Southern Africa: Towards Economic Liberation and Families Divided. The Impact of Migrant Labour in Lesotho

Prior to the introduction of highly resistant sugarcane varieties, Sugarcane streak virus (SSV) caused serious sugar yield losses in southern Africa. Recently, sugarcane plants with streak symptoms have been identified across South Africa. Unlike the characteristic fine stippling and streaking of SSV, the symptoms resembled the broader, elongated chlorotic lesions commonly observed in wild grasses infected with the related Maize streak virus (MSV). Importantly, these symptoms have been reported on a newly released South African sugarcane cultivar, N44 (resistant to SSV). Following a first report from southern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa in February 2006, a survey in May 2007 identified numerous plants with identical symptoms in fields of cvs. N44, N27, and N36 across the entire South African sugarcane-growing region. Between 0.04 and 1.6% of the plants in infected fields had streak symptoms. Wild grass species with similar streaking symptoms were observed adjacent to one of these fields. Potted stalks collected from infected N44 plants germinated in a glasshouse exhibited streak symptoms within 10 days. Virus genomes were isolated and sequenced from a symptomatic N44 and Urochloa plantaginea plants collected from one of the surveyed fields (1). Phylogenetic analysis determined that while viruses from both plants closely resembled the South African maize-adapted MSV strain, MSV-A4 (>98.5% genome-wide sequence identity), they were only very distantly related to SSV (~65% identity; MSV-Sasri_S: EU152254; MSV-Sasri_G: EU152255). To our knowledge, this is the first confirmed report of maize-adapted MSV variants in sugarcane. In the 1980s, “MSV strains” were serologically identified in sugarcane plants exhibiting streak symptoms in Reunion and Mauritius, but these were not genetically characterized (2,3). There have been no subsequent reports on the impact of such MSV infections on sugarcane cultivation on these islands. Also, at least five MSV strains have now been described, only one of which, MSV-A, causes significant disease in maize and it is unknown which strain was responsible for sugarcane diseases on these islands in the 1980s (2,3). MSV-A infections could have serious implications for the South African sugar industry. Besides yield losses in infected plants due to stunting and reduced photosynthesis, the virus could be considerably more difficult to control than it is in maize because sugarcane is vegetatively propagated and individual plants remain within fields for years rather than months. Moreover, there is a large MSV-A reservoir in maize and other grasses everywhere sugarcane is grown in southern Africa. References: (1) B. E. Owor et al. J Virol. Methods 140:100, 2007. (2) M. S. Pinner and P. G. Markham. J. Gen. Virol. 71:1635, 1990. (3) M. S. Pinner et al. Plant Pathol. 37:74, 1998.

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THE COMPLEX DYNAMICS OF LAND IN MIGRANT LABOUR SOCIETIES: WHO NEEDS LAND FOR AGRICULTURE?

Journal of Asian Rural Studies ◽

10.20956/jars.v2i2.1404 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 132

Author(s):

Vusilizwe Thebe

Keyword(s):

Twentieth Century ◽

Rural Development ◽

Southern Africa ◽

Complex Dynamics ◽

Agricultural Productivity ◽

Rural Society ◽

Economic Structure ◽

Complex Relationship ◽

Land Reforms ◽

Migrant Labour

The agricultural modernisation narrative has been a central assumption of rural development since the mid-twentieth century, and more recently, the land reforms currently underway in Southern Africa. The narrative emphasises the viable use of land, defined in this case through agricultural productivity and market oriented production. The main contention of this paper is that such a focus undermines the rural socio-economic structure inherent in certain rural societies, which emerge through negotiations and compromises as societies change. It draws on data from studies in Lesotho and rural Zimbabwe that shows that rural households do not only hold land for agricultural purposes, but would hold onto land for security beyond mere agriculture production. It particularly emphasises the complex relationship between households and land, complex land needs and landholding patterns. As way of conclusion, it cautions against enforcing a peasant path on rural society through agriculture-based interventions.

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The impacts of COVID-19 on the sustainable management of the forestry sector in Southern Africa

International Forestry Review ◽

10.1505/146554821833992785 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 23 (3) ◽

pp. 298-308

Author(s):

P.W. Chirwa ◽

J.M. Kamwi ◽

G. Kabia ◽

L. Makhubele ◽

W. Sagona ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Southern Africa ◽

Sustainable Management ◽

Sustainable Forest Management ◽

Land Uses ◽

Illegal Logging ◽

Forest Production ◽

Forestry Sector ◽

The Impact ◽

Targeted Approach

The objective of the study was to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sustainable forest management in southern Africa. The study employed a targeted approach, also referred to as purposive sampling, to select respondents from the various sectors. The results show that COVID-19 had an 80% impact on forest management operations. The COVID-19 pandemic did not have a significant effect on the conversion of land from forest to other land uses. However, there was severe illegal logging and moderate to severe fires. The COVID-19 pandemic also had a severe impact on the agriculture, environment and ecotourism sectors, with nature reserves completely closed. From the forest production perspective, the impact of COVID-19 on production, supply, demand and the price of timber was generally low due to the commercial nature of the forestry sector in South Africa; the largest economy in SADC being classified as an essential sector.

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Representation of the Angolan low and Southern African Summer Precipitation in the CORDEX and CMIP5 models.

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-12531 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sabina Abba-Omar ◽

Francesca Raffaele ◽

Erika Coppola ◽

Daniela Jacob ◽

Claas Teichmann ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Regression Analysis ◽

Southern Africa ◽

Summer Precipitation ◽

Precipitation Variability ◽

Cmip5 Models ◽

Impact Of Climate Change ◽

The Future ◽

Rainfall Patterns ◽

The Impact

The impact of climate change on precipitation over Southern Africa is of particular interest due to its possible devastating societal impacts. To add to this, simulating precipitation is challenging and models tend to show strong biases over this region, especially during the Austral Summer (DJF) months. One of the reasons for this is the mis-representation of the Angolan Low (AL) and its influence on Southern Africa&#8217;s Summer precipitation in the models. Therefore, this study aims to explore and compare different models&#8217; ability to capture the AL and its link to precipitation variability as well as consider the impact climate change may have on this link. We also explore how the interaction between ENSO, another important mode of variability for precipitation, and the Angolan Low, impact precipitation, how the models simulate this and whether this could change in the future under climate change.&#160;We computed the position and strength of the AL in reanalysis data and compared these results to three different model ensembles with varying resolutions. Namely, the CORDEX-CORE ensemble (CCORE), a new phase of CORDEX simulations with higher resolutions (0.22 degrees), the lower resolution (0.44 degrees) CORDEX-phase 1 ensemble (C44) and the CMIP5 models that drive the two RCM ensembles. We also used Self Organizing Maps to group DJF yearly anomaly patterns and identify which combination of ENSO and AL strength scenarios are responsible for particularly wet or dry conditions. Regression analysis was performed to analyze the relationships between precipitation and the AL and ENSO. This analysis was repeated for near (2041-2060) and far (2080-2099) future climate and compared with the present to understand how the strength of the AL, and its connection to precipitation variability and ENSO, changes in the future.&#160;We found that, in line with previous studies, models with stronger AL tend to produce more rainfall. CCORE tends to simulate a stronger AL than C44 and therefore, higher precipitation biases. However, the regression analysis shows us that CCORE is able to capture the relationship between precipitation and the AL strength variability as well as ENSO better than the other ensembles. We found that generally dry rainfall patterns over Southern Africa are associated with a weak AL and El Nino event whereas wet rainfall patterns occur during a strong AL and La Nina year. While the models are able to capture this, they also tend to show more neutral ENSO conditions associated with these wet and dry patterns which possibly indicates less of a connection between AL strength and ENSO than seen in the observed results. Analysis of the future results indicates that the AL weakens, this is shown across all the ensembles and could be a contributing factor to some of the drying seen. These results have applications in understanding and improving model representation of precipitation over Southern Africa as well as providing some insight into the impact of climate change on precipitation and some of its associated dynamics over this region.

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A Report on the Impact of the Living Conditions Studies (LCS) on disability in southern Africa

Development Southern Africa ◽

10.1080/0376835x.2019.1628709 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 37 (2) ◽

pp. 247-258

Author(s):

Richard Vergunst ◽

Leslie Swartz

Keyword(s):

Southern Africa ◽

Living Conditions ◽

The Impact

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Employers and migration in low‐skilled services in Dublin

Employee Relations ◽

10.1108/01425451211267928 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 34 (6) ◽

pp. 628-641 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Siobhán Rachel McPhee

Keyword(s):

Labour Market ◽

State Policies ◽

Service Industries ◽

Immigration Policies ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Celtic Tiger ◽

Content Type ◽

Migrant Labour ◽

The Creation ◽

The Impact

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the role of employers as “institutional” factors in the creation of segmentation in the labour market. Industrial structure defines segments of the labour market (the employer) based on the nature of demand, and with the impact on the individual workers or groups based on their personal characteristics.Design/methodology/approachEmpirical work is within the Dublin labour market, which experienced the largest increase in availability of migrant workers under immigration policies of the Celtic Tiger state. Focused on the sectors of catering, cleaning and security as low‐skilled service sector providers, the analysis is based on 24 semi‐structured interviews with employers selected based on a database of a cross‐section of all employers in the selected sectors in Dublin.FindingsSemi‐structured interviews reinforce state policies as key institutional factor underlying migrant labour trends and experiences, but perspectives of the employers in low‐end service industries reveal additional insights. In addition to using migrant labour as a means of cost cutting, the daily actions of employers reveal cultural stereotyping of workers, making them an elemental component “exploiting” the trends facilitated by state immigration policies.Originality/valueAlthough a large body of research on migration into Ireland during the Celtic Tiger years is available, little of it has focused on labour market processes. More broadly, in attempting to understand labour market processes and the creation of segmentation there needs to be a triangulation of processes of supply, demand and state policies; and employers are key players in shaping demand and exploiting supply trends.

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The Impact of Cultivation on Carbon Fluxes in Woody Savannas of Southern Africa

Terrestrial Biospheric Carbon Fluxes: ◽

10.1007/978-94-011-1982-5_27 ◽

1993 ◽

pp. 403-412 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Paul L. Woomer

Keyword(s):

Southern Africa ◽

Carbon Fluxes ◽

The Impact

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Over 1,000 Years of Contact Between Arabic and the Eastern and Southern African Languages: A Case Study of Kiswahili and Setswana

Education and Linguistics Research ◽

10.5296/elr.v4i2.13729 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 43

Author(s):

Herman M. Batibo

Keyword(s):

Southern Africa ◽

Language Contact ◽

Arabic Language ◽

Eastern Africa ◽

Key Factors ◽

African Languages ◽

Arabic Speaking ◽

Sound Features ◽

The Impact

Arab travellers and traders along the eastern African coast, more than 1000 years ago, were the first Arabic speaking people to bring Arabic language in contact with the other African languages in eastern and later southern Africa. Over the years, Arabic gained a lot of influence in the region. The impact of Arabic can be seen, especially in old scripts, loanwords, Arabic accents and sound features in some of the local languages.This article examines the nature and extent of contact situations between Arabic and two languages, namely Kiswahili, spoken in eastern Africa, and Setswana, spoken in southern Africa. The study is based on the Language Contact Theory, which states that the nature, length and intensity of language contact are the key factors determining the linguistic and sociolinguistic processes that take place. Contact between languages could be either direct or indirect. The main argument of the study is that the extent of influence of a language on another depends not only on the nature of contact, but also, and mainly, on the length and intensity of contact. The paper highlights the domains in which elements of Arabic origin have infiltrated or been adopted in these languages.

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