A survey was conducted to identify management information sources and communication channels used by commercially oriented smallholder beef cattle producers (n = 62) in Limpopo province, South Africa. A total of 62 commercially oriented smallholder farmers under the Limpopo Industrial Development Corporation-Nguni cattle project were interviewed using a structured questionnaire to collect data. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse data on farmers’ demographic and farm characteristics, sources of information and communication channels used. A multinomial logistic regression model was used to evaluate factors that influenced farmers’ choices of information sources and communications channels used. Findings show that government extension (53% of the respondents) and other farmers (30%) were the major sources of management information for the farmers. Based on the logistic regression results, the decision to choose government extension as the main source of information was mainly influenced by respondents’ gender (p = 0.001) and access to training (p = 0.023). Communication was mainly through farm-to-farm visits (56%) and the use of mobile phones (30%). Based on the current findings, the infusion of modern information communication technologies such as mobile phone-based innovations with the existing government extension service could further strengthen the capacity of farmers to share information among themselves as well as providing feedback to extension agents. Furthermore, it is essential to take cognizance of farmers’ socio-economic factors when identifying and characterizing their management information sources and communication strategies.
Since the advent of colonisation, black South Africans have been subjected to discriminatory laws that dispossessed them of their property – without compensation – solely because of the colour of their skin. The intent was clear: landownership by the black population did not serve the economic interests of the ruling powers.
The 1913 Native Lands Act was the codification of land theft that started in 1657 when the first “free burgher”, Jan Hendrik Boom, began farming a plot of land previously used for grazing by the indigenous KhoiKhoi population. The act further established a policy of forced removals that prevented the emergence of a class of black landowners who had been able to successfully compete with those who were white.
Plants are capable of synthesizing all the molecules necessary to complete their life cycle from minerals, water, and light. This plasticity, however, comes at a high energetic cost and therefore plants need to regulate their economy and allocate resources accordingly. Iron–sulfur (Fe–S) clusters are at the center of photosynthesis, respiration, amino acid, and DNA metabolism. Fe–S clusters are extraordinary catalysts, but their main components (Fe2+ and S2−) are highly reactive and potentially toxic. To prevent toxicity, plants have evolved mechanisms to regulate the uptake, storage, and assimilation of Fe and S. Recent advances have been made in understanding the cellular economy of Fe and S metabolism individually, and growing evidence suggests that there is dynamic crosstalk between Fe and S networks. In this review, we summarize and discuss recent literature on Fe sensing, allocation, use efficiency, and, when pertinent, its relationship to S metabolism. Our future perspectives include a discussion about the open questions and challenges ahead and how the plant nutrition field can come together to approach these questions in a cohesive and more efficient way.
Farm workers are essential to the economy and food system, but they are poor and vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. Evicted farm workers, in particular, face an under-reported crisis of underemployment, poverty and hunger. At a time when the future for farm workers looks increasingly precarious, new thinking and fresh ideas are needed. Some of the challenges facing farm workers are explored here.
Extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) and AmpC β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae are no longer restricted to the health care system, but represent increased risks related to environmental integrity and food safety. Fresh produce has been increasingly reported to constitute a reservoir of multidrug-resistant (MDR) potential human pathogenic Enterobacteriaceae. This study aimed to detect, identify, and characterize the antimicrobial resistance of ESBL/AmpC-producing Enterobacteriaceae isolates from fresh vegetables at point of sale. Vegetable samples (spinach, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, and green beans; n = 545) were purchased from retailers in Gauteng, the most densely populated province in South Africa. These included street vendors, trolley vendors, farmers’ market stalls, and supermarket chain stores. Selective enrichment, plating onto chromogenic media, and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) confirmation of isolate identities showed that 17.4% (95/545) vegetable samples analyzed were contaminated with presumptive ESBL/AmpC-producing Enterobacteriaceae. Dominant species identified included Escherichia coli, Enterobacter cloacae, Enterobacter asburiae, and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Phenotypic antibiotic resistance analysis showed that 96.1% of 77 selected isolates were MDR, while resistance to aminoglycoside (94.8%), chloramphenicol (85.7%), and tetracycline (53.2%) antibiotic classes was most prevalent. Positive phenotypic analysis for ESBL production was shown in 61 (79.2%) of the 77 isolates, and AmpC production in 41.6% of the isolates. PCR and sequencing confirmed the presence of β-lactamase genes in 75.3% isolates from all vegetable types analyzed, mainly in E. coli, Enterobacter spp., and Serratia spp. isolates. CTX-M group 9 (32.8%) was the dominant ESBL type, while EBC (24.1%) was the most prevalent plasmidic type AmpC β-lactamase. Our findings document for the first time the presence of MDR ESBL/AmpC-producing Enterobacteriaceae in raw vegetables sold at selected retailers in Gauteng Province, South Africa.
Large numbers of South Africans receive social grants (public transfers) or remittances (private transfers), and yet one in four South Africans is food insecure. The purpose of this paper is to address two questions: do social grants and remittances improve food security and nutritional outcomes? If so, do these impacts differ between public and private transfers? Drawing on the National Income Dynamic Survey (NIDS), South Africa’s first nationally representative survey that follows more than 28,000 individuals over time, we found significant and positive impacts of the Older Person’s Grant and of remittances on the dietary diversity index, but not of the Child Support Grant. Moreover, we found no effect on food expenditure or on anthropometry (BMI) by the Older Person’s Grant, or remittances. However, some positive effects were found on children’s BMI from the Child Support Grant. We discuss why we observe different effects from different transfers, as well as giving several reasons why income transfers are failing to close the nutritional deficits in South Africa.
Nonylphenol (NP) and its detrimental effects on the environment, humans, wildlife, fish and birds is an increasingly important global research focus. The number of investigations on the toxicity and metabolic fate of NP in plants is however limited. This paper reviews the prevalence and source of NP in plants and the effect it has on its morphological, physiological and ultrastructural status. Fruit and vegetables have been found to contain levels of NP that is twenty-fold exceeding the no observable effect level (NOEL) of freshwater algae. Apart from the potential risk this poses to the health of consumers, it can overburden the plant’s natural defence system, leading to growth disorders. Plants exposed to NP show signs of overall growth reduction, changes in organelle structure and oxidative damage. These adverse effects may exacerbate the food security dilemma faced by many countries and impede their progress towards attaining the sustainable development goals.
China and Africa constitute more than a third of the world’s population and China has become Africa’s largest trading partner. This has led to other forms of engagement with African countries, shaping development policies and outcomes. This chapter focuses on one important set of outcomes: the implications of the China-Africa relationship for global food security and the transferability of the Chinese model of agriculture to African countries. As the world redirects attention to pursuing sustainable development goals (SDGs), such engagements with China in agricultural development will affect the attainment of SDG 1 on eliminating extreme poverty and SDG 2 on achieving zero hunger. China has embarked on an effort to improve African agricultural capacity and productivity partly by sharing experience, technology transfer and by encouraging Chinese agricultural investments in Africa. This has included setting up new exchange frameworks and programmes to both bring Chinese experts to African countries and African students and researchers to China. However, China’s engagement with Africa has also raised concerns about new forms of international exploitation and their impacts on sustainable development. This chapter examines possible lessons for African countries from the success of agriculture in China, as well as the potential challenges arising from China’s own development priorities, particularly when the Chinese model of agriculture is implemented in Africa.
Commercial farm workers in South Africa endured centuries of exploitation and abuse until the 1990s, when progressive legislation was promulgated that confers rights to workers aimed at improving their living and working conditions, including through a sector-specific statutory minimum wage. However, violations of labour rights are widespread in the agriculture sector, and farm workers are arguably more vulnerable than before as they face ongoing evictions, casualisation and exploitation. This research study, conducted among women farm workers in the Western Cape and Northern Cape provinces, documents labour rights violations in the areas of wages and contracts and occupational health and safety. Apart from farmers themselves, government is responsible for failing to enforce compliance with pro-worker legislation, while trade unions have failed to represent farm workers and hold farmers and government to account.
In South Africa, livelihoods of smallholder cattle farmers are constrained by a lack of appropriate production knowledge, climate change, inadequate support services, societal inequity, irrelevant pro-poor policies and inappropriate delivery of improved livestock technologies. A transdisciplinary team of local and international researchers conducted a workshop to explore opportunities and constraints to the delivery of a beef cattle custom feeding programme in Eastern Cape Province using participatory approaches, including visioning exercises. The main challenges to the cattle custom feeding programme reported by producers included lack of cattle production skills, lack of technical knowledge on feed production, limited funding and inconsistent cattle feed delivery. Participants envisioned a portfolio of locally based solutions that included prioritization of local feed production, identification of sustainable support networks, establishment of a communal herd to cover feeding centre’s overhead costs and creation of a knowledge exchange platform for farmers. In addition, participants attempted to strengthen knowledge transfer among stakeholders through the development of an online site for knowledge exchange. Overall, the participatory approaches adopted empowered participants to freely express their opinions and openly share knowledge and experiences regarding common challenges and opportunities associated with delivery of a beef cattle custom feeding programme.