Value Added COMACO Products

• Rain-fed paddy rice: Unlike cotton, which requires pesticides and has a relatively high rate of soil nutrient depletion and imparts a high labour cost, rice farming supports both a food and cash crop production with much less labour and uses no chemical inputs. COMACO rice is 100% organic. Furthermore, once harvested, rice fields can revert back to wildlife habitat. To add value, COMACO extension staff has collaborated with producers to improve the taste and physical quality of the rice by careful seed selection and large-scale seed multiplication and seed input support.
  

  

With use of rice polishing and rice sorting machines, COMACO is able to produce a high quality rice product Zambians prefer and enjoy knowing also that they are contributing to wildlife conservation and poverty reduction.

Groundnuts: Provides nitrogen fixation for soil improvement and is therefore ideal for crop rotation to better sustain food staple crops like maize while providing farmers with income and a source of food. By keeping maize crops in rotation with groundnuts, farmers have less need to clear surrounding land for new farm land, thus reducing pressure on wildlife habitat.

Honey: COMACO produced honey is made only from bar hives or log hives, which are made from trees already dead. This reduces the need to harvest wild honey, which due to local practice, often results in tree loss and uncontrolled bush fires. COMACO honey offers good economic incentives to manage forest resources.

Poultry: Increased market value provides incentives to improve husbandry, increase production and have sufficient surplus to meet both home consumption needs and provide a coping mechanism for periods of low rainfall, rather than relying on game meat.

Soybeans: In 2007, COMACO will begin a line of organically grown soybean-based products, including HEPS (high-energy protein supplement for HIV patients and malnourished children, soy milk, and soybean crunchies (snack food), and meat-analogue products. By increasing the economic value of soybeans, COMACO will motivate farmers to rotate other crops with soybeans a soil enhancing crop to reduce the need to clear trees and to provide extra incentives not to use pesticides or chemicals.