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Land Of Rice And Honey
By Lee Middleton
James Phiri is on
the road again. Having sold 750 kg of rice, 100 kg of peanut butter,
and 50 kg of honey in 3 days to grocery stores between Chipata and
Nyimba, the business and marketing manager has only to negotiate the
potholed road back to Lundazi before he can get some rest.
Phiri is one of
the newest faces at Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO), a
conservation programme started by the Wildlife Conservation Society
(WCS), and operating in the Game Management Areas (GMAs) around the
Luangwa Valley.
 "I
knew very little about the Wildlife Conservation Society - just that
they were involved with stopping poachers," Phiri recalls,
explaining how he, a man with nearly 20-years of finance and
business experience, ended up working at a wildlife conservation
NGO. "Sure I felt bad when I saw pictures of elephants with their
tusks removed, but I wasn't an animal enthusiast and I didn't know
much about conservation. But reading the documents about COMACO, I
became very interested in the organisation's efforts to conserve
wildlife by fighting the root causes of poverty, and to do so using
a business strategy." The areas where COMACO operates are notable
for their remote and wild beauty. Driving through much of the
Luangwa Valley, one enjoys long uninterrupted stretches of mopani
woodland, here and there interspersed with more diverse floral
spectres. Occasional clusters of neatly thatched houses whose smooth
clay walls are adorned with geometric designs, sit beside
cylindrical granaries under massive mango trees. Maize, sorghum, and
cotton fields wink past before surrendering to the bush. Men on
over-loaded bicycles, puku, bushbuck and elephant, and possibly a
cotton-truck or two are the only other traffic plying the sandy
track. A lovely environment for those seeking a picturesque
bush-experience; a problematic one for resident villagers trying to
eke out a living.
Begun in 2001,
COMACO is a descendent of an earlier conservation initiative called
ADMADE. A collaborative venture with the previous National Parks and
Wildlife Service (predecessor to ZAWA), ADMADE concerned itself with
building capacity in communities so they could benefit from and
manage the natural resources in their Game Management Areas. But
where ADMADE defined itself by its work within the communities,
COMACO has purposefully stepped outside those bounds to link
communities with external markets and the opportunities they offer.
Having completed
a study that showed a connection between a lack of food and money,
and increased poaching levels in the Mwanya chiefdom, WCS Director
Dale Lewis decided to test the study's theoretical inverse; i.e.,
that increased food security and access to money in the area would
result in decreased poaching of wildlife. However, even assuming
that WCS could improve food security and income generation, Dale
understood that reduced poaching would by no means be a foregone
conclusion.
Thus, like most
relationships, the one between COMACO and its participants functions
on a quid pro quo basis. To wit: COMACO provides villagers training
in improved farming techniques and other livelihood skills, basic
material inputs like seed, and, courtesy of the World Food
Programme, a limited amount of food support during the growing
season to ensure that the most food insecure farmers do not resort
to poaching while waiting for their harvest. In exchange,
participating farmers surrender illegal guns and snares, promise to
cease poaching wildlife, and follow conservation farming techniques.
Come harvest, COMACO buys all of the farmers' crops at a fair price,
and has pledged to continue doing so as long as the farmers keep
their end of the bargain.
"That was how
COMACO was born. To make sure that markets for conservation were
guaranteed," says Edwin Matokwani, ZAWA's Eastern Province Regional
Manager.
Brian Nguni, a
farmer from Luero (Chifunda chiefdom), who went on to become a
trainer and then depot manager for COMACO explains, "Before COMACO,
there was no market here. We only had some individual buyers who
would bring things like clothes to exchange with our products.
Farmers had no profit. But then WCS put a market here. Now farmers
can grow things : rice, honey, groundnuts and make a profit."
The profit comes
from COMACO's ability to sell its products to a larger urban market
that can appreciate the extremely high quality and relatively low
price of these conservation friendly goods, marketed under the brand
name, "It's Wild." The largest seller is an aromatic variety of rice
known as Chama rice, but the peanut butter and honey have also
proven very popular.
COMACO selected
these products because of the source crops' relatively positive
impact on the area's ecological health (e.g., nitrogen fixing
properties, reliance on healthy natural forests, etc.), and because
"adding value" to them is simple. Adding value in these cases being
a question of roasting and grinding the groundnuts, removing stones
and broken pieces from the rice, and straining debris from the
honey. Processing and packaging the products at COMACO's three
business centers in Lundazi, Mfuwe, and Feira, the "It's Wild" goods
are then taken for sale. Currently they are available in the towns
of Eastern Province and in Lusaka, but the goal is national
coverage, and some international sales.
The response to
the project from farmers all around the Valley has been
overwhelming. It is in fact difficult to find a single farmer who
has no knowledge of or connection to the COMACO program. "Everyone
is very much willing to be involved in COMACO. They provide a market
for our produce, and they're teaching us how to improve our soil and
crops," says Sidney Ngulube, a farmer and carpenter from Mapambe.
Maureen Phiri of Mukwela agrees, adding, "The big problem here is
poverty and hunger. WCS is helping with our food needs because of
the animals. So we protect the animals, and things are improving."
Though livelihood
improvement is a critical objective, it is also a means to an end,
and that end remains wildlife protection. Systematic surveys have
yet to be completed, but professional hunters from the area have
noted a decrease in snaring around the zones where COMACO functions.
Given the variety of external factors that can influence both food
security and wildlife conservation, however, many people agree that
the real proof of COMACO's success will be its long term
sustainability. James Phiri is one of those people, and as COMACO's
business manager, he plays a critical role in ensuring that future.
"We want every
consumer to understand that by buying our products they are actually
supporting the conservation of wildlife. Their purchase means that
the farmer out there in Chitungulu or Kasembe will be able to grow
the crop again next year, and that market can provide our farmers
income for the rest of their lives," Phiri says.
 Phiri
also acknowledges that no matter how good the cause, at the end of
the day consumers will base their choices on quality and price. He
is the first to emphasize the importance of treating COMACO as a
business, not a charity, and with a negligible advertising budget,
he currently is relying on the quality of the products to sell
themselves. Though this is COMACO's first year to formally market
the "It's Wild" rice, honey, and peanut butter, the consumer
response has been "incredibly positive."
Phiri cites an
example from his most recent marketing trip. In the town of Sinda he
convinced the owner of a small shop to buy 60 sacks (totaling 160kg)
of Chama rice. The man had resisted initially, explaining to Phiri
that he had plenty of stock of other brands, including imported Thai
and Indian varieties. But Phiri's persistence wore him down. Two
days later as Phiri was on his way back to Chipata, the man phoned
him, begging him to come back with more Chama rice - word of mouth
had sold it all.
"It's Wild" Chama
rice, honey, and peanut butter can be found at shops in Eastern
Province, and in Lusaka at the following supermarkets: Castle,
Proc-Press, Embassy, Melisa and SparDdowntown. Please call James
Phiri at 095 553-945 in Eastern Province, or Ishaka Milazi at 097
800-889 in Lusaka for locations nearest you. For more information
about COMACO, see:
www.itswild.org
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November
2006