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Former Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) President

Amiran pesticides among the best in Zambia

Various farmers groups have praised Amiran Zambia as a company that stocks some of the best genuine agro-chemicals, which guarantee to produce the best intended results. The farmers say Amiran does not compromise on quality and ensures that they provide the best products on the market.

And Company Regulatory Agronomist Cynthia Banda confirmed that Amiran provides some of the best products of all the three classes of pesticides, which are fungicides, insecticides and herbicides.

In an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Banda said Amiran products are genuine and unlike some of the products on the market, not diluted, noting that products are graded. She noted that the company gives a warranty on some of the new sensitive products, which would still be under trial.

She added that Amiran runs trials on its various products such as pesticides in Zambia every year in order to ensure that they suit the climatic conditions in the country, therefore if the products work for the company, they will work for customers too, but if the opposite occurs, the company looks into factors that may have caused the failure until they get it right.

Banda said some of the best insecticides that the company stocks include crown, windstorm, blast super and cyromazin which focuses on pests and diseases such as tuta absoluta, aphids, white flies, diamondback moth, leaf minor, thrips and others diseases/pests. These fungicides are effective in crops like tomatoes, maize, cotton, wheat, vegetables, potatoes and fruit trees.

This Amiran crop and pest chart below shows the right products to cure specific diseases in respective crops. This is the level of detail and depth that the company goes to to ensure farmers and users get value for money.

Banda said the company also stocks herbicides such as spencer which is specific for maize and can be used for pre and post emergence that is before and after the emergence of a seed adding that spencer is a selective herbicide that can still be used before the plant germinates.

It works against all types of weeds as well as the stubborn nutsedges, hence it has since been dubbed to come with the bemba catch phrase “Posa Ulukasu”, translated into English as “throw your hoe away”. The nutsedges have seeds which regerminate if one uses a hole to get rid of them but spencer clears the seeds too and is specific for maize but can also be used for sweet corn and popcorn.

Amiran currently has a promotion that allows customer to get a free 10gram sachet of windstorm for every 1 liter bottle of spencer they buy. This promotion is valid till the 19^th of November, 2021.

The Amiran Agronomist told ZBT that mofarno is another herbicide which is specific for soyabeans and can also work against annual grasses and broadleaf weeds. It is advised to use mofarno as a pre emergent but it can also be used as a post emergent while weeds are still small or at a height of 4cm.

She stated that dalot is another herbicide suitable for beans but works for carrots too. It is one of the fast-moving products because it has a low residue which is rare for herbicides, unlike other products that may stay in the soil for a year or two, dalot stays in the soil for 12 days. It goes into all horticultural crops except for tomatoes.

Banda also said the company’s knapsack sprayers are 16 litres and their durability is over 4 years. “The beauty of our knapsack sprayers is that they are not seasonal, it’s

not a seasonal sprayer that has to be discarded at the end of the season. If one part of the sprayer becomes faulty, you can find the spare parts easily”, she said.

She said the knapsack sprayers will be available at the end of the month noting that they are as good as the old knapsacks the company was handling but with better durability and will also be affordable.

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Various farmers groups have praised Amiran Zambia

Neria Investments also denies supplying over-priced fertilizer

Neria Investments Limited has also refuted allegations that the company was supplying over-priced fertilizer to government at US$ 1,200 per ton when the commodity was trading around US$ 400 per ton on the international market.

Company General Manager Martin Chaikatisha stated that Neria Investments was supplying the commodity at a price way below US$ 1,000 per ton in the 2020/2021 farming season.

Chaikatisha said that in-fact, Neria Investments was the cheapest supplier of fertilizer in the 2020/2021 farming season compared to the other five companies that participated in the supply of the commodity to government.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Chaikatisha noted that the company supplied about 135, 000 metric tonnes of both D-Compound and Urea to government in the 2020/2021 farming season.

He further stated that the fertiliser supply contracts were being awarded by way of public tender and that the ministry of Agriculture has all the contracts and the final prices for the five key suppliers which they can share with the media and the public.

Efforts by ZBT to get the ministry of Agriculture to confirm which companies supplied fertilizer at an exorbitant price of about US$1,200 per ton proved futile by time of publishing.

The large scale fertilizer trading companies have been accused of overpricing government contracts charging prices that are way overboard. But the major suppliers have indicated that their final prices were below the US$1,200 per ton.

And President Hakainde Hichilema during a separate briefing revealed that his predecessor government were buying fertilizer at US$ 1,200 per ton from its contracted suppliers at the time when the commodity was selling between US$400-US$450 on the international market.

“When the fertilizer world prices were US$400-US$450 per ton, our colleagues deliberately, consciously were buying fertilizer using taxpayer’s money at US$ 1, 200 per ton, you multiply that by 300, 000 metric tonnes”, President Hichilema said.

Before assuming office after the 12 August elections, President Hakainde Hichilema then main opposition leader promised to cut the retail prices of a 50kg bag of fertilizer from a range of K700-K800, which was the price at the time to about K250.

However, it remains to be seen if his new dawn UPND administration will be able to deliver on this promise to cut down the price of Fertilizer as international fertiliser prices have been increasing in the last six months.

Some analyst have indicated that local manufacturing may be the answer to cutting the prices of Fertilizer in Zambia as importing bulk commodities such as fertilizer has steep shipping , insurance and freight costs which result in higher landing costs . More to follow…

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Neria Investments Limited has also refuted allegations

Enterprise Zambia Fund avails €10.9m to local farmers

The Enterprise Zambia Challenge Fund-EZCF says it has provided €10.9 million (about K217 million) to the companies that it is working with which is 52% of the total financial support it will provide.

Enterprise Zambia Portfolio Manager Mwandizhya Daka said 15 companies have so far been contracted to work on the project and integrate 268,000 local farmers who are the majority of smallholder farmers into 10 different value chains as either customers or suppliers, noting that the 15 companies represent 38% of the 40 agribusinesses targeted, who will have an impact on 150,000 smallholder farmers.

Daka said 3,500 full time jobs have so far been created which is 41% of the total target of 8,500 jobs to be created. Speaking at a breakfast meeting held in Lusaka,Daka said the total value of the financial support that the European Union – EU will provide for the 5 year project is €26 million, noting that the project commenced in March 2020 and will end in 2025.

She said out of the €26 million, €20.8 million is dedicated to actual funding which will be given to the agribusinesses in different value chains across Zambia in all areas. She added that €6.2 million out of the €20.8 million will be directed towards aquaculture which has a lot of potential and €14.6 million will be directed towards agriculture as well as agroforestry and initiatives that support green economy.

Daka said EZCF’s main objective is to contribute to increased income and nutrition security for 150, 000 smallholder farmer households in rural Zambia. She said the Challenge Fund seeks improved integration of smallholder farmers and agribusiness actors into regional, national and international value chains with additional weighting on gender focused opportunities and nutritionally sensitive (regional/national) value chains.

She told the Zambian Business Times – ZBT that the project which is being implemented by Self Help Africa with technical support from Imani Development Ltd is funded by the European Union which also provides operational advice as well as strategic support adding that the European Investment Bank offers complementary finance
via local banks.

She added that the Zambian government also provides strategic support and chairs the steering committee. She noted that the rationale for working with SMEs to support smallholder farmers is in order to achieve sustainable impact, improve the scale of impact, and take advantage of embedded support among market actors as well as to boost industry competitiveness.

Speaking at the same event Enterprise Zambia Senior Portfolio Manager Alex Mugova said the Challenge Fund’s ambition is to provide funding and technical assistance to businesses in order to enable them to implement innovative and sustainable business models integrating SHFs and focusing on initiatives that help businesses to align with the EU Green Deal and promote a green economy, initiatives that help businesses to adapt to the challenges and opportunities presented by COVID-19 and by promoting competition, risk taking and innovation, EZCF will contribute to systematic (large-scale and lasting) market change.

He said initiatives aligned with EU Green Deal strategies to support a green economy include EU Farm to Fork strategy which aims to accelerate the transition to a sustainable food system by neutral or positive environmental impact, mitigate climate change and adapt to its impacts, reverse the loss of biodiversity, ensure food security, nutrition and public health which equals to everyone having access to sufficient, safe, nutritious, sustainable food, preserve affordability of food while generating fairer
economic returns and fostering competitiveness in supply and promoting fair trade.

Mugova said it also includes the EU Biodiversity strategy to preserve and restore ecosystems and biodiversity through organic farming which provides healthy food, halting and reversing the decline of pollinators which yields grains and planting trees and promoting agroforestry as well as reducing use and risk of pesticides.

He added that it also includes the EU Circular Economy Action Plan which is to move from a linear to a circular economy through turning waste into new products eg bio gas, using re-usable and recyclable packaging materials, minimizing food waste and using waste water from aquaculture for irrigation.

The Enterprise Senior Portfolio Manager noted that present methods of production and consumption degrade and deplete many of the world’s environmental resources therefore; there is need for new approaches that promote inclusive and environmentally sustainable development. He noted that there is need for transformation towards enviromental sustainability and increased resource efficiency, strengthened resilience to environmental pressures and risks and smarter use of green technologies.

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The Enterprise Zambia Challenge Fund-EZCF says it

Lifestyle

Debt swap way forward referred back to negotiation – ZNUT

Zambia National Union of Teachers – ZNUT says it is yet to agree with government on the way forward concerning the issue of debt swap. The teacher Union has also called on some banks that are yet to refund the deductions to do so soonest.

ZNUT General Secretary Newman Bubala said the debt swap issue has been referred back to negotiations as it is a collective agreement issue, therefore the union is hopeful that next week when negotiations begin, the debt swap issue will be discussed and an agreement will be reached on how to deal with the matter.

Bubala said the union will hear from government and the banks if there are any concerns and be able to make adjustments noting that what the union proposed what was existing which was then suspended, but the best way to handle the issue is to negotiate.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Bubala said signing the collective agreement was the best way to restructure the loans and reiterated that debt swap is not debt cancellation.

He said there might be concerns from government and the banks on the matter, therefore adjustments may have to be made when the parties involved conclude the negotiations and reach an agreement. He noted that some banks have not refunded the civil servants but ZANACO has refunded and he is hopeful that other banks will do the same soon.

The debt swap has become a highly emotive issue among civil servants that had seen the UPND government u-turn after it had unilaterally cancelled the deal that had been entered into between government and some unions.

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Zambia National Union of Teachers - ZNUT

Nyimba Investments denies supplying over-priced fertilizer

Nyimba Investments Limited has denied allegations that the company overpriced fertilizer supplied to government in the 2020/2021 farming season under the farmer Input Support Program – FISP.

Large Fertilizer trading companies have been accused of extortion and possible involvement in corrupt practices after it was revealed that the companies were charging the ministry of Agriculture – FISP program US$1,200 per ton when prices were as low as US$400 per ton.

Nyimba Investments is among the top three large scale suppliers of fertilizer to government under FISP that include Neria Investments and Export Trading Group – ETG whose dealings with government have come under scrutiny following the change of government from the Patriotic Front – PF to the United Party for National Development – UPND.

President Hakainde Hichilema during a briefing revealed that his predecessor government were buying fertilizer at US$ 1,200 per ton from its contracted suppliers at the time when the commodity was selling between USD400- USD450 on the international market.

“When the fertilizer world prices were USD 400-USD450 per tonne, our colleagues deliberately, consciously were buying fertilizer using taxpayer’s money at USD1,200 per ton, you multiply that by 300,000 metric tonnes”, President Hichilema said.

One of the companies that supplied huge volumes of fertilizer to government under FISP, Nyimba Investments Limited has refuted the allegations saying the company supplied fertilizer at a price below USD 1,200 per ton.

Company Head of Sales and Marketing Willings Mulendema noted that Nyimba Investments Ltd supplied about 103,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer in the 2020/2021 farming season and that the price was below the US$1,200.

Mulendema further questioned as to when or at no point was fertilizer selling at US$400 per ton on the international market. He indicated that some prices are quoted at Free on Board – FOB and one has to look at what the landing cost is which includes Insurance, freight and shipping and other cost components.

He added that there are various international suppliers of fertilizer and prices change all the time just like crude oil or any other commodities. So prices and volumes are agreed at particular times.

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Nyimba Investments Limited has denied allegations that

Mining

Tristan Pascall to take over as FQM CEO

First Quantum Minerals – FQM, Zambia’s largest copper miner with large scale copper mines at Kansanshi in Solwezi and Trident at Kalumbila has today 15 November 2021 announced that the Board of Directors will appoint Tristan Pascall, currently the Company’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), to the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Tristan will take over from his father Philip Pascall co-founded First Quantum Minerals in 1996 and has served as its CEO and Chairman ever since. He retires as one of the longest-serving CEOs among the world’s major mining companies.

The appointment will take effect at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be held in early May 2022, at which time Philip Pascall, the Company’s current Chairman and CEO, will retire from the CEO role and will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board. The Company will nominate Tristan Pascall for election as a director at the AGM.

According to a statement made available to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, FQM stated that “After a thorough search process, we are very pleased to appoint Tristan Pascall as First Quantum’s next Chief Executive Officer. Tristan has demonstrated impressive leadership in his current role as COO as he navigated the successful ramp-up of our largest asset through the challenging environment presented by the global pandemic”.

The statement further stated that “Tristan’s previous hands-on leadership experience of eight years in Zambia and four years in Panama has given him a deep knowledge of our assets, operating teams and local partners. His practical, on-the-ground experience with our people and projects, combined with lessons learned from the countries where we operate, embodies the Company’s culture and makes Tristan the right leader for First Quantum,” said Robert Harding, Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee and Lead Independent Director.

Tristan Pascall joined First Quantum in 2007 and held progressively senior operational roles in Africa and Latin America until 2020 when he served as Director of Strategy and later became Chief Operating Officer in January 2021. Prior to assuming his executive leadership roles, Tristan was a key member of the teams that delivered on several major greenfield and expansion mining projects which now collectively represent most of the Company’s net asset value. His responsibilities from 2009 to 2015 included the initial development, construction and operating the Sentinel [Kalumbila] mine in Zambia.

Tristan graduated from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Engineering (Honors) and Bachelor of Commerce and completed an MBA at INSEAD.

“I am very excited to continue to build upon the momentum we have established at First Quantum. It is deeply humbling to be selected to lead such a highly talented team, all of whom have contributed to establishing a unique entrepreneurial culture,” said Tristan Pascall. “As we enter our next stage of growth, I look forward to building on First Quantum’s accomplishments of the past two decades.”

Over the course of Philip Pascall stewardship, the Company has grown from the construction of the Bwana Mkubwa project in Zambia designed for 10,000 tonnes a year of copper production, to become the world’s sixth largest copper producer. FQM which is listed in Canada has over 70% of its copper production and revenues generated from Zambia.

The FQM group business has now grown into a global mining giant and has continued to diversify geographically with its Zambian units contribution to both revenue and production being reduced in proportion on a year on year basis.

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First Quantum Minerals - FQM, Zambia’s largest

Tech

Civil servants arrested over ‘fake teacher’ appointment letters

A source has disclosed to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT that the police has arrested about six (6) civil servants that are suspected to be behind the criminal matter where some teachers were allegedly recruited and given ‘fake’ appointment letters.

Some teachers deployed to various public schools across the country but not placed on the government payroll for over a year staged a protest on Monday 8 November 2021 at the Ministry of Education demanding to be addressed and put on payroll.

This protest led to the revelation that about 1,500 teachers have been issued with appointment letters, posted to various provinces but had not been put on the government payroll. Others accused the government officials at the ministry of education of having removed them from the original list and put their own preferred applicants in suspected corruption and nepotism grounds.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with ZBT, the source who is not authorized to publicly speak to the media stated that some of the teachers who were protesting acquired the appointment letters dubiously as they were fake therefore the teachers were not recruited by government.

The source who asked to remain anonymous said investigations are still on going and the police will be able to give more information in due course. Another source stated that the problem is that some officials started selling appointment letters for as high as K10,000 to K15,000. This is what led to the confusion as some genuinely recruited teachers were being removed and replaced with the ones that paid the bribes. This issue is deep and very complicated, the source stated.

The source further revealed that some of the teachers that were protesting were “sponsored” in order to paint a certain picture of the Teaching Service Commission and ministry of education so as to find excuses to get rid of some officers ‘that they did not like’.

“How do you explain some of the protestors coming from as far as Mansa when you say they have not been paid for over a year and don’t have money”, the source said. Look at that video, some of them were even wearing new clothes bought after being paid and were simply sponsored.

The source told ZBT that this issue is more complicated as some of those letters are suspected to be forged, so even some of those protesting teachers should also be investigated as some of them engaged in corruption as they are suspected to have bribed some officers to issue them with appointment letters. Some simply forged their letters to get it. There has to be thorough investigations.

The fight against corruption in Zambia is a complex matter as they are always tainted with insinuations of political interference or counter accusations of tribalism or favoritism. Moreover, the law enforcement agencies delay in executing investigations and subsequent arrests and only acting after media exposures or political instructions.

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A source has disclosed to the Zambian

Companies

2022 budget will either make or break UPND!

OP-Ed by Stuart Lisulo

GOVERNMENT proposes to spend an unprecedented K173 billion national budget expected to be passed and implemented from January next year.

Among the key measures proposed by the UPND administration will include new expenditure of a staggering K350 million for Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as empowerment funds; a monumental increment of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) from K1.6 million to K25.7 million, signalling an acceleration of the decentralisation programme and increased expenditure in both the health and education sectors.

Government will also recruit 30,000 teachers and around 11,000 healthcare personnel next year, partly financed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) US $1.3 billion Special Drawing Rights (SDR) made available in August, this year.

However, government’s proposed expenditure on servicing external and domestic debt repayments alone is a staggering K78,680,141,674, or around US $4.5 billion, almost half of the entire budgetary expenditure.

According to next year’s available resource envelope, government proposes to raise a cumulative total of around K74.4 billion as both domestic and foreign debt to finance year’s budget, representing around 29 per cent of the total budget.

Reliance on debt to finance next year’s budget has, therefore, increased to K74.4 billion from K53.6 billion contracted in this year’s budget.

While the UPND ‘New Dawn’ government can boast of already having access to the SDR made available by the Fund, with another similar amount for Balance of Payments (BoP) support expected to go into reserves by early next year, implementing this debt-financed budget will be the toughest test for this new government.

Speaking during a ZiCA 2022 post-budget analysis dinner at Mulungushi International Conference Centre (MICC) recently, Finance Minister, Dr. Situmbeko Musokotwane, told stakeholders thatZambia’s economic recovery needed “dramatic” measures to kick-start the ailing economy, even amid high debt servicing.

“…But at the same time, you want to do something dramatic on economic growth that will generate more revenues because in a sense, this debt problem that we have of US $13 billion, if the economy is big, US $13 billion is nothing. So, therefore, as you push debt down, you must also do something to raise the level of the economy so that it can be able to handle the level of debt that you have,” the Minister said in response to questions from participants on how government will stop accumulating debt.

Assuming the available credit does materialise next year, there is the danger of crowding out the private sector, which presents serious problems for credit availability for small businesses. For instance, a quick glance at the 2022 budget speech reveals that while government is committing to dismantling domestic arrears of around K3.145 billion, on the other hand, it will pull out around K24.5 billion from the domestic market in local borrowing.

And sceptics argue that foreign credit facilities budgeted for to finance next year’s budget will not be made available annually so how will the budget deficits be covered from January 1, 2023? Assuming projected GDP growth rate of 3.5 per cent next year is realised, will this be sufficient to support Zambia’s heavy debt repayments, especially in view of the looming US $750 million debt repayment, which still needs to be serviced as single, bullet point payment?

Most critics of next year’s Yellow Book are roundly agreed that while it is a progressive budget, implementation will prove to be much harder and will be the first, real tough test that awaits the ‘New Dawn’ administration.

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OP-Ed by Stuart Lisulo GOVERNMENT proposes to spend an

Markets

Zambia improves ranking to 7th on Africa Financial Index

ZAMBIA has moved up two places in the Absa Africa Financial Markets Index, signalling an improvement in the country’s attractiveness to foreign investment and improvements in its financial markets.

According to a statement availed to the Zambian Business Times – ZBT, Zambia’s ranking jumped to seventh position from nine out of 23 countries ranked, indicating an overall improvement in the country’s attractiveness to foreign investment based on six pillars that include access to foreign exchange and market transparency, among others.

The latest Index is the fifth edition having been officially launched back in 2017, whose aim is to show how economies can improve the market framework to bolster investor access and sustainable growth, and act as a benchmark for investors and policymakers.

The Index, produced by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF), an independent forum for central banking, economic policy, and public investment, and sponsored by Absa Group Limited, records the openness and attractiveness of 23 countries across the continent to foreign investment based on six fundamental pillars, which include market depth; access to foreign exchange; market transparency; tax and regulatory environment, among others.

Since its launch in 2017, the Absa Africa Financial Markets Index has shone a crucial light on the opportunities for investment in the region. Commenting on the latest findings in Lusaka recently, Absa Bank Zambia Plc Director, Head of Global Markets, Stanley Tamele said he had high hopes of seeing Zambia’s ranking improve even further.

“Over the last few years, we have seen the Index grow from strength to strength, with the market insights getting more expansive. What provides reassurance in the Index to stakeholders is OMFIF’s independence and the depth of their market insights, and we have high hopes that we can see Zambia’s rankings improve in the coming years,” said Tamele in a statement.

And Absa Group Limited Chief Executive of Corporate and Investment Banking Charles Russon observed that some markets had not recovered from COVID-19 as originally anticipated.

“While some might find it disheartening to see the average score across the board drop, Africa is navigating an extremely tricky economic atmosphere. Recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic has not been as straightforward as we would have hoped last year, and this has had a large impact on the twin challenges the continent faces in reinvigorating financial markets post-pandemic, while strengthening market infrastructure,” said Russon.

OMFIF chairman, David Marsh, said that innovations in sustainable finance and market infrastructure would be critical to ensuring that African markets remained competitive.

A glance at the country snapshot shows that from the six pillars, Zambia achieved its highest score in Legality and Enforceability of Standard Financial Markets Master Agreements, scoring 85 out of 100.

The country is currently in the process of reviewing the Companies and Insolvency Act to create a more robust regulatory framework for insolvency protection and practice.