Supervisors’ and subordinates’ perception of the Impact of Botswana College of Agriculture training programme on Graduates’ Job behaviour.

This study was a descriptive survey, which ascertained supervisors and subordinates perception of the impact of Botswana College of Agriculture training programme on graduates’ job behaviour. The study was carried out in the Ministry of Agriculture, Gaborone, Botswana, which is composed of six departments. All BCA graduates employed in each department, their supervisors and subordinates were the population of the study. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 34 graduates and thecorresponding supervisors (27) and subordinates (19) were selected in order to reduce response errors due to bias and to triangulate the responses. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection and were analyzed with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16 using frequencies counts, percentages and one-way analysisof variance. The results show that there is male dominance among graduates, supervisors and subordinates. Majority of graduates (53%) are between 26-35 years while for the supervisors the range is 36-45 years however, subordinates are in the same range as graduates. At least 50 percent graduates indicated moderate competence in 27 out of 30work based competencies. Supervisors indicated that at least 50 percent of the graduates have moderate competence in 21 out of the 30 listed activities while subordinates indicated that at least 50 percent of the graduates were rated to have moderate competence in 19 out of the 30 activities. In terms of meeting the expectations of supervisors andsubordinates at least 70 percent of the graduates indicated that they meet expectations of their supervisors and subordinates in 12 out of the listed activities. Supervisors indicated that at least 70 percent of the graduates meet their expectations only in 8 out of the listed activities while subordinates rated that at least 70 percent of the graduates meet theirexpectations in 5 out of the 30 listed activities .One-way analysis of variance shows that a significance difference exists (F = 3.81, p < 0.05) in perception of the impact of Botswana College of Agriculture training programme on graduates’ job behaviour among graduates, supervisors and subordinates. The mean scores show that graduates havethe highest mean 98.29 while subordinates have the lowest mean of 86.94. It therefore implies that the rating of graduates by their supervisors and subordinates is lower than that of the graduates and the graduate ratings can also not be considered as valid because of the shortcomings associated with self rating. There is need to improve the trainingprogramme such that graduates can be rated independently as competent individuals

A systematic review of rodent pest research in Afro-Malagasy small-holder farming systems: Are we asking the right questions?

Rodent pests are especially problematic in terms of agriculture and public health since they can inflict considerable economic damage associated with their abundance, diversity, generalist feeding habits and high reproductive rates. To quantify rodent pest impacts and identify trends in rodent pest research impacting on small-holder agriculture in the Afro-Malagasy region we did a systematic review of research outputs from 1910 to 2015, by developing an a priori defined set of criteria to allow for replication of the review process. We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. We reviewed 162 publications, and while rodent pest research was spatially distributed across Africa (32 countries, including Madagascar), there was a disparity in number of studies per country with research biased towards four countries (Tanzania [25%], Nigeria [9%], Ethiopia [9%], Kenya [8%]) accounting for 51% of all rodent pest research in the Afro-Malagasy region. There was a disparity in the research themes addressed by Tanzanian publications compared to publications from the rest of the Afro-Malagasy region where research in Tanzania had a much more applied focus (50%) compared to a more basic research approach (92%) in the rest of the Afro-Malagasy region. We found that pest rodents have a significant negative effect on the Afro-Malagasy small-holder farming communities. Crop losses varied between cropping stages, storage and crops and the highest losses occurred during early cropping stages (46% median loss during seedling stage) and the mature stage (15% median loss). There was a scarcity of studies investigating the effectiveness of various management actions on rodent pest damage and population abundance. Our analysis highlights that there are inadequate empirical studies focused on developing sustainable control methods for rodent pests and rodent pests in the Africa-Malagasy context is generally ignored as a research topic

Voices of the hungry: a qualitative measure of household food access and food insecurity in South Africa

South Africa is rated a food secure nation, but large numbers of households within the country have inadequate access to nutrient-rich diverse foods. The study sought to investigate households’ physical and economic access and availability of food, in relation to local context which influences households’ access to and ability to grow food which may affect the dietary quality. We sought to understand self-reported healthy diets, food insecurity from the perspective of people who experienced it, barriers to household food security and perceptions and feelings on food access as well as strategies households use to cope with food shortages and their perceptions on improving household food security

Measures to increase food production and mitigating against increased food prices: the Malawi case study

NovemberThe economy of Malawi is highly dependent on agricultural production and development initiatives in the country have been mostly dependent on improving agricultural production. Furthermore the sector comprises largely of smallholder farmers who produce primarily for own production and only the surplus is marketed. However, as in other parts of SSA the smallholder farming sector's productivity is quite low and the Malawi government has a history of supporting smallholder farmers but for the past three production seasons, Malawi embarked on a bold initiative to improve access to inputs and technologies through the Agricultural Input Subsidy Programme (AISP). The programme is hailed for having moved the country from a deficit producer of staple crops, especially maize, to a surplus producer. In addition, the programme has increased the food security status of the farming households and the economic growth of the country as it has been able to allow the participation of all agricultural stakeholders

Tshepo Khumbane - Growing South Africa's women and landscape

The South African government has made numerous attempts to integrate women into the economy using different strategies. Many of these have been unsuccessful and others are unsustainable, requiring continued expenditure. Tshepo Khumbane, a development activist for more than 40 years, argues that the strategies are poorly focused. According to her, the various attempts do not consider the mental, social and natural resource damage that resulted from years under apartheid. Her philosophy is simple heal people's minds and work with the resources they have available. Once they have conquered hunger and redeveloped self-respect, respect for others and their environment, they can go on to greater things.

Agricultural employment scenarios

This chapter seeks to re-examine the potential of agriculture to contribute to job creation and poverty reduction in South Africa. It does so mainly through a simple scenario-analysis that seeks to illustrate that is conceivable, complemented by commentary as to what is feasible and likely

Rural women and rainwater harvesting and conservation practices: anecdotal evidence from the Free State and Eastern Cape provinces

Access to water for domestic and agricultural use is a common constraint in most arid to semi-arid areas. Rainwater harvesting and conservation (RWH&C) practices provide an opportunity for improved access and/or availability of water for both domestic and agricultural production. Since the majority of the techniques are labour-intensive, they may prove an extra burden on available household labour, specifically for women who in the main are responsible for agricultural production. Based on preliminary cross-sectional survey data of 257 households from four rural villages in Free State and Eastern Cape, this article profiles the users/adopters of rainwater harvesting and conservation practices, and specifically determine the role women play in the adoption and use of the techniques. The majority (70%) of the users are women of whom 40% are single parents, mostly unemployed thus depending largely on social grants. The RWH&C practices used include rooftop rainwater harvesting, infield rainwater harvesting, collection of road runoff and collection of upper slope runoff. From the results, it is concluded that the major users of RWH&C practices are women; however, it is still questionable whether the development and adoption of these practices ensures that they do not overburden the women as they are significantly labour intensive. The article recommends that further research should account clearly for gender roles in the development, adoption and adaptation of rainwater harvesting and conservation technologies.

The potential of social grants expenditure to promote local economic development and job creation

MarchThis paper argues for developmental social policy and explores options to use social grants transfer instruments (cash, in-kind and vouchers) to achieve localized pro-poor developmental outcomes. Conceptually, this reports draws inspiration from the analytical contributions to redistributive social welfare literature by Amartya Sen, Jean Dreze and Thandika Mkandawire. Amartya Sen and his co-workers argue that the poor and vulnerable lack the capabilities to construct sustainable livelihoods. Peoples' capabilities are their freedoms to live a life that permits and enables them to be healthy, well-educated, wellnourished, adequately clothed and housed, etc. Dreze and Sen, writing extensively about the causes and ways to prevent hunger and famine, noted that spaces of vulnerability are created by changes in food entitlement and command over food systems. In this context, entitlement promotion and entitlement protection need to be introduced, respectively, to secure the long term access to food and the provision of a safety net against shocks. Making a broader and compelling case for 'developmental social policy', Mkandawire (1999) refers to the 'social wage' as an example of how to use social policy to reach longer-term developmental outcomes. The social wage (education, health and targets support for human capital accumulation) lowers the cost of employment and could enable people to be fully employment in decent jobs

Technology helps put food on the table

The Department of Rural Development and Land Reform introduced the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme (CRDP) in August 2009, with the aim of bringing about co-ordinated and integrated agrarian transformation to benefit rural communities. In a study to identify technologies available for rural development and initiatives that involve technology, it was found that the implementation of the programme leaves much to be desired. Tim Hart reports.