How it operates

COMACO operates as a limited-by-guarantee, non-profit registered company in Zambia with liability shareholdings held by a number of partners, including a significant share by participating communities. Regional trading centers, referred to as Community Trading Centres (or CTCs), function as separate franchises whose net revenue returns must be reinvested in their respective areas to promote food security, rural incomes and conservation. The primary businesses these centres engage in are value-added processing of commodities, such as rice, groundnuts, soybeans and honey, which can be commonly produced among rural people and produced in ways that result in improved land use practices and conservation results.

There are currently three trading centres, each with their own number of trading depots that are linked to 200 to 400 producer groups whose members, numbering about 15 per group, have received training in improved, environmentally safe production practices. Adoption of these practices, like conservation farming and composting, qualifies them to sell their commodities at substantially favorable prices if they remain compliant to these practices.

COMACO's supply chain allows efficient bulking and effective communication to producer communities to facilitate cost-effective transportation of commodities to the regional trading centres for processing and packaging. This results'in substantial savings in transaction costs, which are passed on to the producer to sustain improved producer prices for low income farmers. These improved prices are further supported by value-added processing and effective market advertising.

COMACO promotes crops that contribute to both food and income security. With increased producer prices, farmers see the benefit of adopting those farming practices that COMACO recommends to increase yields. With a sustained effort by an effective business management team and qualified field staff to train rural people in better production practices, rural incomes increase, food security improves and market opportunities diversify around land use practices compatible with good wildlife and watershed management. As the program reaches this level of success, farmer communities become more willing partners to conserve, and slowly but steadily degraded landscapes and depleted resources begin to recover.

Read more about the COMACO process