NEWSLINE

With just about a fortnight ,before the 27th session of the Conference of the Parties -COP 27,Zambia's Green Economy and Environment Minister, Collins Nzovu says Africa must demand the 100 Billion US dollars per annum pledge to be fulfilled by the developed world. The conference which  will be attended by countries which signed the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change-UNFCCC - a treaty agreed in 1994  will take place from  6-18 November 2022  in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.  Speaking during the African Climate Justice Torch Tour of Zambia held in Lusaka today [Thursday-20 Oct,2022]  Mr. Nzovu said Africa must also demand that the developed world undertake ambitious mitigation actions to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save the planet. The Minister said there was a need to underscore Africa's special needs and circumstances as well as the need to focus on adaptation to build the resilience of people. "Africa is disproportionately ...

  Water Development and Sanitation Minister Mike Mposha has hinted at the possibility of the government re-gazetting the controversial Lusaka East Local Forest Reserve Number-27. Speaking when he featured on the Tuesday edition of the 5Fm’s burning issue program today Mr Mphosa explained that the issue of the forest reserve in question had not died off as line ministries had been meeting and a road map had since been set to deal with the issue. He said the inter-ministerial team comprising the ministry of green economy, ministry of land and local government is working around the clock with the Zambia Environmental Management Agency-ZEMA, the Water Resources Management Authority-WARMA and other cooperating partners such as World Wide Fund for Nature -WWF Zambia to give recommendations to President Hakainde Hichilema on the way forward, once they finalize the fact-finding mission. " Forest 27 initially was a very big portion bordering State lodge facility coming to a settlement wher...

A consortium of African-based farmers' organisations has proposed some interventions aimed at supporting a Farmers' Managed Seed system by formulating an education program so farmers are aware of the intricacies around seeds. The consortium has also suggested the need to develop lead farmers on seed production and how to preserve and take care of seeds.  It has been noted with concern that while there is a lot of support for advanced seeds from multi-national companies, indigenous seeds are demonised to a point that some farmers have abandoned them thinking that they are not useful. The organisations include  Participatory Ecological Land Use Management- PELUM Zambia, FIAN International Zambia, Policy Associate Eco-Justice of Malawi, National Farmer Representative-Malawi Moyo Agribusiness Foundation Malawi and Eastern and Southern African Small Scale Farmers Forum. Speaking during a Webinar Conference to stimulate Policy Support for Farmer Managed Seed Systems in Africa Seed R...

The government is determined to ensure that the Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia-NCZ increases its fertiliser production from 47,338.05 metric tons this year, to about 100 thousand metric tons in 2023, Agriculture Minister, Ruben Mtolo has said. Mr Mtolo expressed confidence that NCZ could meet the assigned target saying in case of any challenges along the way, the government could not hesitate to offer its support. Speaking when he graced the second flagging off ceremony of the distribution of fertiliser under the 2022-2023 Farmer Input Support Program-FISP at NCZ in Kafue on Friday [ 23 September 2022] the Minister said the government will therefore not allow investment at NCZ to bleed to death. NCZ has been contracted to supply and deliver over 47 thousand metric tons of compound-D fertiliser to Lusaka, Central and Copper belt provinces for the 2022-2023 farming season in which the ministry has targeted over one million farmers. "People do believe that NCZ can not produce fertilize...