Kidibaga

Thursday, September 16, we went to the remote village of Kidibaga. It is about 1 ½ hours southeast of Iringa. The first third of the trip was on paved roads. The rest was dirt, gravel, ruts and bumps. We went to tell them their sister church in Forest Lake, MN, won’t fund another year of agriculture test plots unless they move their test fields. The test fields were in a very remote location and no one went to tend the fields. Hence, they got very poor yields of corn. The whole idea of the test plots was to show them that they could increase yields if they followed recommended farming methods. Part of their responsibility was to tend, water, weed the fields. They were not happy to hear this news.

They did find a field near one of their preaching points which looked good. Now, we need to get them to commit to working and weeding the field. We will present this proposal to the church in Forest Lake and see if they will fund another year. I hope they do because this village is not growing enough corn to feed themselves. They need some new methods which will increase their yields. This area has been hit with 3 years of drought which doesn’t help the matter.