scholarly journals The extent, characteristics and potential of solar powered irrigation systems in South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 28-40
Author(s):  
P. Piliso ◽  
A. Senzanje ◽  
K. Dhavu

South Africa has been identified as having a high potential for solar powered irrigation. However, there has been a lag in the development of solar powered irrigation systems (SPIS) there, mainly due to the high investment cost associated with solar technology. South Africa has frequently implemented load shedding, which has affected many farmers. The work reported in this paper sought to determine the extent of solar powered irrigation and characteristics of the system types in use. The extent of SPIS in South Africa was determined using a questionnaire, and categorised in terms of farm size, SPIS configuration (storage of energy), type of irrigation, and location of the system. These were established mainly from a literature search. The questionnaires were administered on Survey Monkey®. The sample size of the study was 138 755 potential respondents. The number that participated and completed the questionnaires included a total of 18 SPIS engineers, installers and designers and 13 SPIS users (farmers). The main problem encountered with the distribution of the survey was finding SPIS users to participate. Results from SPIS engineers, installers and designers showed that most SPIS they implemented were in the Western Cape and the Eastern Cape, at 33% of the responses for both provinces. The total area under SPIS was found to be 364 ha, while the area under irrigation is South Africa is 1 300 00 ha, indicating a high potential for SPIS development. Some details on the extent of SPIS in South Africa were determined in this paper, but more SPIS users need to be identified to determine the details of their SPIS.

Koedoe ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Heyns

A population of Xiphinema bolandium from the Baviaanskloof Wilderness Area in the Eastern Cape Province was studied, and the four juvenile stages described and figured for the first time. New distribution records are listed from several localities in the Western Cape Province, mostly from vineyards and peach orchards, as well as from fynbos.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-196
Author(s):  
Theodore Petrus ◽  
Irvin Kinnes

Gang violence has been extensively highlighted as an issue of national concern in South Africa. Gangs also pose concerns about the social contexts of the communities in which they are found. The Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces have had the most prolific occurrences of gangsterism. Here gangs have demonstrated unique characteristics that set them apart from gangs in other areas. This article examines the context of gangsterism in the selected provinces by means of a comparative analysis. The purpose is to provide some strategies for effective intervention. The discussion also interrogates how or why intervention efforts may have failed and what could be improved in order to strengthen the chances of success of future interventions in affected communities.


1998 ◽  
Vol 88 (4) ◽  
pp. 407-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.B. Edwards

AbstractThe seasonal abundance and rates of parasitism of three species of Mesoclanis seed flies was studied in South Africa. The three species occur on Chrysanthemoides monilifera, and were recorded during most months of the year, whenever C. monilifera was flowering. At three sites in KwaZulu-Natal, numbers of eggs per capitulum of Mesoclanis polana Munro were highest on C. monilifera rotundata between June and November (winter/spring), towards the end of the main flowering flush. Parasitism of M. polana was between 50% and 90% for most of the year. Two other species of Mesoclanis (M. magnipalpis Bezzi and M. dubia Walker) occurred together on C. m. rotundata in the Eastern Cape (St Francis Bay), where parasitism during the year was between 55% and 95%. Peak numbers of eggs per capitulum (M. magnipalpis and M. dubia combined) occurred in May/June (winter), in the latter part of the main flowering flush. Mesoclanis magnipalpis was the only species recorded on C. m. pisifera in De Hoop Nature Reserve (Western Cape), where there was only one peak of oviposition (May/June), coinciding with the short and discrete flowering period of this subspecies. Parasitism was between 50% and 65%. At least nine species of parasitoid were reared from immature Mesoclanis stages. Eurytoma sp. (Eurytomidae) was a dominant parasitoid at all sites. Results are discussed in relation to the possible effectiveness of species of Mesoclanis seed flies as biological control agents of C. monilifera in Australia.


2010 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Jacobs ◽  
D A Sewry

After the so-called “dot-com crash” of the Internet in the early 2000s, tertiary level student enrolments in IT-related subjects began to experience a significant decline both in international countries and South Africa. The paper replicates research done in the Western Cape, South Africa, by Seymour et al. (2005) [20], in which grade 12 learner inclinations to study Computer Science (CS) and Information Systems (IS) at tertiary level were analysed and underlying factors affecting their interest in the subjects were determined. The study analyses the “misguided” perceptions that learners and students have of these subjects; the implications of the decline in enrolments on students, educational sectors and industry; and determines a set of underlying factors that influence learners in their attitudes toward further degrees in IT, starting from the secondary level of education. The research compares South African Eastern Cape learner perceptions with those from the Western Cape study and establishes three to four years later, that the reasons behind the decline in IT enrolments are still influenced by an underlying demographic and digital divide.


Bothalia ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Snijman

Cyrtanthus aureolinus Snijman is a new, rare species of fire lily, which is localized in a vlei on the northern slopes of the Groot Swartberg, Western Cape. The upright or slightly spreading, yellow to cream-coloured flowers and the perigone tube which gradually widens to the throat suggest that it is closely related to the Western Cape endemic, C.  ochroleucus (Herb.) Burch, ex Steud., and C. mackenii Hook.f., a variable species from southern KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape. The species differs mainly by the shape, size and position of the tepals and the length of the filaments. Cyrtanthus mackenii var. cooperi (Baker) R.A.Dyer is raised to subspecies rank as C.  mackenii subsp. cooperi (Baker) Snijman. Its hysteranthous leaf habit and grassland habitat differ from the riverine habitat of the evergreen C. mackenii subsp. mackenii. Described in detail are C. aureolinus, C. ochroleucus, and C. mackenii.


Author(s):  
Mary-Louise Penrith

The histories of the two swine fevers in southern Africa differ widely. Classical swine fever (hog cholera) has been known in the northern hemisphere since 1830 and it is probable that early cases of ‘swine fever’ in European settlers’ pigs in southern Africa were accepted to be that disease. It was only in 1921 that the first description of African swine fever as an entity different from classical swine fever was published after the disease had been studied in settlers’ pigs in Kenya. Shortly after that, reports of African swine fever in settlers’ pigs emerged from South Africa and Angola. In South Africa, the report related to pigs in the north-eastern part of the country. Previously (in 1905 or earlier) a disease assumed to be classical swine fever caused high mortality among pigs in the Western Cape and was only eradicated in 1918. African swine fever was found over the following years to be endemic in most southern African countries. Classical swine fever, however, apart from an introduction with subsequent endemic establishment in Madagascar and a number of introductions into Mauritius, the last one in 2000, had apparently remained absent from the region until it was diagnosed in the Western and subsequently the Eastern Cape of South Africa in 2005. It was eradicated by 2007. The history of these diseases in the southern African region demonstrates their importance and their potential for spread over long distances, emphasising the need for improved management of both diseases wherever they occur.


Author(s):  
Nkululeko Nyangiwe ◽  
Ivan G. Horak ◽  
Luther Van der Mescht ◽  
Sonja Matthee

The Asiatic blue tick, Rhipicephalus microplus, a known vector of bovine babesiosis and bovine anaplasmosis, is of great concern in the cattle industry. For this reason, detailed knowledge of the distribution of R. microplus is vital. Currently, R. microplus is believed to be associated mainly with the northern and eastern Savanna and Grassland vegetation in South Africa. The objective of the study was to record the distribution of R. microplus, and the related endemic Rhipicephalus decoloratus, in the central-western region of South Africa that comprises Albany Thicket, Fynbos and Savanna vegetation. In this survey, ticks were collected from 415 cattle in four provinces (Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Western Cape and Free State provinces) and from the vegetation in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa between October 2013 and September 2015. More than 8000 ticks were collected from cattle at 80 localities of which R. microplus was present at 64 localities and R. decoloratus at 47 localities. A total of 7969 tick larvae were recorded from the vegetation at 20 localities of which 6593 were R. microplus and 1131 were R. decoloratus. Rhipicephalus microplus was recorded in each of the regions that were sampled. Rhipicephalus microplus is now present throughout the coastal region of the Eastern Cape province and at multiple localities in the north-eastern region of the Northern Cape province. It was also recorded in the western region of the Western Cape province and one record was made for the Free State province. The observed range changes may be facilitated by the combined effects of environmental adaptability by the tick and the movement of host animals.


Phytotaxa ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 317 (3) ◽  
pp. 219 ◽  
Author(s):  
RICHARD V. LANSDOWN ◽  
RENE GLEN ◽  
GUSTAVO HASSEMER

Historically there has been confusion over the status and identification of Callitriche species in South Africa. Review of herbarium specimens and fieldwork have enabled confirmation of the presence of C. deflexa as a naturalised species in this country and confirmed that C. compressa and specimens named as C. bolusii are conspecific. Field surveys showed that C. compressa still occurs in the areas from which most historic collections were made with no evidence of a decline, it is widespread but local in Kwa-Zulu Natal and Eastern Cape Provinces and extends into eastern Western Cape Province. However because it is known from only five widely scattered sites, it is classed as Vulnerable under the IUCN Red List. We also typify here the names C. compressa and C. deflexa.


2017 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
Gboyega A Ogunbanjo

South Africa accounts for the worst global tuberculosis epidemics fuelled by the spread of HIV infection. The tuberculosis (TB) incidence increased from 300 per 100,000 people in the early 1990s to more than 950 per 100,000 in 2012.1 In addition, the country remains one of the countries with the highest TB burden globally, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics giving an estimated incidence of 454,000 cases of active TB in 2015.2 This means that about 0.8% of South Africa’s population of 54 million develop active TB disease annually. Of the 454 000 TB cases in South Africa in 2015, WHO estimated that about 57% (258,000) were HIV positive. It also estimated that of 157,505 whose status was known, and who were known to be HIV positive, some 85% (133,116) were on antiretroviral therapy.3 From the same 2015 report, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Western Cape provinces had the highest incidence rates of 692, 685 and 681 per 100,000 respectively. The most notable decline was in KwaZulu-Natal where the incidence decreased from 1,185 to 685 per 100,000 over the last five years.1


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