachers despair because they lack the most basic facilities and equipment -- forget about a lab or soil sieves. The team showed those teachers how students themselves could begin to deepen the understanding of their physical environment with nothing more than a shovel and basic skills in mapping. And of course that basic observation begins to raise questions about how the environment came to be like it is, how soil helps define land cover, and how to adapt agriculture to particular environments.

Knowing more about God's creation is always better than knowing less. Often in our impatience to wrest a better life from the earth, we blunder ahead in ignorance, understanding little about how we can work in closer harmony with God's plan. Here we have a chance to deepen our knowledge and modify our farming approaches to minimize our impact while increasing the benefits we draw from creation.