Kasama district is a rural farming district with a population of over 91,525 smallholder farmers. Smallholder farmers face several production risks including floods, pests and droughts which are being worsened due to climate change. To manage the impact of these risks, weather index insurance has been designed to help farmers hedge against the loss of income due to crop losses. However, the uptake of Weather Index Insurance (WII) in Zambia is low, and as for Kasama District, there is little documented information on factors influencing the uptake of WII among smallholder farmers. In this study, the Probit regression model was used to measure the expected change in the likelihood of uptake of WII given a unit change in the regressors. Data analysed were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire from 200 farmer respondents and an interview guide from 5 key informants purposively selected. The study drew participants from a population of smallholder farmers estimated to be 91,525 farmers in the district. SPSS and STATA were applied to analyse Quantitative data using the Chi-Square test at 5% and 1% levels of significance. The study concluded that age, knowledge of WII and alternative source of income were statistically significant factors influencing uptake of WII by smallholder farmers in Kasama district. In addition, whereas age and alternative income had a negative and significant effect on uptake, knowledge of WII had a positive and significant effect. Furthermore, the study concluded that education level, gender, the frequency of discussing WII during extension services meetings, perception on the price of WII, distance to the providers of insurance services from a farm, and use of traditional methods of managing production risks were not significant factors influencing How to cite this paper: Kaunda, S., & Chowa, T.

The hyperinflation era in Zimbabwe (2003Zimbabwe ( -2008

This paper investigates the impact of earnings (full-year, half-year and dividend) announcements and cautionary statements on returns of ZSE listed companies post-dollarisation of the economy in 2009. A standard CMRM based event study methodology (EVM) is applied to weekly returns from January 2010 to December 2012. Findings suggest that earnings announcements and cautionary statements have no impact on returns of companies traded on the ZSE characterised by a very weak correlation of between 'good/bad news' and the direction of significant CARs. We conclude that alleged insider trading, high costs of trading and market undervaluation make it difficult for EVM to detect abnormal returns, thereby painting picture of compliance with the weak to semi-strong forms of the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH).

Peanut butter processing companies are facing challenges in meeting food safety regulations leading to product recalls by the regulators. There is a claim in literature that sustainability can improve company performance, despite the lack of there being no empirical study to establish whether there is a relationship between deployment of sustainable operations management practices and the level of regulatory compliance for peanut butter processing establishments in Zambia. The research utilized a descriptive correlational research design, where a 5-point rating scale was used to collect quantitative data, in a face-to-face interview from n=12 managers. The collected data was analyzed in IBM SPSS Version 21 to obtain means, standard deviations, and Spearman’s correlation coefficients. The descriptive study showed a ‘low’ to ‘average’ extent of deployment in product and process design, procurement, and quality management. The descriptive study further showed a ‘low’ to ‘average’ level of compliance of the peanut butter for most establishments. The overall results of the correlational study indicate that improving the extent of deployment of sustainable practices can spur improved level of compliance. It is recommended that managers invest in deploying sustainable practices to spur an improved level of compliance in the areas of procurement, quality and product and process design. Further research is needed to establish reasons for not deploying practices and include operations decision areas such as capacity and organizational structures in the research.

This research focuses on exploring the theoretical foundations of knowledge management (KM) and internal marketing (IM) and their relationship, to enhance organisational performance. The study investigates the impact of effective KM practices and IM efforts on organizational performance in healthcare organizations. The research adopts a mixedmethods approach, combining quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews, to collect data from healthcare professionals in two hospitals in the United Arab Emirates. The findings aim to contribute to the existing body of knowledge in healthcare management, providing insights into how organizations can effectively manage knowledge resources, motivate employees, and achieve superior performance. The study offers practical recommendations for healthcare organizations to optimize their knowledge management,internal marketing, and overall organizational had performanced.