The reason these innovations don’t take off like wildfire is simple economics- it costs a farmer fifty cents to purchase a disease resistant banana sucker from the local university, and $45 to drive deep into the country by motorcycle taxi, to retrieve cassava cuttings from the NGO that are new disease resistant varieties. Virtually no one here can afford this! The DRC’s GDP is the lowest in the world at $250, PER YEAR.
The limited access to improved varieties is an added travesty to the problems in DRC. While the Congolese people struggle to provide just the basic nutritional requirements to survive, disease and pests eat away at their harvests. The farmers can’t afford to buy quality inputs so they don’t produce efficiently, because they don’t produce efficiently they can’t afford quality inputs- it’s a cyclic poverty trap!!!!
Butembo is in need of a propagation farm to generate affordable disease resistant varieties. Unlike the very remote regions of the DRC, Butembo is an agricultural trading hub and would be an ideal location to disseminate new varieties though the people who are visiting the city.
I work with agronomists that have technical knowledge gained from the local universities to run a propagation/demonstration farm and can provide minimal financial capital necessary to get the operation off the ground. All I needed was a location to start working.
One day while on a walk with a priest we took a shortcut through the local convent. I was amazed to see that the nuns had roughly two hectors of farm land that was incorporated into their walled-in compound. I spoke with the mother superior of the convent about using this location to run a propagation farm; however she was very reluctant to provide me with any space to grow crops.
She protested my plan, “Look over there, we are already growing cassava. We don’t need anymore!” I was ready, “Yes, you do have cassava; but look at the leaves, they’re wilted. Your cassava is sick and probably doesn’t yield much. I will provide you with cassava plants that won’t get sick and that will yield much more!”
I should not have believed for a second that I was smarter than a nun. She responded, “You might be right about the disease, but if we grow more cassava- we also need to use the land to grow beans. No one wants to eat just cassava every day. We need beans for protein.”
This was an excellent argument that used marginal utility to prove a point- It doesn’t matter how much starch is in your diet; if you don’t have protein you’re still going to starve.
“You’re completely right”, I said. “How about this, I will work with you in the field, I will pay the community to assist us in preparing the field, I will pay you upfront for your work in beans AND you can keep everything that is produced. BUT, the nuns must teach the high school students everything the agronomists teach them.”
She smiled and said, “thank you for paying US to work in OUR field. We have a deal!” The entire time we were negotiating, I thought she didn’t want to have anything to do with the project; but as soon as we agreed, she was thrilled by the idea. She knew exactly what she was doing; she played me like a fiddle. I have no regrets, it’s only $30 dollars and it’s going to a great cause.
The next day I was shocked to see
that nearly half the field had already been cleared by the nuns. The following
day I arrived early to work on clearing the rest of the field, but the nuns
were nearly finished! I asked if they had an extra hoe I could use. Instead one
of the nuns handed me hers. I eagerly reached for the hoe and began imitating the
movement I had seen. I was determined to impress the nuns. “No, no, no, not
like that!” she said.
The cassava cuttings and a disease resistant variety of potatoes have been collected. I still need to source the materials for the small green house but we will begin planting on Monday!
My goals for the project
1)
To produce a small but very fertile harvest so
that the local community will notice improved value and subsequently a demand
will be generated for disease resistant varieties
2)
Train the nuns how to propagate the disease
resistant varieties so that they can sell or give them away
3)
Provide visiting priests access to the cuttings
and suckers to take back to their communities to distribute and propagate
4)
Teach high school students innovative
agricultural practices that they can introduce to their families
5)
Reduce the cost of new varieties by improving
access (I was told one cassava plant can be used to create at least 30
cuttings)
6)
Utilize local agronomists to monitor and
evaluate the new disease resistant plantings, and to keep the plantings healthy
by evaluating and suggesting treatments, referring difficult problems to the university
researchers
7)
University researchers can continue to test, analyze
and suggest treatment. By including
researchers at all stages, working directly with the community on client
oriented plant introduction and propagation plots, they gain direct insight into
the farmers’ needs and challenges.
It’s my hope this small project will demonstrate and propagate improved disease resistant varieties of cassava- introduced and taught by the nuns, supported through research and skills from local agronomists and universities, and will lead to lasting positive impacts on the community of Butembo, and the surrounding area.
1 comment:
Congratulations on your progress, Gavin. I suggest you contact the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, atttach a copy of your blog, and apply for a job. Now, come home safely next month!
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