Make a Difference
COMACO's Expansion in the Luangwa Valley
COMACO's investment and presence in the Luangwa Valley resonates a permanent and forward moving crusade. What started as a wildlife conservation effort 30 years ago grew into a model of income diversification and less dependence on wildlife. COMACO's aim to better the lives of the inhabitants of the Luangwa Valley and to save wildlife and the ecosystem has given birth to the expansion of COMACO`s activities in the valley. The Luangwa Valley stretches some 700KM at an average width of close to 100 Kilometers. The valley is home to thousands of human inhabitants and spectacular species of wildlife.
In the past years COMACO has grown and established 4 Community Trading Centers-CTCs in Lundazi, Feira, Nyimba and Mfuwe.Three of these CTCs are operating in full and have become hives of economic activities which have introduced a flare of hope and prosperity to the inhabitants of the valley who were once faced with uncertainty and inquietude about their future.
At the moment, COMACO is in the process of developing three more CTCs, in Chama, Serenje and Chinsali .The construction works at these CTC has reached an advanced stage. In Chama two large storage sheds have already been built and an office building is nearing completion. The works funded by Care International and the Royal Norwegian Embassy are expected to be fully completed at the beginning of April, 2010. Essentially, during the coming years, COMACO activities will increase as a result of this development. What this will entail is that COMACO`s presence in the valley will increase to 80% of the valley’s ecosystem. The aim is that COMACO will operate as a single entity with a social and environmental bias while the six centers are expected to develop and mature into self supporting and self managed branches of the Company.
COMACO embarked on building two 24m X 24m storages sheds and two multi processing plants in both Chinsali and Serenje. The construction of these facilities has been made possible by the support of the Norwegian Government through their Mission in Zambia. According to COMACO`s Finance Manager, Mike Matokwani who visited the sites at the end of January 2010, the works are expected to be completed not later than May this year.
Mike was very pleased with the project’s progress and had this to say “This is very good news for COMACO and friends of COMACO because come May, the company will be running six CTCs which are soon expected to be self reliant in all areas of their operations. What this means is less and less people will depend on wildlife for their survival - it will also mean the availability of more and better options for the farmers in terms of marketing their products and the herald of many more nutritious products for a healthy and happy Zambia”.
I must add for the benefit of the readership, that the new area under development is home to Africa’s remaining and spectacular wildlife-rich protected areas – this venture will once again test the viability of the COMACO model. It is intended that the project will place emphasis on preserving the soil by encouraging recruits to strictly adhere to the COMACO conservation farming. It is intended that the COMACO model will be fully replicated through the development of individual trading and processing centers that are aimed at sustaining different combinations of value-added processing technologies to ensure the correct mix of commodities that are best suited for local conditions. To achieve this, COMACO will consider many factors such as type of soil etc and will determine the suitable crops for the different conditions to promote prudent use of land resources as well as to maximize crop yields. To elaborate, COMACO will promote either crops that require no fertilizer, such as cassava or sweet potatoes, or crops that replenish soil nutrients, like a variety of legume crops throughout much of the landscape.
In the past years COMACO has grown and established 4 Community Trading Centers-CTCs in Lundazi, Feira, Nyimba and Mfuwe.Three of these CTCs are operating in full and have become hives of economic activities which have introduced a flare of hope and prosperity to the inhabitants of the valley who were once faced with uncertainty and inquietude about their future.
At the moment, COMACO is in the process of developing three more CTCs, in Chama, Serenje and Chinsali .The construction works at these CTC has reached an advanced stage. In Chama two large storage sheds have already been built and an office building is nearing completion. The works funded by Care International and the Royal Norwegian Embassy are expected to be fully completed at the beginning of April, 2010. Essentially, during the coming years, COMACO activities will increase as a result of this development. What this will entail is that COMACO`s presence in the valley will increase to 80% of the valley’s ecosystem. The aim is that COMACO will operate as a single entity with a social and environmental bias while the six centers are expected to develop and mature into self supporting and self managed branches of the Company.
COMACO embarked on building two 24m X 24m storages sheds and two multi processing plants in both Chinsali and Serenje. The construction of these facilities has been made possible by the support of the Norwegian Government through their Mission in Zambia. According to COMACO`s Finance Manager, Mike Matokwani who visited the sites at the end of January 2010, the works are expected to be completed not later than May this year.
Mike was very pleased with the project’s progress and had this to say “This is very good news for COMACO and friends of COMACO because come May, the company will be running six CTCs which are soon expected to be self reliant in all areas of their operations. What this means is less and less people will depend on wildlife for their survival - it will also mean the availability of more and better options for the farmers in terms of marketing their products and the herald of many more nutritious products for a healthy and happy Zambia”.
I must add for the benefit of the readership, that the new area under development is home to Africa’s remaining and spectacular wildlife-rich protected areas – this venture will once again test the viability of the COMACO model. It is intended that the project will place emphasis on preserving the soil by encouraging recruits to strictly adhere to the COMACO conservation farming. It is intended that the COMACO model will be fully replicated through the development of individual trading and processing centers that are aimed at sustaining different combinations of value-added processing technologies to ensure the correct mix of commodities that are best suited for local conditions. To achieve this, COMACO will consider many factors such as type of soil etc and will determine the suitable crops for the different conditions to promote prudent use of land resources as well as to maximize crop yields. To elaborate, COMACO will promote either crops that require no fertilizer, such as cassava or sweet potatoes, or crops that replenish soil nutrients, like a variety of legume crops throughout much of the landscape.
Another example of this is that, as farming conditions in the eastern region of the Valley are more varied and support a large variety of crops and commercial players, such as international tobacco and cotton companies, value-added processing by COMACO, is essential in this region as it aims to propel farmers’ commitment to grow particular crops and apply ideal practices that award the most advantage to good land management. For example, COMACO has created a strong market demand for a native rice variety called “Chama rice” under the It’s Wild! brand. By ploughing back a substantial percentage of this market value to producers, COMACO is attracting farming interest towards a crop that is not only a source of good and nutritious food but is also a source of assured income. All this is done while minimizing the impact on wildlife habitat. A similar approach is well advanced for soybeans grown on upland landscapes and is later processed.
In summary, COMACO has reached a credible height of success and sustainability and with continued support to scale up the activities, COMACO will have yet another opportunity do what it does best – Change the lives of the farmers to the extent of over 50,000 of them achieving food security and reasonable and decent annual household incomes . With this level of expected impact and the restriction of many forms of undesirable land use which as you know are the causes of natural resources depletion and degraded or degrading landscapes, COMACO views this expansion as a timely and important opportunity to assume an influential position of a viable, workable and most desirable method for rural development as well as conservation. Wildlife Conservation Society, which has pioneered the COMACO model maintains a committed role of building capacity in Zambia to ensure COMACO`s complete success in the not too distant future.
COMACO is proving to be a success story – the readership will agree that the challenge taken by COMACO is enormous but with courage, determination and good will, COMACO is certain to safeguard the rural poor’s income and to keep the environment safe from ruin. COMACO is committed to stand the test of time and provide for many generations to come.
In summary, COMACO has reached a credible height of success and sustainability and with continued support to scale up the activities, COMACO will have yet another opportunity do what it does best – Change the lives of the farmers to the extent of over 50,000 of them achieving food security and reasonable and decent annual household incomes . With this level of expected impact and the restriction of many forms of undesirable land use which as you know are the causes of natural resources depletion and degraded or degrading landscapes, COMACO views this expansion as a timely and important opportunity to assume an influential position of a viable, workable and most desirable method for rural development as well as conservation. Wildlife Conservation Society, which has pioneered the COMACO model maintains a committed role of building capacity in Zambia to ensure COMACO`s complete success in the not too distant future.
COMACO is proving to be a success story – the readership will agree that the challenge taken by COMACO is enormous but with courage, determination and good will, COMACO is certain to safeguard the rural poor’s income and to keep the environment safe from ruin. COMACO is committed to stand the test of time and provide for many generations to come.