The egg dealer with her little dauther

Yapecos wife Augustine has 132 hens and this afternoon she had 25 kg eggs ready for delivery. A shopkeeper from town came and bought the whole lot. She rolled up a piece of cloth, put it on her head and with the help of Augutine she lifted the box up on her head. And then she began the trek down the hill. It is a cheap and environmentally friendly mode of transportation. I hope that all the eggs were whole when she arrived at her shop. The surroundings here offer no paved streets or walking paths. There are branches and rocks to jump over and burrows to avoid in addition to the challenge of the steep hill.

Today we have gone through the accounts of the agricultural project at Nsanda. We focused on the manioc, and we can conclude that the sales has not given the expected yield. The sales of the processed manioc, the fufu, does not look good. The added value of the fufu don’t outweigh the cost of processing the manioc. It seems far better to sell the raw root. Except manioc, soy beans and peanuts are grown at Nsanda. In December 2012, 330 banana trees were added and yet another 30 this year. Other additions are ginger, more peanuts, pineapple and more manioc. Being a Congolese farmer is clearly not simple, but eventually it might provide income. The weather has played us some tricks, and not always been on our side. Today we have worked at home, in Yapecos house. On Thursday, we will go out to the farm.

Moreover, it has been a very hot day in Matadi, slightly above the tolerance level of a Northerner. I am going to cool off with a few buckets of cold water before bedtime.