scholarly journals Life cycle inventories to assess value chains in the South African biofuels industry

2010 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 15-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Brent ◽  
Rovani Sigamoney ◽  
Harro Von Blottnitz ◽  
Sibbele Hietkamp
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
South African ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Biodiesel Production ◽  
Value Chains ◽  
The South ◽  
Life Cycle Inventories ◽  
Unit Process ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Inputs And Outputs

The South African government ratified a new biofuels industrial strategy at the end of 2007. The feasibility study that forms the basis of the strategy highlights the potential environmental implications of such a strategy. However, at present there is no structured approach to evaluate the environmental profile of the scenarios within the strategy. This paper introduces life cycle inventories whereby the environmental profiles of biofuel value chains may be evaluated meaningfully. The scope of the paper focuses on the seed extraction biodiesel production scenarios of the strategy. The inventory analysis shows that the inputs and outputs of the farming unit process are sensitive to the type of crop and region of produce. Water usage is a highly variable parameter, which emphasises the importance of rainfall and irrigation to the overall burden of the biodiesel system on water resources. Crop yields may differ by a factor of two, which is a significant difference in terms of land and non-renewable energy resources requirements. The oil and meal/cake content of the seed proves to be the most important parameter that influences the initial unit processes of the value chains; almost all the inputs and outputs of the farming unit processes, for all the crops, range in the order of a factor of two due to this parameter. The uncertainties associated with the logistic system in the value chain also have major implications. Further, should there be no market offset for the meal/cake co-products, the waste treatment requirements would be highly uncertain. Very little uncertainties were detected in the biodiesel production unit process, although the energy efficiency, and sustainability, of the overall production system remains questionable. The paper identifies a number of limitations with inventory sets that need to be addressed through further research efforts to improve the environmental evaluations of a biofuel value chain in South Africa for policy-making purposes.

scholarly journals Using Qualitative System Dynamics Analysis to Promote Inclusive Livestock Value Chains: A Case Study of the South African Broiler Value Chain

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Soledad Cuevas Garcia-Dorado ◽  
Kevin Queenan ◽  
Bhavani Shankar ◽  
Barbara Häsler ◽  
Tafadzwanashe Mabhaudhi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
System Dynamics ◽  
South African ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Rural Livelihoods ◽  
Value Chains ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
The South ◽  
Entry Points

Livestock value chains globally are increasingly dualistic, with integrated market-leaders co-existing with comparatively disadvantaged small producers who, nevertheless, support rural livelihoods and food access, and can also contribute to more resilient supply chains. The South African broiler value chain provides a highly illustrative case study. The purpose of this study is to identify potential leverage points for policy intervention to support small and emerging producers in the South African broiler value chain, and to discuss the strengths and limitations of system dynamics approaches to promote inclusive food value chains. This study develops a causal loop diagram (CLD) based on semi-structured stakeholder interviews and policy documents. The main challenges, key variables and causal relationships between them are systematically identified. Variables are coded, generalised and graphically represented, and entry points for intervention and their links to existing policies are mapped. The challenges faced by smallholders in the context of our study can be characterised, using a CLD, as a set of interlinked and reinforcing dynamics which perpetuate existing disadvantages and reinforce duality in the value chain. Key policy entry points have been identified that could be targeted by a coordinated policy package, including: Direct support for infrastructure investment and input access through grants, subsidies or other policies; credit and liquidity provision for day-to-day expenses; creation of aggregation mechanisms for both inputs and outputs; regulations or initiatives that directly target the relationship of farmers with the commercial segment to improve access to day-old-chicks and, finally, training in business and technical skills. Although most of these interventions have been addressed at some point, implementation has been fragmented, failing to fully consider their complementary nature, thus undermining effectiveness. Existing approaches to consensus building and stakeholder participation in system dynamics research can present challenges when it comes to engaging with complex policy processes and issues of conflict of interest that are relevant in the context of smallholder promotion and equitable food systems, but there are promising avenues for addressing. Despite some methodological challenges, we find that there is considerable scope for system dynamics approaches to inform policy for smallholder promotion, even in contexts characterised by complex policy processes.

scholarly journals Measuring the fragility of agribusiness value chains: a case study of the South African lamb chain

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-154
Author(s):  
Daniel du P.S. Jordaan ◽  
Johann F. Kirsten
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Safety Performance ◽  
Value Chains ◽  
Quality And Safety ◽  
Risk And Uncertainty ◽  
The South ◽  
Specific Factors ◽  
A Chain

The ability to determine the fragility of agribusiness value chains is valuable to agribusines management practitioners and scholars in a context where risk and uncertainty are increasingly pervasive, consequential and unpredictable. The paper argues for determining the fragility of a chain to adverse events rather than trying to predict the probability and impact of such events. The paper specifically proposes a framework to detect and quantify non-linear consequences in response to progressively deteriorating chain fragility factors. The paper’s approach is a novel alternative to the traditional value chain ‘risk assessment’. Application of the framework to the South African lamb chain reveals that a number of specific factors, like quality and safety performance and cash flow position, have consistently high fragility scores throughout the chain while some factors are uniquely localized to a specific role-player or activity, which highlights the techno-economic uniqueness of individual activities in a chain.

Growth and movement of the South African abalone Haliotis midae: A reassessment

1995 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 583 ◽  
Author(s):  
RJQ Tarr
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Growth Parameters ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
Island Population ◽  
Western Coast ◽  
Eastern Cape ◽  
The South ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Haliotis Midae

Growth rates of a number of Haliotis midae populations around the South African coast were studied by means of tagging. These populations ranged from the cool waters of the western coast to the more temperate environment of the eastern Cape. Standard von Bertalanffy growth curves were fitted and growth parameters derived. These ranged from 0.19 to 0.25 for K, the average rate at which L∞ is approached, and from 156 to 173 for L∞, the average theoretical maximum length. These indicate far higher growth rates than were previously published for this commercially fished species, and the reasons for this difference are discussed. The expectation that growth rates would be fastest in the warmer eastern Cape waters was not realized, there being no significant difference in growth between the Bird Island population on the eastern coast and the Robben Island population on the western coast. These new growth parameters indicate that H. midae in the commercial fishery grounds is attaining sexual maturity some four years earlier, and the minimum legal size some five years earlier, than previously considered. This has considerable significance for modelling studies presently underway. Movement of a small population of adult H. midae was studied over a three-year period, after which 47% of the original abalone were still present on the study site. Of these, 81.5% still occupied exactly the same position on the rocks. This indicates that H. midae that have located an optimum habitat, and that are not disturbed, tend not to move.

scholarly journals The competitive status of the South African Wheat Industry

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 651-666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Van der Merwe ◽  
Philippus Cloete ◽  
Herman Van Schalkwyk
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
South African ◽  
Wheat Flour ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
The South ◽  
Wheat Market ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Trade Partners

This article investigates the competitiveness of the South African wheat industry and compares it to its major trade partners. Since 1997, the wheat-to-bread value chain has been characterised by concentration of ownership and regulation. This led to concerns that the local wheat market is losing international competitiveness. The competitive status of the wheat industry, and its sub-sectors, is determined through the estimation of the relative trade advantage (RTA). The results revealed declining competitiveness of local wheat producers. Compared to the major global wheat producers, such as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany and the USA, South Africa’s unprocessed wheat industry is uncompetitive. At the same time, South Africa has a competitive advantage in semi-processed wheat, especially wheat flour. The institutional environment enables the importation of raw wheat at lower prices and exports processed wheat flour competitively to the rest of Africa.

scholarly journals Do Managers Of Global Equity Funds Outperform Their Respective Style Benchmarks? Evidence From South Africa

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 269
Author(s):  
Heng-Hsing Hsieh ◽  
Kathleen Hodnett ◽  
Paul Van Rensburg
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Exchange Traded Funds ◽  
The South ◽  
Fund Managers ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Equity Funds ◽  
Investment Styles ◽  
Stock Picking

The results of our prior research on internationally-domiciled global equity funds suggest that active managers do not provide economic benefits, in addition to their underlying investment style benchmarks. This finding implies that the performances of global equity funds are derived mainly from the broad investment styles followed by the active managers rather than the stock-picking activities of the managers. We replicate our earlier research to investigate the performances of the six well-established global equity funds in the South African unit trust industry. Our results indicate that four out of the six South African fund managers under examination substantially underperform their passively-replicated style benchmarks. Our prior study results indicate that there is no significant difference between the performances of the internationally-domiciled global equity funds and their respective style benchmarks. By contrast, the stock-picking decisions of the South African fund managers are found to destroy value created by their respective style benchmarks in this study. Our findings suggest that investors who wish to follow particular investment styles would be better off by investing in exchange traded funds (ETF) that passively track the performances of their mandated investment styles in the global equity market with minimal costs.

Clusters of key barriers to life cycle assessment adoption in the South African construction industry: perspectives of stakeholders

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Titus Ebenezer Kwofie ◽  
Clinton Ohis Aigbavboa ◽  
Wellington Didibhuku Thwala
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Construction Industry ◽  
South African ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Extensive Literature ◽  
The South ◽  
Sustainable Practices ◽  
Sustainable Building ◽  
Content Type

Purpose The South African Construction Industry (SACI) in recent times has been characterized by a strong emphasis towards achieving sustainable building practices in infrastructural delivery. However, the lack of progress encountered in making gains in achieving sustainable practices has raised concerns over the effectiveness and understanding of the extent to which life cycle assessment (LCA) techniques may aid in meeting requirements of sustainable construction. Most efforts at LCA have been blighted with numerous barriers that have not been rigorously pursued and aggregated. Ironically, there is a lack of knowledge and understanding of the limitations and barriers to these methodologies, especially in the South African context. The purpose of this study is to delineate the cluster of barriers to the adoption of LCA methodologies in the SACI. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire survey was carried out from a deductive research design elicit primary data based on the experience of purposively sampled stakeholders in LCA in the SACI on the extent they perceived the presence of well-established barriers in LCA adoption culled from the extensive literature review. Findings Through the use of factor analysis, three aggregated clusters of key barriers to LCA adoption in the SACI were identified, which were knowledge and enabling conditions constraints, cost and time constraints and technical constraints. The results confirm that indeed human and technical barriers have been notable in limiting gains in LCA adoption and achieving sustainable practices. Originality/value These findings are, thus, useful in overcoming challenges to LCA methodologies in achieving sustainable building practices in building and infrastructural delivery in SACI.

scholarly journals Co-governance and upgrading in the South African small-scale fisheries value chain

2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carsten R. Wentink ◽  
Serge Raemaekers ◽  
Simon R. Bush
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
The South ◽  
Small Scale Fisheries
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