A Life in Transition

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1532689358186{margin-bottom: 20px !important;}”]Maxon Ninconde was 25 years old when he was trampled by elephants. He was ten days into a poaching trip in the bush with his older brother. They hadn’t caught anything, and their food supply was running low. Hunger was not a new experience for Maxon, he was used to going without food and so was his family. Life in the remote Lundazi Valley, in Zambia’s Eastern Province, was tough. Crop yields were low, and the increasingly erratic rains made harvest even less predictable. Many families struggled to feed themselves. But Maxon had a wife and three young kids in the village who were counting on him. He could not come home empty handed.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1532689373390{margin-bottom: 20px !important;}”]He and his brother had been tracking a small family of elephants for several days, but their ambush plan went awry. The elephants caught scent of them during their approach and without notice turned on them to charge. A large bull picked Maxon up with its trunk and flung him down on the ground. His collarbone cracked on impact, and a pain shot up his arm. As he struggled to gain his bearings the elephant began to bury him in dirt at its feet. He struggled to breathe through the cloud of dust and could just make out the figure of the elephant rearing up on its hind legs to finish him. Seeing his only chance at escape, he quickly crawled back under its belly and ran through its rear legs into the trees. His brother was not so lucky; he didn’t make it out alive.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”7698″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_column_text]That day Maxon made up his mind. He was never going back to poaching. Back in the village, friends told him of a program by COMACO that trained poachers in sustainable farming. If he surrendered his rifle, they said, COMACO would help him establish a farm of his own and train him how to grow enough food to feed his family, as well as a surplus to sell. It meant giving up everything he knew, but for Maxon, it was a clear choice.

“I found that poaching wasn’t profitable. It brought me misery and many problems. When you’re apprehended there is no one to feed your family. I decided to do the right thing and abandon poaching,” said Maxon.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”8392″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”8393″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][blockquote style=”left_border” font_size=”24px” color=”#9e9e9e”]“I found that poaching wasn’t profitable. It brought me misery and many problems. When you’re apprehended there is no one to feed your family. I decided to do the right thing and abandon poaching.” [/blockquote][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][spacer_wide width=”60px”][vc_single_image image=”8375″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]Wildlife poaching is not an easy life. The 1,798 poachers who have surrendered their guns to become COMACO farmers know this all too well. Many lost relatives and friends, or barely escaped from harrowing encounters with elephants, lions, and pythons with their lives. Of those that did survive, almost three quarters spent time in prison, some up to 15 years, leaving their families at home without a provider. On several occasions, their wives remarried, unable to wait for the return of their husband with hungry children to feed.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_column_text]But until recently, there were no other options. Poaching was the only source of income in the Valley.

Now, with the support of COMACO, more and more poachers have been renouncing their lifestyle and picking up small-scale farming. Years ago, farming was a losing battle. With push from big agricultural companies to use chemical fertilizer, and no training in drought resistance, farmers experienced chronic low yields and high crop damage. Fields rarely produced enough to feed a family. But COMACO offers a new type of agriculture, guiding farmers through the multi-step process of conservation farming, from how to make organic fertilizer, care for fields, prepare soils to ensure drought resistance, use and maintain high-quality seeds, and store crops with natural pest-deterrents. Now, farmers are producing more than enough food crops to feed their families. Granaries are full, and the surplus crops are collected by cooperatives and sold back to COMACO at premium market prices. Poaching is no longer the only way to make an income.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_single_image image=”8377″ img_size=”large” add_caption=”yes”][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1454241148818{padding-top: 10px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]“The first time I was introduced to farming it wasn’t easy. But I took heart. If anyone can do it, so can I,” said Ninconde.

Now, five years after his transition, Maxon has saved enough to build a brick house with a metal roof for his family. He can reliably pay the school fees of his three children, and he gets to go home to them every night. Although life is still hard work, his family no longer goes hungry. He hopes one day, they’ll grow up to be farmers.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][blockquote]“The first time I was introduced to farming it wasn’t easy. But I took heart. If anyone can do it, so can I.” [/blockquote][/vc_column][/vc_row]