The Yasa-Bonga rural health zone resembles the Vanga area: large villages, dwindling forest land, area wide malnutrition hits 25% of the children under five, under-performing agriculture and very little alternative employment.Over 143.000 people live there.There is almost no chance of wage employment in the zone.The zone hospitals (2) and two small palm extraction operations constitute the main economic actors in the region.Most people make a living in traditional agriculture, growing what they need to survive and selling meager surpluses.

This past week the ACDI Lusekele team and I visited with the zone medical staff and others interested in economic and agricultural development in order to see how we might cooperate more effectively to improve agricultural production and household incomes.Our host for the whirlwind visit was Dr. Rufus Mungieri, the supervising doctor for the Yasa-Bona health zone.He has been the principal mover behind health programs in the area for several years.But he recognizes that health and nutrition problems often have their roots in the grinding poverty and ignorance of people.He and his staff want to work together with ACDI Lusekele on raising agricultural productivity and household incomes.

APRODEC, one of our main contacts during the visit, is an association of local cooperative groups intent on improving agricultural techniques and adopting the best crop varieties.We met three different groups preparing community fields in addition to their own personal fields.While the picture at the top of the page shows men (men generally clear fields) the local groups are composed of both men and women.They are well organized and highly motivated.This season they are focusing on disease-free manioc and next season they will expand into new cowpeas (black-eyed peas.)

You can't believe how encouraging it is to see such highly motivated groups. While many westerners characterize Congo as a perpetual basket case, dependent on handouts and aid projects, that's not the picture we saw at Yasa-Bonga.Local people DO realize that improving the material and economic prosperity of their region depends on them, farming families.It means hard work, endurance, intelligence, relatively simple tools at the start, high-potential crop varieties and information on the best ways to use them.The only elements farming families lack right now are the last two: the best planting material and information on best farming practices.

But this is beginning to change.In the past three months support has been growing for rebuilding the national agricultural research system, but that will take time.But church programs have kept the flame alive through troubled times.For two years ACDI Lusekele has been testing 14 new varieties of early maturing cowpeas – 10 of which look very promising – at a time when formal research programs are in disarray.For the past year, in partnership with a USAID project (SECID), it has been working with 8 local farmer groups to produce disease-free cuttings of mosaic-tolerant varieties of manioc.It also continues to experiment with ways to maintain soil fertility using cover crops and agroforestry techniques.

But the best research results are worthless unless they reach people in the field.My colleague, Timothy Kabila is convinced that God has called the believers at Lusekele to be this bridge for innovation that brings wholeness, sufficiency, prosperity, peace, hope and joy to people's lives.Our visit to Yasa-Bonga is part of his effort to make sure that new ideas and better planting material reach the widest group of farmers possible.Stronger cooperative networks and exchanges of information give farmers new ideas and better plants.That is the path to developing productive and sustainable agriculture.We count it a privilege to encourage and support ACDI Lusekele's efforts to carry the compassion of Jesus to farmers in the backwaters of rural Congo.

Prayer requests:

ACDI is currently recruiting dedicated Christian agriculturalists to work with farmers groups on manioc improvement, oil palm promotion, food legume improvement, and sustainable agriculture.Pray that God will raise up motivated people, intelligent, resourceful, that have a vocation for agricultural research and extension as ministry – Christ touching people.ACDI staff's efforts to build relationships with a wider range of farmer groups.

Adequate means to finance innovation – Lusekele recently learned that it can obtain new cowpea variety trials, but courrier delivery to Congo will cost nearly $650.That seems like an impossible sum to our Congolese colleagues working on a shoestring budget.

For local farmer groups – that God would reinforce their commitment and enthusiasm, give them the wisdom and information they need to innovate effectively, and provide them with technical contacts that keep the innovations coming.

For the 25% of malnourished children in the Yasa-Bonga zone – that God would provide their daily bread, the kind that truly builds strong bodies, sharp minds, and eager spirits.

With grateful hearts for your partnership in Christ,

Ed Noyes

Lusekele, Democratic Republic of Congo