Email
media@itswild.org
Phone Number
+260971583282
COMACO is a social enterprise that supports wildlife conservation and small-scale farmers in Zambia.
We make conservation work for farmers with markets, skills, and inputs. Our goals are more trees, more wildlife, healthier soils, food & income-secure households, and increased climate resilience
We deliver landscape solutions for biodiversity protection and climate resilience by combining pro-nature market incentives, effective community leadership, and large-scale tree planting for multiple benefits.
We empower rural communities with skills and market to adopt agroecological farming and land management practices that enhance livelihoods and well-being while restoring soils and local ecosystemsWe purchase farmers’ surplus and manufacture them into high-quality, chemical-free food products under the It’s Wild! brand and sold as source of . incentives for farmers who comply with conservation practices
We organize farmers into cooperatives to gain better access to markets and such services as seed support, farmer training, and carbon market opportunities.,
COMACO has established and trained 112 cooperatives representing more than 335,230 farming families across 84 chiefdoms to strengthen the ties between conservation and markets.
It began in Zambia’s Luangwa Valley over 30 years ago. Elephants and other wild animals were being slaughted by local poachers. Most were people who could not support their families as farmers and lacked alternatives for a better life. Instead of trying to arrest them, we trained them to farm and provided a market where there was none. It was a slow start, but it opened our eyes to the need to extend this approach to other farmers who were vulnerable and represented potential threats to their local environment. Access to their communities was often across rough and challenging terrain. Over time we have forged a partner with over 335,230 small-scale farmers who are leading local efforts to protect their natural resources. 2,212 poachers have surrendered their firearms and have taken up the plow instead. The story continues because problems remain, but now there is hope that conservation can succeed.
It’s Wild! products are uniquely and proudly Zambian. Sourced from thousands of small-scale farmers, our products are grown without chemicals using sustainable methods such as nitrogen-fixing trees and organic soil enrichment to naturally restore nutrients.
With 19 products currently on the market, It’s Wild! offers a diverse range of nutritious, high-quality foods that are as good for people as they are for the environment. Each purchase supports farmers who are committed to caring for their land and protecting Zambia’s natural resources.
Good for you, Good For Zambia!
COMACO’s market-based engagement with small-scale farmers to influence conservation is new. As such, it requires a rigorous commitment to data to assess COMACO’s cause and effect relationships between improved livelihoods and conservation and the many other factors that come into play. Our research team maintains an annual program of monitoring and data analysis to test the strength of these relationship and identify weaknesses where improvements to the model can be found. It is an iterative process that has led to an improved understanding and appreciation of small-scale farmers as a solution to many of Zambia’s environmental challenges..
Years of Operation
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Established and Partnered Cooperatives
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Farmers We Work With Who Have Signed the Conservation Pledge
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Total Number of Transformed Poachers
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Cumulative Total of Surviving Gliricidia
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Our Partners & Supporters
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