Zambia - COMACO (On hold in Eastern province)

In this part of Zambia, smallholder farmers rely on maize, soybeans, and groundnuts as their main crops. However, outdated and inefficient farming practices exhaust soils and drive deforestation and biodiversity loss, leading to hunger and poverty. That's where COMACO comes in: a social enterprise that supports wildlife conservation and small-scale farmers in Zambia, by helping them to adopt a completely different way of farming that restores soil health and boosts production.

COMACO turns farmers' food surplus into a commercially viable range of value-added products under the brand It’s Wild! Revenues from this brand recycle back to the community to reward local compliance with these farming practices. As food and income security improve, families become organized into cooperatives and learn a broader range of livelihood skills that reinforce their commitment to conservation, which lead to new market opportunities.

As part of their collaboration with Acorn, COMACO is empowering farmers to transition to agroforestry by growing Gliricidia sepium (colloquially known as quickstick). This fast-growing tree is already positively impacting farmers’ crops through nitrogen fixation. Currently, 40.000 farmers are part of the project, with a projected goal of 100.000 farmers by the end of 2023.

More information will follow. More about COMACO on https://itswild.org/