Turning poachers into cultivators

A World Conservation Society (WCS) project in eastern Zambia's game-rich Luangwa valley is helping to transform poachers into farmers and entrepreneurs. The key is the use of food aid to persuade poachers to turn in their guns and join Conservation Farmer/Wildlife Producer Training Centres (CTCs), established by WCS to teach sustainable farming methods. WCS is linked to the Bronx Zoo in New York. "I used to kill an average of seven elephants in a week," said Royd Kachali of Manga Village in the Luangwa Valley. Now he is one of 98 previously notorious poachers in the area who have taken up farming. Rainfall in the Luangwa Valley is erratic, and poverty has historically forced people into poaching - a high-risk occupation that required keeping one step ahead of armed patrols sent out by Zambia's National Parks and Wildlife Service. Through a "food-for-better-farming" initiative, run since 2001, WCS uses World Food Programme (WFP) relief aid with Food and Agricultural Organisation tools and seeds to improve output and raise farmers' profits. Farmer groups in the Luangwa valley, representing over 30,000 people, have been formed and registered with CTCs, which provide agricultural training, as well as basic marketing, accounting and business management skills. Conservation farming aims to meet the challenge of declining soil fertility and recurrent drought in semi-arid regions by using an array of soil and water conserving technologies. "Since the commencement of the programme we have seen some excellent results. Conservation farming methods are paying off, production has increased, locally based trading centres have been created, farmer groups are consolidating farm production into single production units with the aim of saving on transportation costs and attracting higher-end trading partners," WFP information officer Jo Woods told IRIN. "By passing on the increased profit to the farmer directly, farmers have become more committed to better farming practices, and are becoming increasingly self-reliant," she added. Masautso Banda, the district administrative officer in Lundazi, on Zambia's eastern border with Malawi, praised the initiative. "The WCS poacher transformation programme is the greatest thing that has ever happened in Lundazi and the valley communities. It is not easy to convert a poacher into a farmer," he said. WCS-established trade centres have provided new markets for the farmers' produce and, said Banda, Lundazi was ready to reap the more sustainable rewards of its wildlife through eco-tourism.