This Acorn project, run by our partner Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO) in Zambia aims to support over 112,000 smallholder farmers.
Zambia ranks among the countries with the highest levels of poverty and inequality globally. More than 58% of Zambia's earn less than the international poverty line of $1.90 per day and three-quarters of the poor live in rural areas. Farming for most of these small-scale farmers in rural areas is a life of hard labor, often borne by women and youth.
Zambian smallholders face major challenges, including poor soil fertility, severe land degradation, low availability of and poor quality seeds and fertilizers, economic constraints like low income and lack of financial support, as well as lack of effective extensionservices that promote improved production technologies. However, Zambian smallholder members of COMACO have also shown resilience and have taken steps towards climate action by adopting tree-planting activities as part of their farming practices.
COMACO is a social enterprise that supports wildlife conservation and smallholder farmers in Zambia, helping them to adopt new, more sustainable approaches to farming that restores soil health and boosts production. Their organization has been active in Zambia for over 20 years, having built strong relationships with community leaders across different Zambian regions. COMACO is supported by over 100 farmer cooperatives, and has a total membership of over 230,000 smallholders, of which 52% are women.
COMACO turns also farmers' food surplus into a commercially viable range of value-added products under the brand It’s Wild! Revenues from this brand recycle back to the community to reward local adoption of these farming practices. As food and income security improve, families become organized into cooperatives and learn a broader range of livelihood skills that reinforce their commitment to conservation, which lead to new market opportunities.
As part of their collaboration with Acorn, COMACO is empowering farmers to transition to agroforestry by growing Gliricidia sepium. This fast-growing tree is already positively impacting farmers’ crops through nitrogen fixation. The project also hopes to expand adoption of agroforestry beyond Gliricidia, introducing fruit trees for both commercial and subsistence purposes and native species with agroforestry benefits, such as Faidherbia albida, Uapaca kirkiana, and Pterocarpus angolensis.
Jasper Snellen, Acorn representative, sits together with Sam Munkombwe, COMACO's Head of Agroforestry, to shares tips on agroforestry implementation on a local level.
Through the Acorn project, COMACO aims to increase Zambian smallholder farmer crop yield from sustainable Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) with agroforestry, increase farmer income and welfare, reduce uncontrolled forest loss and degradation and increase net forest cover in the project areas, supported by revenues from a significant increase in bio-carbon sequestration.
Carbon finance and interventions like planting trees and adopting sustainable farming practices, can help increase and diversify farmer income for a more secure financial state, as well as improve soil health and crop yield. Conservation agriculture interventions can also increase women smallholders’ incomes, labour involvement, and household food security. For example, our field staff learned early on that when women are included in farmer training, those households do better. Today, 52% of COMACO farmers and half of all cooperative leaders are women, and our project aims to continue supporting their important roles in agroforestry implementation and carbon sequestration.
The project has already undertaken the following activities:
Click the links below to download the project's certification documents.
