Most did not believe that a company built and led from a foundation of poor, under-skilled farmers could possibly achieve a national food brand, much less turn back the tide of wildlife poaching and deforestation. That vision was nineteen years ago. The place was Zambia’s Luangwa Valley.

Today, most are believing and seeing how the brand It’s Wild! is harnessing the collective energy of over 230,000 small-scale farmers to restore soils and vitalize crops. Important soil nutrients that commercial fertilizers can’t provide without high costs are boosting yields and adding extra nutrition to our diet. They are also discovering how these farmers, scattered across landscapes where forests remain and often not far from wildlife, have become true conservation farmers, demonstrating that farming and conservation succeed better when they support each other. In the marketplace, consumers are choosing It’s Wild! for its quality, and are often willing to pay more once they learn how the brand helps farmers and nature thrive together.

Farmers too are discovering that they have a future in the marketplace by growing this story. In the past, farmers were tied to companies whose primary motive was simply profits for themselves. There was no story for conservation. COMACO has changed that by offering farmers far more profits when tied to environmental protection and has gone the extra step by inviting farmers a seat on its board to grow the business as true partners. To fill this seat, farmer cooperatives that COMACO helped to form, totalling 103 across 86 chiefdoms, established a federation to give a voice for their journey with COMACO and selected a chairperson to represent them.

As a business model COMACO continues to evolve. With each new step COMACO takes, we learn with growing

confidence and excitement that the path we are on is the right one. Farmers feel it too. They’ve seen their income rise, crops less threatened from climate and pests, and new market opportunities emerge from their effort to conserve.

If we are going to save our planet, small-scale farmers who till much of our available land area must be part of the solution. COMACO is giving us a solution that has the momentum to build a movement around a brand that started with poor farmers who now stand tall with the knowledge and the markets that conservation can bring. To learn more about COMACO visit www.staging.itswild.org.