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AFTER an exhaustive two-year effort aimed at forging equitable negotiations to determine the fate of Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), government and Vedanta have finally reached a decisive resolution. The much-anticipated revival of the mine is poised to kick off within the next three months, a move strategically designed to align with the completion of all […]

Patients with cluster headache suffer from various sleep problems, such as insomnia, which also occur in periods when the patient is symptom-free and should be considered during treatment. This has been shown by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in a study recently published in The Journal of Headache and Pain.

IT is clear that government needs to make a decision how it is going to stabilize or lower the price of mealie meal.  The message from the people is loud and clear. 

A few days ago, the President was greeted with shouts of unga, unga and some Lusaka residents showing him small repacks of mealie meal also known as Pamela. This was when President Hakainde Hichilema toured some Lusaka townships to touch base with the common man.

Even as the President tried to address the people, the only message they wanted him to hear was on mealie meal and hunger.  He did his best to make assurances.

Chants of `Zambia’ were met with answers of `njala’ or hunger because this is what people truly want government to address.

Mealie meal is Zambia’s national staple food and something that every household, except for the very rich, indulges in on a daily basis. 

Whether we want to admit it or not, facts remain that mealie meal should never be toyed with. The people who rely on this commodity do not appreciate unstable mealie meal prices or the scarcity of the commodity experienced in the recent past.

If there is one product whose pricing should be stable, it is the mealie meal. If anything, the majority of Zambians would prefer that the price of mealie meal was ever moving downwards and never upwards.

It is probably because of this that government announced that it had formed a task force on high cost of mealie meal.

Surprisingly, the Millers Association of Zambia (MAZ) has questioned the rationale behind the setting up of a task force on mealie meal, saying there are economic dynamics, which are neither social nor political, driving mealie meal prices.

In responding to a query on the formation of a task force on mealie meal by government, MAZ president Andrew Chintala said: “We do not require a task force because what is happening is an economic activity and not a social or political activity. Hence this makes it unnecessary to have a task force (on mealie meal).”

Mr. Chintala said there was need to appreciate the dynamics of the industry that were affecting mealie meal pricing; ranging from the cost of inputs, to the cost at which the maize was being procured, and also the cost of processing and value addition. 

The task force comprises the Minister of Finance and National Planning, Situmbeko Musokotwane,   Minister of Agriculture Reuben Mtolo- Phiri and Commerce, Trade and Industry Minister Chipoka Mulenga.

The members of this task force are well versed with what happens in the agriculture sector and therefore we don’t know what explanations they will be seeking and from people on the high cost of living.

Our understanding is that the high cost of mealie meal starts with the planning stages of any farming marketing season.

The delays associated with the bid process, which has in the recent past been coupled with cancellations and re-advertising, play a big part in what happens later. The single-sourcing of fertilizer suppliers should seriously be frowned upon to stop exacerbating the cost of producing maize. Let competitive bidding be the norm so that affordable fertilizer can be supplied to the farmers.

We are aware that one fertiliser company has pledged to supply slightly cheaper priced fertilizer in a bid to support farmers.  

The fact that this is coming from a local company, is commendable.

However, more needs to be done to ensure that this same cheap fertilizer reaches all parts of the country.  

It is important that the small scale farmers benefit from this because they form a large of the farming community contributing to food security.

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A new study has shown that anti-platelet therapy could help improve outcomes for patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH), a deadly form of brain bleed.

A paper published in Nature Communications shows that when neurons are given information about the changing world around them (task-related sensory input) it changes how they behave, putting them on edge so that tiny inputs can then set off “avalanches” of brain activity, supporting a theory known as the critical brain hypothesis.

In a groundbreaking review paper published in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, scientists have shed new light on the role of GABA, a key signaling molecule in the brain.

A new international study led by Queen Mary University of London has shown mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) infections to be less severe among those who are vaccinated or had a previous infection in 2022, underlining the importance and effectiveness of vaccination.

The COVID-19 pandemic was probably caused by the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus from animals to humans, and it has been reported anecdotally that the virus can pass from humans to different animal species, too.

How do we learn to speak during childhood or how do we acquire knowledge about the world around us? Toddlers’ social interactions in their social and family environment and in schools help to explain this, but they are not the only factors involved.

Just one new case of Legionnaires’ disease was reported Tuesday in southeast Poland in an area close to the Ukraine border, an indication the spread of the disease has been curbed following chlorine disinfection of the water system.