Since 2002 ACDI Lusekele, the Baptist Convention of Congo's agricultural extension program in the central Kwilu River area, has aggressively promoted high-yielding oil palm varieties to replace worn-out family plantations or diversify traditional shifting cultivation.  A family cultivating as little as eight-tenths of an acre could boost family annual income by $200, enough to cover most (if not all) health and education expenses for a typical family.  A small-scale plantation can also improve stewardship of the family's land by encouraging permanent coverage of the soil, use of nitrogen-fixing legumes and maximum recycling of nutrients used by the palms.  Over 1100 farm families now participate in the program.

Improving family income and ensuring good stewardship of the land both depend on growing oil palms wisely using the accumulated experience of generations of growers and researchers.  But what happens when the generation of pro-active peasant palm growers, the bearers of that accumulated wisdom, disappear without teaching the next generation?  A whole new generation must scramble to gather together that body of knowledge that makes growing successful.  ACDI Lusekele has tried to help farmers get up to speed in two ways:  convene an annual oil palm workshop for representatives of all our cooperating associations and make sure that an extension specialist visits every association 4 - 6 times per year to debrief and troubleshoot problems in nurseries or plantations.

Now we have another tool in the arsenal: a simple oil palm grower's manual.  Based on ASD / FAO's Smallholder Oil Palm Manual (published on-line and only in English in 2004), the manual has been adapted to the particular needs of small-scale Congolese growers with very limited cash resources.  The adaptation is translated into French.  It includes extensive diagrams, pictures (most in color) and informative tables to illustrate the key practices for managing a successful smallholding. 

ACDI Lusekele has been using a home printed rough draft for a year now.  The new commercial printing is done by Lulu Press, Inc.  The result is attractive and reasonably durable, an important factor when book storage conditions are not always good.  This will be the kind of resource that helps our small growers one more step toward independence and responsible stewardship of what God has given them.

Copies of the manual can be purchased directly from Lulu Press (click here) at $23.99.  (A download copy is available for $3.99.)  If your church, Sunday school class or small group would like to help make this manual available to small-scale Congolese palm growers through a revolving publishing fund, your donation can be made to International Ministries / Specifics Project  BIM-CG-002011 - Palm Project - Niles .