Farm Talk Radio Educates Farmers in Zambia

The weekly Farm Talk radio programs, which are created by our partner, COMACO, are spreading even further afield.  For the past several years, they’ve been broadcast on Breeze FM out of Chipata, the capital of the Eastern Province.  They’re now spreading to Muchinga in the northeast, which is Zambia’s newest and tenth province. This will bring the total number of farmers served directly by COMACO to date to nearly 180,000.  Farmers must sign a conservation pledge to be registered with COMACO and receive the benefits.  

Muchinga is also the least populated province with 90% of the people engaged in small-scale farming. COMACO is working in the Chama District, which borders Malawi. One of the principal crops, rice, is grown pesticide-free, and sold commercially by COMACO under the It’s Wild brand and is known as Chama rice. (See photo.)

As we have noted previously, COMACO targets food insecure households and individuals involved in environmentally destructive livelihoods such as wildlife poaching or charcoal production.  COMACO supports them to improve their food and income security in exchange for their commitment to conserve the Luangwa Valley ecosystem, which incorporates the Eastern and Muchinga Provinces. Using a market-driven community-based approach to conservation, COMACO trains these small-scale farmers in sustainable agricultural practices and provides them access to high-value markets for commodity surpluses as a reward for conservation compliance and preservation. Rice is considered a high value crop.

Central to the success of this approach is information and ensuring all farmer groups receive the same information and this is achieved largely through the Farm Talk weekly radio shows that include a call-in segment and a What's App group. In the Chama District, Farm Talk will be broadcast on a local community radio station as the Breeze FM footprint doesn’t reach that far north.  Also some of our Lifeplayer units will be used to preload the Farm Talk content for the areas outside the radio station's reach. 

Lifeline plans to visit COMACO in the near future and will be able to provide additional first hand accounts of the great work that COMACO and the Farm Talk team continue to do. 

Please help us to support this highly impactful initiative.