Congo Update 24 Feb 2014

Greetings from the Congo

Lots of different things going on now as the two rainy season collide.  The first seasons crops are maturing and we have harvested the dry beans in Lekana and are trying to start harvest of the potatoes.  But its been a little wet so far.  Installed tow 12 volt fans with solar panels into the roof peak of the potato cellar and the internal temperature dropped significantly to avoid a replay of too much harvest heat in the crop and rotting potatoes.

There are red potatoes showing up in the local markets here.  We gave and sold seed after last season to local farmers and their first production from this seed is being harvested now.  The red ones are also getting a better price than the traditional ones.  The bucket of reds goes for 700 CFA and the old variety goes for 500 CFA.  The sellers are quick to tell you how good the red potatoes taste.  

There really isn’t a dry season between these two up north I am finding out.  It’s just the rains slow down a bit in Jan-Feb.  The beans didn’t do very well in Lekana.  On both farms the beans have less pods/plant than the second rainy period.  I think the first season is a lot wetter and beans don’t really like things that wet.  There was also too many beetles and this small spinney bug eating the leaves and flowers.  You have to order everything so far in advance here with all the challenges getting the funds, logistics of moving product across the country.  Beans of every kind are the only things that seem to have pest problems and I guess we just have to plan farther ahead which I already did for the next planting in March.  The corn looks good with the ears filling out nicely It should be ready to harvest by April.  I had to learn how to operate a combine fast.  In the US we had all the grain combining done by custom operators so I just learned how to monitor them.  And of course the manual  disappeared so it was onto the internet to read and John Deere uses descriptive pictures on the control buttons which helped a lot.  I also called a profession combiner in the US for help as well.  Then it was time to train the guys and let them try it out.  When it first started spitting out shelled plants and filling up the bin with clean bins some of the guys were literally jumping up and down excited about the new technology.  Moments like that are fun.

Loading the harvested beans from the combine into a trailer for bagging

Nkoumou workers with their corn crop

We are clearing and working ground for the next planting with those big Russian tractors and the Brazilian tatu disks.  Using the anchor chain to knock down the grass, have people cut with machetes and carry out the small trees and since the grass is knocked down those big disks can chew through it.  We can work around 60 HA (150 A) a week this way. Slow but a lot faster than before.  We have been shipping the fertilizer and seeds these last weeks.  One container of seed is still stuck in customs, hopefully we get it in time. 

Cleared and worked ground on the Nkoumou, Ngo farm.

Me and the farm workers on the Nkoumou farm

After school and weekends you can boys going around with their slingshots trying to hunt birds. In Congo the school attendance rate is pretty high.   Later as men they will spend days with shotguns searching bigger game.  One day a group of people were driving a red Antelope they had spotted and tow old men came through the farm with spears with old hand forged spears.  The slingshots are made from Y shaped branches and rubber from old tire tubes.  The issue here on the Plateaux is there are no rocks at all.  So the boys find the red clay subsoil here, wet it and form it into small balls.  They then bake these clay balls in the fire to make them hard.  Then off to the hunt.

Making the slingshot with a carefully selected Y shaped hardwood branch

After making round balls with the red clay subsoil they put them into the fire to make them nice and hard.

Finally when I was young I was taught this game called Macala and told it was an African game.  Well I’m here and guess what they really do play it here, only its called awale.