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RECENT DROUGHT TO TRIGGER SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN MALNUTRITION RATES IN ZAMBIA

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RECENT DROUGHT TO TRIGGER SIGNIFICANT INCREASE IN MALNUTRITION RATES IN ZAMBIA  ...as nearly 52,000 children,estimated 112,000 women to be affected next year.   Rice fields in the Zambezi  flood plains of Western province showing dryness due drought  drought (pic courtesy of Radio Liseli) By Alfonso Kasongo  Zambia, like many other countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region, experienced the El-nino weather conditions, causing drought which triggered about 100 percent crop failure in 84 of 116 districts in the country. However, the recent drought is likely to worsen the malnutrition levels in the country with nearly 52,000 children under the age of five in four provinces at risk of developing wasting, a form of lethal malnutrition-next year if no preventive measures are employed, a survey by Zambia’s National Food and Nutrition Commission (NFNC) has revealed. Another 276,000 children of  the same age group will have moderate wasting.  According to the findings
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LOCAL PARTICIPATION IN GREEN BOND LOW

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  LOCAL SUBSCRIPTION IN GREEN BONDS LOW ...only 10% local firms fully subscribed to the first CEC $54 million tranche. By Alfonso Kasongo  As Copperbelt Energy  Corporation Company strives to actualize its green energy generation ambitions through Zambia’s firstever Green Bond, local subscription to the $200 million green loan on the  capital market continues to be low. Currently Zambia,is grappling with power deficit challenges from her hydropower dependant sources. The country has an installed hydro power generation capacity of about 3,356.6 MW-now depleting rapidly by El Nino factors and created an estimated 750MW deficit.  Unless imports coupled with off-grid power supplement, the country may face daunting challenges to supply the mine’s 55 percent demand with 45 % percent shared by other end-users-many now affected by the over 12-hour power outage. In effort to supplement to hydropower, On December, 5th 2023, CEC announced the registration of its green bond with the Securities and
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ZAAB QUESTIONS GOVERNMENT'S SILENCE ON PBR BILL

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  ZAAB QUESTIONS  GOVERNMENT'S SILENCE ON PBR BILL  By Alfonso Kasongo  A collaborative network of concerned citizens, civil society groups, faith and farmer-based organisations, working together to strengthen the growing movement for agroecology and food sovereignty has questioned government's failure to avail the proposed new Plant Breeders Rights (PBR) Bill.  Zambia Alliance for Agroecology and Biodiversity (ZAAB) maintains that controversial Bill is inappropriate for the country and must not be enacted as it aligns the country to the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) 1991 standards. The Consortium fears that once proposed PBR Bill is enacted in its current form, the new seed law may trigger price increase and corporate capture of seeds, as well as  country's food system.  The Alliance argues that government through the Seed Control  Certification Institute SCCI  has never presented the actual changes and amendments in the draft PBR
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KARIBA DAM MAY RUN DRY-OFFICIAL

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  KARIBA DAM MAY RUN DRY-OFFICIAL ...30% (2, 400 billion cubic litres)-water for generation available’ By Jeff Kapembwa/ Zambia Informer  Zambia has a paltry 30 percent of the 8,000 billion cubic litres of water is remaining in the Kariba Dam to contribute to power generation in Africa’s second leading copper producer until the next rain season, a senior power utility official says. Zambia and Zimbabwe were allocated 16,000 billion cubic litres of water for power generation this year and the former is remaining with a paltry 2,400 billion cubic litres of water to tap from the more than 64-year-old-man-made lake available for power generation, a severe test for the country with over four months before the anticipated rain season. Zambia has an installed hydro power generation capacity of about 3,356.6 MW-now depleting rapidly by El Nino factors and created an estimated 750MW deficit.  Unless imports coupled with off-grid power supplement, the country may face daunting challenges to supp
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SECOND AICCRA ZAMBIA ACCELERATOR GRANT MECHANISM TO BUILD CLIMATE RESILIENCE AMONG THE 'MISSING MIDDLE ' By Alfonso Kasongo Zambia’s agriculture transformation agenda to align it to climate variability is moving in a realisation trajectory as IWMI in partnership with AICCRA is scheduled  to unveil a second phase of the AICCRA Zambia Accelerator Grant Mechanism. The new Accelerator Grant is designed to empower SMEs, start-ups, and other key players in the Zambian agribusiness ecosystem to enhance climate smart agriculture.  On 27 October,2021, IWMI with the help from the World Bank launched the first AICCRA-Zambia Accelerator Grant amounting to about US$ 250,000 to support 5 agri-business, that was to innovative agribusinesses and starter-up  partnerships in the country with focus on climate change challenges. The  first Accelerator Grant aimed at boosting climate science support to small and medium agri-businesses and start-ups  in the country where 5 successful partnerships re
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WE ARE POSITIONING ZAMBIA TO ALIGN WITH CURRENT BIOSAFETY REGULATORY TRENDS

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  ZAMBIA'S NEW BIOTECHNOLOGY AND BIOSAFETY POLICY AWAITS CABINET APPROVAL- NBA ...we are positioning Zambia to align with the current biosafety regulatory trends. By Alfonso Kasongo   Zambia’s Biotechnology and Biosafety Policy enacted in 2003 has been reviewed and submitted to the Cabinet awaiting approval before it is rolled out, National Biosafety Authority (NBA) has disclosed.  According to ISAAA AfriCenter, NBA Communication Officer Sandra Lombe told biotech experts during a workshop held in Lusaka from May 13-15, 2024,that Biosafety Authority is looking forward to developing genome editing guidelines and reviewing the country's Biosafety Act.  "We are positioning Zambia to align with the current biosafety regulatory trends. The NBA also has a mandate to create biosafety awareness and sensitization for different stakeholders including policy makers and government officials. We are revamping this awareness programme," Ms. Lombe remarked.  Further ISAAA AfriCenter
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GENE EDITING A MORE ELEGANT WAY OF TACKLING CROP DISEASES THAN SPRAYING MORE PESTICIDES

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GENE EDITING A MORE ELEGANT WAY OF TACKLING CROP DISEASES THAN SPRAYING MORE PESTICIDES  . ..CRISPR revolution opens door to ‘disaster-proof’ crops, BBC reports  Traditional crop breeding can be time-consuming and laborious, Brad Ringeisen, the executive director of the Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI) at the University of California (Berkeley and San Francisco), believes that gene editing using tools like Crispr-Cas9 is the most impactful way of ensuring that crops can withstand disasters, BBC reports.  “It speeds up the innovation cycles. It is a precise tool.” Mr Ringeisen summarises the IGI’s work on disease resistance in crops: “There are a tremendous number of emerging diseases, and climate change is not helping this.” He says gene editing is a more elegant way of tackling disease than spraying more pesticides. As well as disease resistance, the IGI is working on drought tolerance. A rice variety that has been gene edited to reduce the number of pores on leaves, reducing water
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