scholarly journals Improving the Food and Nutritional Security of Smallholder Farmers in South Africa: Evidence from the InnovAfrica Project

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 9902
Author(s):  
Lindumusa Myeni ◽  
Mokhele Edmond Moeletsi ◽  
Isaiah Nyagumbo ◽  
Salome Modiselle ◽  
Lebohang Mokoena ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Nutritional Security ◽  
Access To Credit ◽  
The Government ◽  
Food And Nutritional Security

This article highlights evidence and lessons learned from the InnovAfrica project conducted by the Agricultural Research Council in collaboration with other international organizations between 2017 and 2021. This project aimed to test and upscale best-bet Sustainable Agricultural Intensification (SAI) practices through Multi-Actor Platforms (MAPs) and improved dissemination strategies across six African countries (viz. Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa and Tanzania). The goal of the project was to improve the food and nutritional security of smallholder farmers in Africa. The article briefly discusses some of the key challenges that smallholder agriculture is facing, results from the agricultural interventions brought in by the InnovAfrica project, evidence-based actions and policy recommendations to improve the sustainable agricultural productivity of smallholder farmers in the South African case study. The study showed that SAI practices increased crop yields and build climate-resilient farming communities. It is recommended that the promotion of SAI practices should be supported by enabling institutions and conducive policies that will enhance access to inputs, market linkages, improved access to credit and good agricultural lands, the establishment of functional farmer groups and participatory learning models. These recommendations can be used by the government and other agencies to develop effective interventions to improve food and nutrition security.

scholarly journals Adoption of Improved Mungbean Production Technologies in Selected East African Countries

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 528
Author(s):  
Frank Mmbando ◽  
Emmanuel Mbeyagala ◽  
Papias Binagwa ◽  
Rael Karimi ◽  
Hellen Opie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Women Farmers ◽  
Farm Size ◽  
East African ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Household Asset ◽  
Access To Credit ◽  
Household Assets ◽  
Production Technologies

This study analyzes the factors that influence the probability and extent of the adoption of mungbean production technologies in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, using multivariate probit and Poisson regression models. The results show that the probability and extent of the adoption of mungbean production technologies are influenced by gender of the household, household size, farm size, livestock size, household assets, access to extension services and access to credit. The study suggests that policy interventions that aimed at targeting women farmers, increasing household asset and information dissemination, such as field demonstrations and training programs, are crucial in enhancing technology adoption among smallholder farmers.

scholarly journals Trapped Between Two Pandemics: Domestic Violence Cases Under COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown: A Scoping Review

2021 ◽  
pp. 0272684X2110221
Author(s):  
Endurance Uzobo ◽  
Aboluwaji D Ayinmoro
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Literature Search ◽  
Web Of Science ◽  
Biomed Central ◽  
Inclusion Criteria ◽  
African Countries ◽  
The World ◽  
The Government

Background As it is common with the most devastating events in the world, women always seem to be at the most disadvantage position. This situation manifested during the period of COVID-19 lockdown throughout the world and Africa in particular. The purpose of this study is to explore Domestic Violence (DV) cases in African during the COVID-19 lockdown. Methods Data for this study were gleaned from an electronic literature search using various databases PubMed and BioMed Central, Web of Science, etc. Key search words were gender DV during and after COVID-19. A total of 68 records were identified during the search. However, only 46 of these sources met the inclusion criteria. Results From the review done in selected African countries which include Egypt, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and Zimbabwe; it was discovered that COVID-19 lockdown across these countries worsens the already existing cases of DV. The study also noted that generally, the response of the government has been very poor in terms of dealing with DV cases in the period of COVID-19 lockdown. Conclusion The study concluded that despite the failures of government in tackling the DV pandemics, NGOs have been very active in championing the cause of those violated while also trying to provide succour to victims. Thus, the study recommended that countries in Africa need to join international initiatives in prioritising DV cases while trying to deal with the virus itself. Thus, one disease should not be traded for another.

scholarly journals Technical Change and Agricultural Productivity

2020 ◽  
pp. 219-238
Author(s):  
Christopher Cramer ◽  
John Sender ◽  
Arkebe Oqubay
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Crop Yields ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Green Revolution ◽  
Environmental Crisis ◽  
High Yield ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Ecological Zones ◽  
Agricultural Research And Development ◽  
Public Agricultural Research

The evidence does not support gloomy generalizations about an irreversible African environmental crisis or pessimistic arguments that barriers to adopting Green Revolution technologies are insuperable. Although evidence on agricultural technology in Africa is often unreliable, food output and grain yields do appear to have risen strongly in some African economies.. Huge variations in crop yields, including within similar agro-ecological zones, suggest massive potential for policies to promote a rapid increase in yields. Agricultural research and development (R&D) within African countries—and production on many large-scale farms—has shown that dramatically higher yields are possible. Crop yield improvements—with the aid of suitable high-yield varieties (HYVs), public agricultural research spending, and especially investment in irrigation—are possible without draconian resettlement schemes, without wasteful extension service spending, and without recourse to micro-finance schemes. The methods underpinning commonly produced estimates of yields are unreliable, calling into question conventional wisdom that small farms are more efficient than larger farms.

Companies convicted of economic crimes and their participation in government tender processes in South Africa: A comment on Namasthethu electrical (PTY) LTD v City of Cape Town and another (201/19) [2020] ZASCA 74 (29 JUNE 2020)

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-122
Author(s):  
Jamil Ddamulira Mujuzi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Cape Town ◽  
African Countries ◽  
The Public ◽  
South African Police Service ◽  
The Government ◽  
South African Police ◽  
Economic Crimes

In South Africa, persons or companies convicted of fraud or corruption or companies whose directors have been convicted are debarred from participating in bidding for government tenders. Although it is easy to establish whether or not a natural person has been convicted of an offence, because a certificate can be obtained from the South African Police Service to that effect, it is the opposite with juristic persons. This issue came up in the case of Namasthethu Electrical (Pty) Ltd v City of Cape Town and Another in which the appellant company was awarded a government tender although the company and its former director had been convicted of fraud and corruption. The purpose of this article is to analyse this judgment and show the challenges that the government is faced with when dealing with companies that have been convicted of offences that bid for government tenders. Because South Africa is in the process of enacting public procurement legislation, the Public Procurement Bill was published for comment in early 2020. One of the issues addressed in the Bill relates to debarring bidders who have been convicted of some offences from bidding for government tenders. Based on the facts of this case and legislation from other African countries, the author suggests ways in which the provisions of the Bill could be strengthened to address this issue.

South African Foreign Policy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fritz Nganje ◽  
Odilile Ayodele
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
South African ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
The World ◽  
Role Conception ◽  
The Government

In its foreign policy posture and ambitions, post-apartheid South Africa is like no other country on the continent, having earned the reputation of punching above its weight. Upon rejoining the international community in the mid-1990s based on a new democratic and African identity, it laid out and invested considerable material and intellectual resources in pursuing a vision of the world that was consistent with the ideals and aspirations of the indigenous anti-apartheid movement. This translated into a commitment to foreground the ideals of human rights, democratic governance, and socioeconomic justice in its foreign relations, which had been reoriented away from their Western focus during the apartheid period, to give expression to post-apartheid South Africa’s new role conception as a champion of the marginalized interests for Africa and rest of the Global South. Since the start of the 21st century, this new foreign policy orientation and its underlying principles have passed through various gradations, reflecting not only the personal idiosyncrasies of successive presidents but also changes in the domestic environment as well as lessons learned by the new crop of leaders in Pretoria, as they sought to navigate a complex and fluid continental and global environment. From a rather naive attempt to domesticate international politics by projecting its constitutional values onto the world stage during the presidency of Nelson Mandela, South Africa would be socialized into, and embrace gradually, the logic of realpolitik, even as it continued to espouse an ethical foreign policy, much to the chagrin of the detractors of the government of the African National Congress within and outside the country. With the fading away of the global liberal democratic consensus into which post-apartheid South Africa was born, coupled with a crumbling of the material and moral base that had at some point inspired a sense of South African exceptionalism, Pretoria’s irreversible march into an unashamedly pragmatic and interest-driven foreign policy posture is near complete.

scholarly journals Review: Challenges and opportunities for revitalising smallholder irrigation schemes in South Africa

Water SA ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 44 (3 July) ◽  
Author(s):  
M Fanadzo ◽  
B Ncube
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Government Policy ◽  
Food Production ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Arable Land ◽  
Smallholder Farming ◽  
The Government ◽  
Smallholder Irrigation

South Africa is classified as a water-scarce country, and depends on agriculture for food production. The irrigation sector is the largest consumer of water in the country, accounting for about 62% of water utilisation, but also losing 30–40%. Given the threat of drought and climate change, efficient irrigation systems have become a necessity, especially in the smallholder farming sector where most losses occur. Smallholder irrigation schemes (SIS) were developed to improve rural livelihoods through sustainable food production for food security and poverty alleviation, but these development objectives remain largely unfulfilled. The objectives of this review were to assess challenges facing SIS and explore opportunities for revitalising the schemes. The focus was on government policy and strategies to support smallholder farmers. A review of government policy showed that although the needs and interests of smallholder farmers are high on the national agenda, there is insufficient financial support to the sector, suggesting that smallholder agriculture is not really seen as a potential driver of the economy. The core focus of the government on repairing irrigation infrastructure while neglecting the soft components relating to capacity building has partly been blamed for the failure of SIS in South Africa. Capacity building is one of the missing links in smallholder irrigation development and many failures have been attributed to lack of adequately trained farmers and extension staff, particularly in irrigation water management. Land tenure insecurity has been singled out as a major institutional challenge leading to poor performance of irrigation schemes. The diversity of schemes means that different kinds of interventions are needed to respond to varying farmers’ needs, resources and agricultural contexts. These findings point to the need to balance the soft and hard components of the irrigation schemes for sustainability. It is therefore evident that the government needs to review its priorities in revitalisation of SIS. Land tenure policies allowing increased access to arable land need to be developed urgently, together with the promotion of alternative cropping systems that are suitable forthe smallholder farming sector.

scholarly journals Trends In Credit To Smallholder Farmers In South Africa

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 771 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Chisasa ◽  
Daniel Makina
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Poverty Alleviation ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Bank Credit ◽  
Smallholder Farmer ◽  
Access To Credit ◽  
Before And After

Access to credit for smallholder farmers remains a challenge in most developing countries. This paper examines the trend and pattern of bank credit to smallholder farmers in South Africa, both before and after the attainment of democratic government. The analysis of the trend and pattern of bank credit to smallholder farmers was conducted within the confines of the same agricultural sector, across all economy sectors and in relation to GDP. Our analyses show that bank credit to smallholder farmers is (and continues to be) a small fraction of total credit to the private sector and is a very small proportion of GDP. The smallholder farmer sector is observed to face the same constraints to credit as SMEs, a category of enterprises to which they also belong. In light of the importance of agriculture, in general, and smallholder farmers, in particular, to South Africas poverty alleviation and food security drive, our results have important policy implications.

scholarly journals Psychological capital and climate change adaptation: Empirical evidence from smallholder farmers in South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Unity Chipfupa ◽  
Aluwani Tagwi ◽  
Edilegnaw Wale
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Climate Change Adaptation ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Psychological Capital ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Probit Regression ◽  
Access To Credit ◽  
Common Framework

There are calls for better empirical models to inform climate change adaptation in smallholder agriculture. Hitherto adaptation studies have failed to comprehensively integrate non-cognitive behavioural factors (e.g. psychological capital), and there is also no common framework for measuring non-cognitive abilities of smallholder farmers. Hence, this study is the first attempt to assess how psychological capital affects climate change adaptation amongst smallholder farmers. The study estimated the multivariate probit regression model using data collected from 328 smallholder farmers in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. The results show an association between some psychological capital indicators and smallholder adaptation decisions. Social networks, having multiple farming objectives, access to credit and the type of farmer (irrigators vs. non-irrigators) were also significant in determining smallholders’ adaptation decisions. In conclusion, the study recommends the need for practical ways for enhancing smallholders’ endowment with key non-cognitive abilities. There is also a need for researchers to develop a comprehensive framework for assessing non-cognitive factors critical for climate change adaptation. This will improve the use of positive psychology theories to advance the literature on climate change adaptation. Support should also be provided to communities facing higher risks of climate change adaptation. More focus should also be given to improve smallholder farmers’ ability to adapt, including access to affordable credit. The role of social networks in information sharing remains critical, and hence their promotion should be prioritised. The findings on multiple objectives in farming were unique to climate change adaptation research, and hence the indicator should be considered in future similar studies.

scholarly journals Analysing challenges facing smallholder farmers and conservation agriculture in South Africa: A system dynamics approach

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 747-773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Von Loeper ◽  
Josephine Musango ◽  
Alan Brent ◽  
Scott Drimie
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
System Dynamics ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Conservation Agriculture ◽  
Research Data ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Ongoing Research ◽  
Access To Credit

Smallholder farmers in South Africa find it challenging to participate in the modern economy. Most of these farmers have limited access to credit and insurance, and to markets in which to sell their produce. This paper reviews ethnographic research data and argues that smallholder farmers struggle to take part in modern agricultural value chains in South Africa. System dynamics modelling is used to understand the dynamics relating to agricultural value-chain participants, and to determine whether the ethnographic research data is sufficient to answer the question as to which value-chain participants potentially have the largest impact on smallholder farmers. The modelling results show that banks may have the potential to trigger an impact on smallholder farmers’ productivity that could then attract other value-chain industries to take part in efforts to support these farmers. Smallholder farmers could become a long-term viable and sustainable option for increasing food security in South Africa. However, this study has its limitations. The data used from existing ethnographic research, conducted by way of semi-structured interviews with valuechain participants, is limited and is not able to answer questions such as: (i) how much each industry is prepared to engage with smallholder farmers in the event of other industries being prepared to do the same; and (ii) how long it will take each industry to react to a willingness to engage. Ongoing research is required to extend the interviewee base and data in order to answer these questions and for the model to be completed and used for policy guidance.

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