Luangwa Valley: A Wildlife Producing Organic Valley for Zambia?

Whytson Daka carries himself confidently with his deep knowledge and understanding as one of COMACO’s leading agriculturalists. Working with rural farmers who live along-side wildlife is a telling experience about conservation in Luangwa Valley, and Daka has learned much during his 5 years with COMACO. Like his fellow extension staff, he has come to realize the important connections between agriculture and conservation and the important key that organic farming holds in supporting this relationship.

Daka explains with the reverence of a true believer, “Without food, poor farmers cannot live peacefully with wildlife. With better food production, farmers can earn better income and feed their families. When this happens, most people lose interest in killing wildlife and they develop other interests to pursue a better life. This is the connection between agriculture and conservation COMACO is building.”

It’s not quite as simple as it sounds, but the COMACO experience has shown how critical food security and stable incomes are to reducing wildlife poaching and strengthening opportunities for conservation. The basis for making this happen is tied closely to managing soil fertility. Helping farmers understand that conservation begins with caring for soils makes conservation easier to understand than from the perspective that protecting wildlife is more important than feeding hungry people. COMACO’s history of working with farmers comes from a previous culture that held this view and regarded farmers suspiciously as potential poachers. Today, it is soils and food security first, then wildlife. If soils can increase food yields to sustain food needs, then the land can also produce wildlife and farmers become both food and wildlife producers. With the right incentives and planning, this is becoming a reality for COMACO.

A driving force behind this relationship is organic farming. Zambia has never had a food brand that commits itself to organic standards that eliminates possible contamination by pesticides. Until, that is, COMACO introduced the It’s Wild! It’s Wild! organic-produced food brands provide. As such, Zambians now pay a little more than for the cheaper, non-organic brands that may increase health risks from chemical contamination. This extra purchase value provides COMACO farmers the higher price for what they grow organically and is an incentive for conserving soil nutrients and keeping soils productive. This simple positive-feedback to reward farmers for being organic producers has triggered an explosive desire by farmers to learn new methods and techniques in soil management. The result, Luangwa Valley is fast becoming an organic valley for farm production! brand. Zambians are now realizing the extra health benefits and superior quality taste the

The arithmetic of organic farming benefits adds up quickly – sadly, it took years to do this arithmetic for the poorly educated farmers living in Luangwa valley. As a result, livelihoods suffered as many farmers fell victims to the costly inputs by commercial farming companies who insisted on farming with fertilizers and pesticides on a loan basis. Farmers saw their profits diminish as they paid off their loans. It has taken COMACO about five years to turn the equation around.

With organic farming, farmers make their own non-chemical fertilizers from carefully made compost to enrich their non-tillage farming practice. There is now a growing knowledge about plants whose leaves are good substitutes for top dressing fertilizer and local farmers now propagate them from cuttings and keep their soils fertile. With special seed planters, farmers can now keep the organic material in the soil to help build better soil structure for healthy root growth. Keeping plants healthy is an important way to fight plant diseases, as farmers are learning. By observing the color of leaves, they know the tell-tale signs of nutrient stress and the need to keep working on soil improvement. Crop rotation is a practice that is now understood. In the long run, it does not help to plant a large field of cotton and not have the time to grow alternate crops that help rebuild soils, like field beans, cow peas and groundnuts. Farmers know it is smarter to grow smaller size fields and alternate crops to keep the soil balance right for next year’s crop. This also keeps insects off balance so that insect loads are minimal.

To further reduce insect damage on crops, farmers have learned the value of making organic insecticide sprays with chili peppers and the leaves of heem plants. Growing special crops like marigolds and sweet sorghum also help keep insects away from the main food and cash crops. With organic farming, desirable insects that aid in pollination, like honeybees, flourish and the high value offered by COMACO for organic honey has given farmers a new crop, which they would not have had if the use of pesticides had continued. Organic cotton is the most recent crop COMACO has embraced with a vision of turning Luangwa Valley into a totally pesticide-free ecosystem. 556 farmers joined the effort in 2007 and the number will grow to over 2000 in 2008, as farmers see the income benefits they earn from COMACO.

Farmers do not have to live impoverished lives. They can care for their land and earn a better value from the added-value benefits of conservation, both from crops and wildlife. COMACO ensures a favorable price for their labours through the better-paying markets of good quality organic food products. However, this partnership with farmers requires that farmers also be good stewards for their land and wildlife.

Again, Daka speaks about his farmers, “Farmers can grow wildlife with their hoe, if the price and the crop is right. COMACO offers both.”