Lutheran World Federation Council says
Food crops crucified to produce bio-fuels, flowers

By Valentine Marc Nkwame

Former Prime minister Frederick Sumaye addressing one of the Council’s sessions and a section of the delegates  to the Council meeting.  

Mass undertakings of commercial farming at the expense of food production spells doom to developing countries; the Lutheran World Federation’s General Secretary, Dr. Ishmael Noko, stated in Arusha last week.

“Here in Arusha you all can learn from the case of the neighboring country; Kenya, where commercial horticulture, precisely flower farming is taking drastic toll on food crops such that the country now rushes to buy food from Tanzania,” he pointed out.

The LWF General Secretary is angered by the current fad which propels both farmers and peasants to abandon food production in quest for cash generating crops or selling of food crops such as maize to companies that intend to use them for the production of bio-fuels.

“Africa has more need for food than fuel and let’s face it, flowers are for exports, nobody here eats them or even buy the fancy petals,” Reverend Dr. Noko stated. He was speaking at a press conference during the recently held Council of the Lutheran World Federation.

The meeting addressed among other issues the looming food shortage threat and its related high food prices that are causing mass alarm worldwide.

The issue of receding snowcap of Mount Kilimanjaro which was the guiding theme under the catch-phrase; ‘A witness of a suffering creation’ towered over the whole event even though at the moment Africa’s highest peak is fully covered with glaciers courtesy of the current chilly weather.

From June 24 to July 1 the whole alliance of Lutheran churches in the world converged at the Arusha International Conference Center for the special meeting and the theme was the "Melting Snow on Mount Kilimanjaro: Christian Witness Amidst the Suffering Creation."

Arusha's meeting of the Council of the Lutheran World Federation was hosted by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT).

LWF meet was specifically held in view of the theme and current global environmental challenges.

The federation of churches observed a special 'Sunday on Climate change' here on June 29.

"This theme connects well with our concerns related to ecology and global warming, pointing to some stark realities and injustices," Dr. Noko explained.


"We are not going to let scientists and other secular bodies deal with climatic threats we as a church also have moral obligation to address any sensitive issues facing mankind. We are not an island,” he stated when asked which approach the Lutheran church was taking towards global warming; secular or Biblical.

The meeting in Arusha was also to offer possibilities to experience some aspects of the life and work of the ELCT congregations in the northeastern dioceses of Meru and Arusha. The Council participants had the chance to visit some of the LWF Departments for World Service (DWS) and Mission and Development (DMD) projects and programs implemented in collaboration with the ELCT and other member churches in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.

According to the general secretary, Arusha as location for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), was also to serve as a reminder "of the ongoing search for justice on the continent and the continuing challenge of impunity."

Gathering in Arusha on the other hand was another opportunity for members to learn more about the "House of Africa!"

About 43 years ago and around the same time, the Executive Committee of the LWF held a meeting here in Arusha, from June 13 to 19, 1965. Apparently Global warming wasn't an issue then.

Scientists claim that the snowcap will completely be gone from the top of Mount Kilimanjaro and even set the date to be October 2020. The glaciers have melted due to the global warming coupled with deforestation speeding up the process.

The mountain has had the snowcap since the last ice age, 11,000 years ago. Farmers have during the last decades burned down forests to make way for the crops the growing population.

The Council, LWF's governing body between Assemblies, meets once every 12 to 18 months. It consists of the President, who is elected by the Assembly, the Treasurer, who can be elected from within the membership or from outside, and 48 persons elected by the Assembly.

The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 140 member churches in 78 countries all over the world, with a total membership of nearly 66.7 million.

The LWF acts on behalf of its member churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical and interfaith relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights, communication, and the various aspects of mission and development work. Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.