scholarly journals A review of possibilities for using animal tracking devices to mitigate stock theft in smallholder livestock farming systems in rural South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 162-182
Author(s):  
S. Zantsi ◽  
T. Nkunjana
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Risk Behaviour ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
Animal Tracking ◽  
Livestock Farmers ◽  
Tracking Devices ◽  
The Impact

Stock theft is among the major challenges faced by livestock farmers in South Africa. It has severe consequences especially for smallholder farmers, who collectively own a large share of the South African livestock herds but individually keep small herds. In recent years, technological improvements and innovations have made it possible to track livestock movements by using GPS animal tracking devices. Low-cost GPS has been developed and used elsewhere and in the local commercial sector. Given the well-known role of extension, i.e. information and technology dissemination, the possibility that smallholders adopt GPS animal tracking devices should be evaluated. However, very few studies have made a case for using this technology in curbing stock theft among smallholder farmers. This review therefore addresses the likelihood that smallholder livestock farmers in South Africa adopt GPS animal tracking devices to mitigate the impact of stock theft. Using a semi-systematic and a snowball literature review approach, we consulted and reviewed the relevant literature and official statistics relating to stock theft and smallholder livestock farming. Results from the reviewed literature suggest that the likelihood of GPS animal tracking device adoption by smallholders will depend on a) the awareness about the devices and how they work, b) the acuteness of stock theft for a farmer and how livestock contributes the farmer’s livelihood, and c) the income level, access to mobile phones and risk behaviour of farmers. Our literature findings identify areas for future research and may help agricultural extension personnel with future research topics.

scholarly journals Impact of Agricultural Drought Resilience on the Welfare of Smallholder Livestock Farming Households in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 562
Author(s):  
Ringetani Matlou ◽  
Yonas T. Bahta ◽  
Enoch Owusu-Sekyere ◽  
Henry Jordaan
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Agricultural Drought ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
Drought Resilience ◽  
Resilience Index ◽  
Northern Cape ◽  
Livestock Farmers ◽  
Farming Households

Recurring agricultural droughts are of concern to smallholder livestock farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study determined the impact of agricultural drought resilience on smallholder livestock farming households’ welfare in the Frances Baard District Municipality (FBDM), in Northern Cape Province of South Africa. Interviews, more specifically survey interviews, were conducted with 207 smallholder livestock farmers. We used compensation variation, resilience index and linear regression models to analyse the data. The findings indicate that smallholder farmers who received drought relief support saw an improvement in their welfare. However, the welfare improvements varied across respondents and different gender categories, with males having higher welfare improvements relative to females. The study also found that economic capital, social capital, human capital and natural capital substantially affected the welfare of smallholder farmers. Furthermore, the study revealed that the smallholder farmers had a moderate agricultural drought resilience index, but low natural resilience capital. The study recommends that governments and non-governmental policymakers aiming to improve the welfare of smallholder farmers should focus on building their economic, social, human and capital resource bases. In this way, the smallholder farmers will be resilient in a time of climatic shock.

scholarly journals Adoption of Climate Smart Agriculture by Communal Livestock Farmers in South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 10468
Author(s):  
Lerato Molieleng ◽  
Pieter Fourie ◽  
Ifeoma Nwafor
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Modern Technology ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
Animal Agriculture ◽  
Livestock Farmers ◽  
Communal Areas ◽  
The Government ◽  
Smart Agriculture ◽  
The Impact

The importance of adopting modern technology in agriculture, especially in a changing climate, cannot be underestimated in Africa. The aim of this review was to highlight the past and the status quo with regard to the adoption of current farming practices in relation to climate-smart agriculture (CSA) by communal livestock farmers in South Africa. The impact of animal agriculture on climate change was also deliberated. Different internet search engines and databases, like Google Scholar, EBSCO Host, Science Direct, etc., and peer-reviewed articles, books, and government and academic reports were employed to provide information to adequately address the aim. Keywords like “the impact of climate smart agriculture on communal livestock farmers”, “communal livestock in South Africa”, “communal farming and technology adoption”, etc. were used for the search. Various issues pertaining to the impact of animal agriculture on climate change, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and implementing CSA in livestock farming were extensively discussed. The findings indicated that there is limited research on the adoption of CSA by communal livestock farmers in South Africa. The review concluded that strategies to adopt modern technology in communal areas should address the issues to enhance knowledge of farmers and all stakeholders, through increasing awareness, trainings, and skills programs. The government should build local capacity in innovative and affordable water and agricultural solutions, and reliable financial mechanisms should be in place to implement innovative sound technologies in communal areas.

The impact of climate change on net revenue and food adequacy of subsistence farming households in South Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 327-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Byela Tibesigwa ◽  
Martine Visser ◽  
Jane Turpie
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Subsistence Farming ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Mixed Crop ◽  
Net Revenue ◽  
Livestock Farmers ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Farming Households

AbstractThis paper examines the impact of climate change on poor households across South Africa who practise subsistence farming to supplement their household income and dietary requirements. We consider three production systems: specialized crops, livestock and mixed crop-livestock farming. In general, we find specialized crop farmers to be the most vulnerable, while mixed crop-livestock farmers appear to be least vulnerable, suggesting that crop-livestock diversification is a potential coping strategy among poor subsistence farming households. We observe qualitatively similar results when we use self-reported food adequacy as the outcome. Furthermore, predicted impact shows that the climatic changes will be mildly harmful at first but will grow over time and lead to a 151 per cent loss in net revenue by the year 2080. Interestingly, we observe that crop farmers receive higher revenue when land is owned by the household, while on the other hand, livestock farmers earn more revenue when the land is communal.

scholarly journals Assessing the Impacts of Land Use and land cover change on Pastoral Livestock Farming in South-Eastern Burkina Faso

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie A. KIMA ◽  
A. A OKHIMAMHE ◽  
Andre KIEMA
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Burkina Faso ◽  
Information Source ◽  
Fuel Wood ◽  
Landsat Images ◽  
Livestock Farming ◽  
Poor Access ◽  
Livestock Farmers ◽  
Landsat Satellite ◽  
The Impact

<p class="1Body">Conversion of pastures to cropland is one of the most important issues facing livestock farming in Burkina Faso. This study examined the impact of land use/cover change on pastoral livestock farming in Boulgou province between 1980 and 2013. Landsat satellite images (1989, 2001 and 2013) and socio-economic data were analysed. The interpretation of the classified Landsat images revealed an increase in cropland from 20.5% in 1989 to 36.7% in 2013. This resulted mainly from the conversion of woody savannah and shrub and grass savannah to cropland. Pastoral livestock farmers reported that the major drivers of vegetation loss were drought (95.1 %), population growth (91.8%), cropland increase (91.4%), extraction of fuel wood (69.8%) and increase in livestock population (65.4). These changes affect livestock farming through reduction of pasture, poor access to water and reduction of livestock mobility routes according to the farmers. This calls for regional and national policies to protect grazing areas in Burkina Faso that are similar to policies being implemented for forest and other types of vegetation cover in other countries. For such pastoral policies to be successful, issues concerning the mobility of livestock farmers must be enshrined into such policies and this study is an example of information source for these policies.</p>

scholarly journals Introductory Information Systems Course Redesign: Better Preparing Business Students

10.28945/4058 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 17 ◽  
pp. 113-126
Author(s):  
Gina Harden ◽  
Robert M. Crocker ◽  
Kelly Noe
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Advisory Council ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Course Redesign ◽  
College Of Business ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Complete Overhaul

Aim/Purpose: The dynamic nature of the information systems (IS) field presents educators with the perpetual challenge of keeping course offerings current and relevant. This paper describes the process at a College of Business (COB) to redesign the introductory IS course to better prepare students for advanced business classes and equip them with interdisciplinary knowledge and skills demanded in today’s workplace. Background: The course was previously in the Computer Science (CSC) Department, itself within the COB. However, an administrative restructuring resulted in the CSC department’s removal from the COB and left the core course in limbo. Methodology: This paper presents a case study using focus groups with students, faculty, and advisory council members to assess the value of the traditional introductory course. A survey was distributed to students after implementation of the newly developed course to assess the reception of the course. Contribution: This paper provides an outline of the decision-making process leading to the course redesign of the introductory IS course, including the context and the process of a new course development. Practical suggestions for implementing and teaching an introductory IS course in a business school are given. Findings: Focus group assessment revealed that stakeholders rated the existing introductory IS course of minimal value as students progressed through the COB program, and even less upon entering the workforce. The findings indicated a complete overhaul of the course was required. Recommendations for Practitioners: The subject of technology sometimes requires more than a simple update to the curriculum. When signs point to the need for a complete overhaul, this paper gives practical guidance supplemented with relevant literature for other academicians to follow. Recommendation for Researchers: Students are faced with increasing pressure to be proficient with the latest technology, in both the classroom where educators are trying to prepare them for the modern workplace, as well as the organization which faces an even greater pressure to leverage the latest technology. The newly designed introductory IS course provides students, and eventually organizations, a better measure of this proficiency. Future Research: Future research on the efficacy of this new course design should include longitudinal data to determine the impact on graduates, and eventually the assessment of those graduates’ performance in the workplace.

scholarly journals The impact of social grant dependency on smallholder maize producers’ market participation in South Africa: Application of the double-hurdle model

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sikhulumile Sinyolo ◽  
Maxwell Mudhara ◽  
Edilegnaw Wale
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Hurdle Model ◽  
Market Participation ◽  
Double Hurdle Model ◽  
Social Grants ◽  
Double Hurdle ◽  
Social Grant ◽  
The Impact

Background: Social grants have become an increasingly popular means of improving the welfare of poor households in South Africa and beyond. While the goals of these transfers are to alleviate current poverty as well as to improve human capital capacity, they also have unintended effects, positive or negative, on beneficiary households. A question that has not been adequately addressed in the literature is the role that social grants play in the efforts to commercialise smallholder farming.Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the impact of social grant dependency on the incentives of smallholder maize producers to participate in the market.Setting: The study was done in the rural areas of four districts (Harry Gwala, Umzinyathi, Umkhanyakude and Uthukela) in the KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa.Methods: The study adopted a quantitative research design. A total of 984 households were randomly selected from the four districts, of which 774 had planted maize in the previous season. The analysis was done on the 774 farmers who had planted maize. The double-hurdle model was used for statistical analysis.Results: The results show a negative association between social grant dependency and market participation, suggesting that social grant-dependent households are more subsistent, producing less marketable surplus. Moreover, households with access to social grants sold less quantities of maize in the market, indicating reduced selling incentives.Conclusion: The study indicates that social grants reduce the incentives of smallholder farmers to commercialise their production activities. The results suggest that, while policies aimed at reducing transaction costs would increase smallholder market participation, attention should be paid on how to reduce social grants’ dis-incentive effects. To reduce spill over effects to unintended household members, the study recommends offering part of the grant as ‘in-kind support’, which is specific to the intended individual beneficiary.

scholarly journals Risky localities: Exploring a methodology for measuring socio-economic characteristics of high murder areas

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lizette Lancaster ◽  
Ellen Kamman
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Crime Rates ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Violence Reduction ◽  
Murder Rate ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Initial Results

Every day on average, more than 49 people are murdered in South Africa. A better understanding of the demographics of locations with high murder and other crime rates could assist in the development of effective initiatives to effectively reduce our murder rate. It provides the foundations on which to build research into the impact of social cohesion on violence reduction. This article explores the hypothesis that the risk for murder is associated with certain demographic characteristics of particular locations. This paper proposes a method to analyse the demographic characteristics of police precincts in relation to the murder rate for that police precinct. It provides an explanation of the method used and a summary of initial results. The paper concludes with a discussion on the benefits of this research approach and considerations for future research as well as the need for more indepth analysis on social cohesion.

scholarly journals Data stream mining: methods and challenges for handling concept drift

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Wares ◽  
John Isaacs ◽  
Eyad Elyan
Keyword(s):  
Data Stream ◽  
Concept Drift ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Streaming Data ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Stream Mining ◽  
Detection Algorithms ◽  
The Past ◽  
Concept Drift Detection ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Mining and analysing streaming data is crucial for many applications, and this area of research has gained extensive attention over the past decade. However, there are several inherent problems that continue to challenge the hardware and the state-of-the art algorithmic solutions. Examples of such problems include the unbound size, varying speed and unknown data characteristics of arriving instances from a data stream. The aim of this research is to portray key challenges faced by algorithmic solutions for stream mining, particularly focusing on the prevalent issue of concept drift. A comprehensive discussion of concept drift and its inherent data challenges in the context of stream mining is presented, as is a critical, in-depth review of relevant literature. Current issues with the evaluative procedure for concept drift detectors is also explored, highlighting problems such as a lack of established base datasets and the impact of temporal dependence on concept drift detection. By exposing gaps in the current literature, this study suggests recommendations for future research which should aid in the progression of stream mining and concept drift detection algorithms.

CROSS-CULTURAL ADOPTION IN SOUTH AFRICA: NEW DIRECTIONS FOR RESEARCH

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 384-398
Author(s):  
Cyndy Snyder
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Work Practice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Work Practice ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Adoption Research ◽  
The Impact

This article reviews the literature on cross-cultural adoption in South Africa and provides new insights and research questions to help social work practitioners and researchers better understand the impact of cross-cultural adoption for adoptees. The article compares the context of race and adoption research in the United States and South Africa, paying particular attention to strengths and limitations of research studies from both countries. In this paper, I argue that race and racism shape the experiences of black cross-cultural adoptees, and therefore adoptees’ ability to navigate such circumstances should be a central focus when assessing the impact of cross-cultural adoption. While much research from both countries has focused on the experiences and perspectives of parents and social workers, future research should focus on the adoptee perspective. Practical implications for those involved in social work practice and social services in the South African context are also addressed.

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