Connect with:
Sunday / April 27.
logo
mobile-logo
HomeStandard Blog Whole Post (Page 103)
Agribusiness

The Dairy Association of Zambia (DAZ) has called on government to increase the import duty on milk powder and concentrates from the current 15% to 25% in order to completely discourage the importation of milk powder as it is hurting and impeding the growth of the dairy sector.

DAZ says local diary farmers are now capable of producing enough to satisfy the national demand and then start exporting the excess to earn the country the much needed foreign exchange.

Association Public Relations Manager Christopher Chipemba said the move would increase demand for raw milk produced by local farmers adding that according to the recent Ministry of Agriculture’s estimates, over 600 million litres of milk is produced in the country, which is enough to cater for the country’s total milk consumption and make Zambia self sufficient.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Chipemba said five years ago, due to the low demand for raw milk and because of the influx of imported milk powder and milk concentrates, few farmers were investing in the dairy sector. The price of raw milk was as low as K3-K4 per litre, which was not profitable, and most farmers opted out of dairy farming. Zambia was basically exporting jobs and losing forex.

He explained that it was much more cheaper for processors to buy milk powder and mix it with water therefore many processors opted to import milk powder but after government introduced import duty on milk powder in 2021, the amount of imported milk powder reduced because processors found that locally processing milk was much more cost effective and profitable.

Chipemba added that the demand for locally produced milk by small-scale dairy farmers then increased and the price improved to K11 per litre adding that many local and commercial farmers now want to invest in the dairy sector including those who had earlier opted out. This is creating more jobs in the diary farming sector.

He said this interest in the dairy sector also increased demand for diary cattle and the association is now buying pure dairy breeds from South Africa on behalf of the farmers who come together to buy the animals as it is cheaper to buy cattle as a group than as an individual.

“Government cannot completely ban the importation of milk powder because some products such as maheu require milk powder to make, therefore government just regulates so that it does not distort the market”, he said.

Chipemba mentioned that the association is investigating reports that farmers in Namwala and Copperbelt are losing over 20,000 and 5,000 litres of milk per day respectively as it is not being collected due to the market being flooded by imported milk powder.

He added that the association has engaged the Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABS) to start testing milk on the shelves and find out whether it was made from milk powder or raw milk, and that it is clearly labeled to enable consumer make the right choices.

“The last one year, farmers have been buying pregnant animals, by rainy season they give birth so there is a lot of milk being processed now, but processors have a lot of imported powdered milk present, so they have a backlog of processed milk which has not been sold yet. So they are not able to buy abundant raw milk on the market. They are refusing to buy from farmers as they have enough; Finta has pushed their processing plant to the Copperbelt to help address the issue of uncollected milk”, he said.

“Countries like Holland produce a lot of milk, excess raw milk is processed into powder and exported to other countries, Zambian Processors should therefore invest in technology where excess milk is processed into powder and exported”, he said.

Chipemba noted that the association is working with government to increase Milk Collection Centres (MCCs) in order to reduce milk wastage, as the available 72 official MCCs are not adequate to mop up all the milk, which is produced in the country.

He added that MCCs are only along the line of rail and for the last four years, government has been trying to put up more MCCs in order to have a total of 200 countrywide because a lot of milk does not go through formal market due to inadequate storage and refrigeration facility.

“The association has formal and informal markets and what is considered milk from the formal market is milk, which goes through Milk Collection Centres (MCCs), and milk from the informal market is any milk which does not go through MCCs and is considered wasted milk”, he clarified.

“In 2017 for instance, 74 million litres of milk went through the formal market and 27 million litres went through the informal market and in 2018, 23 million litres went through the formal market and 544 million litres went through the informal market. In 2019, over 65 million litres of milk went through the formal market and over 435 million went through the informal market”, he said.

Chipemba said the association is trying to engage other stakeholders in order to establish the litres of milk that went through the formal and informal market from 2020 to date.

0 Comments
0 likes

The Dairy Association of Zambia (DAZ) has

Markets

The Lusaka Securities Exchange (LuSE) has confirmed that the trading suspension of First Quantum Minerals (FQM) Limited on the Zambia Depository Receipts (ZDRs) of the Lusaka Securities Exchange (LuSE) has been lifted.

A ZDR is a security that represents an interest in underlying common shares of the company. A custodian on behalf of the depositary in the company’s home market holds the underlying common shares. FQM is a company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in Canada and only issued a Zambian Depositary Receipt (ZDR) on LuSE on 12 July 2011. The ZDRs upon being listed on LuSE were able to trade on LuSE like any other listed security.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, LuSE Business Development Officer Lina Lungu said a halt is a normal and standard process on a stock exchange and FQM has since resumed trading.

According to information made available to the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, LuSE clarified that the halt in the FQM ZDRs was effected pursuant to the LuSE Trading Procedures in the interest of maintaining an orderly, fair, efficient and transparent market, adding that this is not the first time LuSE has conducted a trading halt in a listed security.

LuSE has clarified that FQM was not suspended from LuSE but rather trading in the ZDRs was halted pursuant to a LuSE trading procedure and communicated to the LuSE brokers on 3 March 2022. This effectively meant that trading in ZDRs could not be executed on 3 March 2022. Moreover, FQM is not listed on LuSE and therefore cannot be suspended by LuSE.

The Lusaka Securities Exchange has refuted claims by various media platforms and newspapers, that First Quantum Minerals Limited (the parent company to Kansanshi and Kalumbila – Trident Mines of Zambia) has been suspended from LuSE.

1 Comment
0 likes

The Lusaka Securities Exchange (LuSE) has confirmed

Markets

ECOBANK Women has joined the rest of the world in commemorating the international Wome’s day by donating K50 000 to Great North Road Academy Rehab Center.

The international day of Women will this year be observed on Tuesday 8th March, 2022. Under the theme, “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow.”

Speaking during the donation attended by the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, ECOBANK Zambia Head of Communications, Marketing and Media Glenda Masebe Kamalata, who spoke on behalf of ECOBANK women, disclosed that ECOBANK women are committed to initiatives that are progressive in positioning women in a much more equitable position.

She noted that the Center has helped a number of women who were at the stage of committing suicide by bringing them at the rehabilitation center and gave them psychosocial counseling which cannot be underestimated.

Ms. Kamalata applauded Great North Academy Rehab center for doing tremendous work in ensuring mental health is achieved across all genders and hoped that the donation of k50 000 by ECOBANK women will be put to good use.

She said the donation is aimed at ensuring that women have genuinely equal opportunities to men in achieving promotion, developing their careers and reaching their full potential adding that their aim is to achieve 50/50 equality by 2030.

“We hope to see a world that is diverse, equitable and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. We the women of the ECOBANK Zambia came together to contribute an amount of K50 000 which is being donated to the Great North Academy Rehab Center,” she added.

Ms. Kamalata said ECOBANK has made tremendous progress over recent years in ensuring that there is quality between its men and women employees.

She hoped that the little contribution will go a long way to support the great works that the Center is doing adding that ECOBANK women looks forward to working with GNRARC on other great assignments that the Bank will be embarking on.

“We are looking for a relationship that will allow our ECOBANK women who could be undergoing stress to visit the Great North Academy Rehab Center – GNRARC and get helped.” She said.

And Great North Road Academy Rehab Center Manager, Precious Posta thanked ECOBANK women for the gesture and assured them that the donation will be put to good use.

Ms. Posta said ECOBANK Women have broken the barrier in this case for making the first donation to Great North Road Academy Rehab center.

She also encouraged women facing challenges, drug addiction and alcohol abuse or having suicidal thoughts to visit the center and get helped adding that there is healing in talking to someone.

0 Comments
0 likes

ECOBANK Women has joined the rest of

Lifestyle

Evelyn Hone college of Lusaka is to be upgraded into a University college of Technology, Cephus Chabu the college principal has disclosed.

Chabu said that the college has already started offering degree programs in business, health sciences,  Music and Art which are being offered under or in partnership with other colleges with a plan of a degree in journalism to start next year.

He added that the Irish government already launched the partnership of sponsorship in Music and Audio program whose program has started and the department is awaiting equipment and machines which are being shipped to support the said program.

In an interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Chabu said that Public Private Partnership is what they also looking forward to. He added that the transformation of the college into a university is part of the five years strategic plan and government might later join in.

The principal said that the plan is that in the next three years, the now college to be transformed into a university and should be able to function and have its own senate without other programs being offered under other partner universities.

As the college transforms, its student and staff requirements will also evolve. The current programs will continue to be offered but there will be need for the current staff to upgrade their qualifications as University status comes with both higher academic and other support requirements.

0 Comments
0 likes

Evelyn Hone college of Lusaka is to

Lifestyle

Despite Zambia investing over US$1 billion in upgrading its airport infrastructure, the timing of the completion of these projects coincided with the outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic, making it difficult to immediately start making a return on this investment.

Come 2022, living with the Covid pandemic is turning into the new normal, and the prospects of international travel is looking brighter. The Livingstone Tourism Association of Zambia – LTA chairperson Hillary Kashempe is hopeful that the sector will start its recovery.

Kashempe disclosed that the year 2022 will work more like a test for the tourism sector, and the industry is very hopeful that they will start recovery because the industry lost a huge chunk of future bookings.

The tourism industry is basing it’s recovery and hope on the low covid numbers being recorded from both source and our destination countries. The industry hopes to begin to recover in the next few months. He added that full recovery from the COVID effects might even take two to three years.

In an exclusive interview with Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Kashempe said that covid restrictions and quarantine requirements were the biggest contributors to the dampening of the tourism industry, among others.

The LTA Chairman further added that it’s also very possible to continue adhering to covid guidelines while running business respectively, he added that this can be done by encouraging travel and being stable as a sector.

Kashempe alluded to the fact that in the last two years when covid hit the most, alot of people lost jobs and had companies reducing operation by almost 50% and or more. So, the industry customers lost jobs which also affected the revenues our members could generate.

He added that the industry was also determined and made sacrificial moves and worked on the basis of hope by returning employees but then still productivity was to the bare minimum.

Our approach this year is more hopeful and this has brought more of expectations and less job loses. The industry has however learnt some lessons but can not run away from maintainance and operational costs if at all the pandemic became worse, Kashempe told ZBT.

He has since encouraged tourism industry players to make the most out of arising business opportunity such as local tourism in order to cover up for the lost revenues from international tourism.

Analysts say Zambia has enough tourist attractions across its ten provinces that could be leveraged to become a major contributor to bringing in forex into the country and provide an alternative to the current over dependance on copper exports. This could help to stabilize and stem the perpetual depreciation of the local unit – the Kwacha.

1 Comment
0 likes

Despite Zambia investing over US$1 billion in

Lifestyle

Concerns that PrEP – Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis and PEP – Post-Exposure Prophylaxis which are currently being administered in Zambia as a treatment plan to prevent HIV before a person is exposed and after a person is exposed to be contributing to increased cases of infertility has been denied.

Pharmaceutical expert and ruling UPND member Jerome Kanyika stated that a law should be enacted to persecute anyone giving misconceptions on drugs. Kanyika said this while responding to ongoing concerns  by some members of the public that taking PrEP and PEP is causing infertility.

The Pharmaceutical expert stated that the these drugs have nothing to do with conception. He added that there is such issue in the media fraternity, he added that PREP and PEP is very important and so anyone miss-informing people should be brought to book. The former Pharmaceutical Society of Zambia president has since urged members of the public to join in the dissemination of  accurate information and data on such issues.

In an interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, the pharmaceutical expert stated that there should be more sensitization on the use of such drugs from all the members of the public from different fraternities. Kanyika further added that if not handled well, such misconceptions can lead to the country posting high Numbers of HIV/AIDS infections.

According to global Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and many expert guidelines recommend PrEP for those at high risk for HIV, including men who have sex with men, heterosexual men and women who have high-risk exposure (such as having a partner with known HIV infection, exchanging sex for drugs or money, or having sex with a person at high risk for HIV), people who inject drugs and transgender women.

0 Comments
0 likes

Concerns that PrEP - Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis and PEP

Companies

The new dawn administration have been urged strike the delicate balance between the promotion of foreign direct investments – FDI and domestic investment. This is because domestic investment leads to the creation of more jobs with the resulting profits or foreign exchange generated more likely to be reinvested locally.

It is also widely accepted and known that only Zambians themselves can develop Zambia, you can not outsource development to foreign entities and institutions, hence the need to visibly support local entrepreneurship and business. This can then be complimented by foreign investments or financing were more advanced skills and technology is needed.

The country needs to now move to a situation were some of the biggest companies are locally owned and managed. There has always been ambitions that some of the copper mines be run by Zambians. Mopani and Konkola Copper Mines were talked about as the best candidates, but these ambitions are slowly being muted. Are Zambians not capable of running Copper Mines 50 plus years after independence? Aren’t these Mines just lacking finance which the government working with the respective management teams can source?

When the Zambian Business Times – ZBT spoke to some of the local entrepreneurs and business owners, there is a general complaint that there is “no money in the economy”, that the demand for products and services has been dampened. These indications need to be fully investigated and solutions found to support local enterprise.

On the promotion of domestic investments, ZBT contacted Economist Chibamba Kanyama who stated that the availability of the Citizens Economic Empowerment Commission-CEEC is not just for the purpose of giving loans, he stated the local businesses should take advantage of it because it is deliberately discriminative in favor of zambian entrepreneurs when it comes to procurement.

He stated that some of the reported happenings of foreign companies being prioritised over local companies is simply an abuse of the CEEC act and called it indiscipline. Kanyama stated that people should be made answerable for breaching the what the act states.

During an interview with the Zambian Business Times newspaper-ZBT, Kanyama encouraged the citizenry to support each other and to understand the power of local enterprise because when a local company wins a tender, the forex remains in the country and contributes to the growth of the Zambian economy through various ways among others is creation of employment.

CEEC has now been put under the newly created Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises. This is a sector were the majority of local businesses operate. A check in the yellow book shows that this ministry is not among the highest funded, a situation that eventually leads to questions of weather domestic investment is really viewed as a strategic tool for Zambia’s future development.

There is also need to review the payments patterns in government from the treasury to key spending agencies. Are there more payments made to foreign entities against those made to local entities? Is the government itself the biggest externalizer of forex from Zambia? Are Zambia’s largest exporters, the foreign owned copper mines bringing back enough forex? Answering some of these questions would help explain why the local currency is perpetually depreciating or unstable.

0 Comments
0 likes

The new dawn administration have been urged

Agribusiness

The Seed Control and Certification Institute-SCCI-says it is working towards meeting the requirements set by the European Union (EU) for the acquisition of the European Union Seed Compliance certification, which will enable Agro companies in Zambia to export maize seed to the EU.

SCCI Chief Seeds Officer Dr. Nathan Phiri said the export of maize seed to Europe is expected to meaningfully contribute to bringing a lot of forex into the country and result in employment creation, as companies would have to increase seed production, noting that this would also result in more revenue for the government, as Agro companies would have to pay more tax.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT, Dr. Phiri said this is an opportunity to diversify and move away from traditional exports such as copper adding that Zambia is specialized in maize seed production and is the largest maize seed exporter in Africa.

He explained that there is a huge market for maize seed in Europe, which Zambia should take advantage of as it has plenty of productive land, a good climate and a Non-Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) status, adding that many seed companies in Zambia have expressed interest in exporting maize seed to Europe.

“For now the interest is maize seed, we are exporting a lot of seed within the SADC region; we are also exporting a lot of seed into COMESA – East Africa. If need be, we will get into other crops like soya beans and groundnuts as those are crops that we can easily use to trade with these other countries”, he said.

Dr. Phiri noted that how long it takes to get the European Union Seed Compliance depends on how fast the institute puts in place all the set conditions adding that various issues including finances are determining factors. But we are confident of getting the certification.

He stated that the organisation sent an inquiry to the EU in June 2021 and only got a response in January 2022 adding that the institute is working towards meeting the conditions that have been set.

“We have inquired and the EU has guided us on what we need to do, we have been guided on the requirements and once that is done, we will make an application, so if there are any conditions the institute is not meeting, we are working towards that.”, he said.

0 Comments
0 likes

The Seed Control and Certification Institute-SCCI-says it

Lifestyle

The Zambian National Union of Teachers-ZNUT General Secretary Newman Bubala has condemned the protest by Teachers who attempted to march to State House (the official residence and office for the President of Zambia), escalating their complaints of not being put on the government payroll for over two years.

Bubala said that it is important for the affected teachers to go to the right offices when airing their grievances. He added that the both the Teacher Union and Ministry of Education are aware of the issue and they are working to resolve it.

He said that those who were geniunely employed are going to be put on pay roll and. The unionist further added that teachers have Union leaders and the best way is to report to the labour movement that can speak on their behalf.

The ZNUT General Secretary stated that going forward, Government should be making sure that vacant positions are declared before issuing appointment letters.

Over 2,000 teachers who have duly signed and dated appointment letters have complained that they have been working but not been put on payroll. The affected teachers attempted a protest march to State House to seek an audience with President Hakainde Hichilema after the earlier protest at the ministry failed to yield positive results. Police blocked their protest.

Accusations of corruption in the issuing of appointment letters were reported. Some of the teachers were accused of carrying fake appointment letters, with some investigations at the teaching service commission reported, but no tangible results of the investigations have been made public.

0 Comments
0 likes

The Zambian National Union of Teachers-ZNUT General

Tech

The Zambian Medical Association – ZMA Secretary General Dr. Roy Tolopu has disclosed that administrative challenges and the lack of timely financing are the key contributors to the narrative of drug shortages being created in some hospitals and clinics.

Dr. Tolopu explained that in Zambia, there is a list of essential drugs based on the consumption pattern, the more certain drugs are being prescribed, the higher the demand for that particular drug and so these group of drugs are prioritized and included on the list of essential drugs.

He stated that sometimes patients are prescribed drugs that are not in the hospital at that particular time, hence the narrative of drug shortage is created. The ZMA Secretary General explained that people need to appreciate that drugs, just like any other held stock are supplied, consumed and finish.

In an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times-ZBT Dr. Tolopu stated that the challenge has been having an adequate budget on paper which does not translate to what is on the ground, money allocated but not being disbursed to what is in the budget.

He however stated that the current government has pledged to disburse what is budgeted which is the right step towards the procurement of adequate drugs and avoiding shortages.

Dr. Tolopu explained that the other challenge with availability of drugs is administration. We have heard of cases were you have drugs expiring at storage centers while clinics and hospitals in some districts have drug shortages, He re-iterated that it is the duty of the administration to make sure that the medicines are distributed on time to the right intended end user.

He stated that it should be made clear that there is a constant release of finances which are meant to buy essential medicines for the country and to make sure that there is no deformity in Administrative process so that the end user does not to suffer.

Dr. Tolopu further added that they should be proper control processes to ensure that the right amount of medicine goes to an intended user in the right proportion to cater for that particular institution.

He said that there is need for whatever government comes in to power to consider the Abuja declaration that the Zambian doctors are part of which states that ” every national budget should set aside 15% of the national budget to go the ministry of health”.

He said that health services are quite expensive and a wealthy nation status can not be attained when economic drivers – the people – are not healthy. ZMA has appreciated the amount of money allocated to the ministry of health in the current 2022 budget though is short of the recommendation as per declaration that was made in Abuja, Nigeria.

0 Comments
0 likes

The Zambian Medical Association - ZMA Secretary