Determinants of Household Poverty Dynamics in Rural Regions of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Poverty has always been studied in a world of certainty. However, if the aim of studying poverty is not only improving the well-being of households who are currently poor, but also preventing people from becoming poor in the future, a new forward looking perspective must be adopted. For thinking about appropriate forward-looking anti-poverty interventions (i.e. interventions that aim to prevent or reduce future poverty rather than alleviate current poverty), the critical need then is to go beyond a cataloging of who is currently poor and who is not, to an assessment of households’ vulnerability to poverty. This study analyses a panel dataset on a representative sample of 150 rural households interviewed in 2007 and 2008 in the Amathole District Municipality of the Eastern Cape Province to empirical assess the dynamics of poverty and estimate the determinants of households’ vulnerability to poverty. The result of the study indicates that the number of vulnerable households is significantly larger than for the currently poor households; the vulnerability index was found to be 0,62 compared to 0,56 headcount index in 2008. This implies that while 56 percent of the sampled households are poor (ex post) in 2008, 62 percent are vulnerable to becoming poor (ex ante) in future. The result of the Probit model shows that the age, level of education and occupation of the household head, dependency ratio, exposure to idiosyncratic risks and access to credit are statistically significant in explaining a households’ vulnerability to poverty.Poverty, vulnerability, poverty dynamics, risks, rural households, Food Security and Poverty,

Determinants of rainwater harvesting technology (RWHT) adoption for home gardening in Msinga, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Home gardening is extremely important for resource-poor households that have limited access to production inputs. However, in South Africa attempts to implement home garden programmes often fail to improve food security of the poor due to water scarcity. Rainwater harvesting technology (RWHT) has been used to supplement the conventional water supply systems, but its potential has not been fully exploited. An understanding of the factors influencing the adoption of improved technologies is therefore critical to successful implementation of agricultural development programmes. This study evaluated the determinants of farmers’ decisions to adopt rainwater harvesting technology (RWHT) in rural Msinga, KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, using a binary logistic regression model based on a household survey of 180 rural home gardeners. The result of the logistic regression model showed that gender, age, education, income, social capital, contact with extension agent and perception/attitude towards RWHT are statistically significant in explaining farmers’ adoption of RWHT in the study area. Implications for agricultural and rural development policy were discussed.Keywords: home gardening, rainwater harvesting technology, adoption, logistic regression, South Afric

T follicular helper cell dynamics during acute HIV-1 subtype C infection and relevance for T-helper cell-dependent responses.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.Abstract available in pdf

Vulnerability and Poverty Dynamics in Rural Areas of Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

If the aim of studying poverty is not only improving the well-being of households who are currently poor, but also preventing people from becoming poor in the future, a new forward looking perspective must be adopted. This study analyses determinants of household poverty dynamics in rural areas of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa using a panel dataset on a representative sample of 300 rural households in the Amathole District Municipality. The result of the study shows a significant flow in and out of poverty, which is a sign of vulnerability. While 63% of the sampled households are poor (ex post), while 48% are vulnerable to becoming poor (ex ante) in future. The result of the probit model indicates that age, level of education and household heads’ occupation, dependency ratio, remittance/diversified income base, exposure to idiosyncratic risks and access to credit are statistically significant in explaining households’ vulnerability to poverty. Implications for policy are discussed.Keywords: Vulnerability, Poverty dynamics, Rural, Household, Expenditure

Financing Smallholder Rice Farmers: A Field-Based Evidence Review of Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) Model in Nigeria

Nigeria’s spending of US$2billion annually on rice importation has been considered a major source of foreign exchange drain and a threat to domestic rice industry. One of the major reasons adduced for this high import bills is the persistent demand-supply gap arising from the country’s inability to increase domestic output of paddy rice to optimize the total capacity of several integrated rice mills established across the country in the last 15 years. In 2015, the government launched the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) to make cheap funds accessible to smallholder farmers (SHFs) who produce more than 85% of total farm output in Nigeria. ABP is designed to encourage banks to lend to SHFs to boost paddy rice production. This paper presents the field experiences of SHFs, banks and rice millers who participated in the programme in 2016/2017. This paper concludes that ABP is a laudable programme that can contribute in achieving the food security objective of the government. The key challenges found to be threatening the success and sustainability of ABP included delays in timely disbursement of funds by deposit money banks (DMBs), inadequate personnel and institutional framework, side-selling of harvested paddy rice by SHFs, State government undue involvement in the ABP, and poor rural infrastructure. Policy recommendations to strengthen the ABP model for improved impact were discussed

Determinants of Willingness to Pay (WTP) for organic fertiliser: a case of smallholder potato farmers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

The South African smallholder sector is characterised by relatively low productivity due to persistent deterioration in soil fertility owing to declining organic matter and other essential soil nutrients. Consequently, adoption of sustainable agricultural inputs like organic fertiliser is essential. Although there is sufficient advocacy in the adoption of organic fertiliser, the economic linkage between farmers' socioeconomic factors and willingness to pay (WTP) remains under-explored. This study investigated the determinants of WTP a price premium for organic fertiliser among smallholder potato farmers using primary data collected from 189 smallholder farmers in three municipal areas in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, through a multi-stage sampling technique. The data was analysed using the ordered logit model and revealed that marital status, access to extension services, and knowledge of organic fertiliser usage, land ownership, livestock size and distance to the source of organic fertiliser influenced the farmers’ WTP for organic fertiliser. The study found that about 83.6% of the sampled smallholder farmers were willing to pay for organic fertiliser, while about 16.4% of them indicated that they were not willing to pay for organic fertiliser. This result justifies the prospect of commercialisation of organic fertiliser to facilitate the availability of organic fertiliser to those that are willing to pay for it. This study recommends improved access to extension services to enhance technical information dissemination and knowledge of organic fertiliser usage among smallholder farmers. Development of policies that strive to institute security of land tenure among smallholder farmers, which will encourage smallholder farmers WTP is also essential

Sedimentary, geochemical and geophysical study of the Ecca group, Karoo supergroup and its hydrocarbon potential in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

The Ecca Group of Karoo Supergroup is a sedimentary rock sequence that deposited between the Late Carboniferous (Dwyka Group) and the Late Permian-Middle Triassic (Beaufort Group). The Ecca Group investigated in this study is situated in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa and it comprises mainly of shales, mudstones, siltstones and sandstones. The Ecca Group sequence contains considerable carbon content and suitable thickness to make it an ideal target for shale gas exploration. Previous studies put more emphasis on the geology and stratigraphy of the Ecca Group, this study revised the stratigraphy, and put new insight on the petrography, depositional processes, sedimentary facies, provenance, paleoweathering, tectonic setting, subsidence rates and history, electrical resistivity, source rock characteristics and diagenesis of the potentially feasible sandstone and mudrock reservoir rocks of the Ecca Group. Based on the lithological features, sedimentary structures and facies characteristics, the stratigraphy of the Prince Albert, Whitehill, Collingham and Fort Brown Formations of the Ecca Group is now subdivided into two informal members each, i.e. Lower Member and Upper Member. Furthermore, the Ripon Formation is now subdivided into three informal members. Each member has been asigned a lithological name. The grain size parameters show that most of the Ecca Group sandstones are very fine to fine grained, poorly to moderately well sorted, mostly near-symmetrical and mesokurtic in grain-size distribution. The linear discriminant function analysis is dominantly indicative of turbidity current deposits under deep marine environment for Prince Albert, Whitehill and Collingham Formations, shallow marine environment for Ripon Formation, while the Fort Brown Formation is lacustrine-deltaic deposits. Modal composition analysis and petrography studies revealed that the detrital components of the sandstones are dominated by monocrystalline quartz, feldspar and lithic fragments. The sandstones are compositionally and texturally immature and can be classified as feldspathic wacke and lithic wacke. The provenance analysis revealed plutonic and metamorphic terrains as the main source rocks with minor debris derived from recycled sedimentary rocks. The detrital modal compositions of these sandstones are related to back arc to island and continental margin of tectonic setting. Based on the detailed sedimentological analyses of outcrop and borehole data, fourteen lithofacies were identified and seven facies associations (FAs) were recognised. The facies associations are: FA 1: Shale and mudstones intercalated with siltstones, FA 2: Carbonaceous shale, mudstone with subordinate chert and sandstone, FA 3: Mudstones rhythmite with thin bedded mudstone and lenticular siltstone, FA 4: Greyish medium bedded sandstone intercalated with laminated mudstone, FA 5: Dark-grey medium to thick bedded mudstone and siltstone, FA 6: Thin to medium bedded sandstone alternated with thin bedded carbonaceous mudstone, and FA 7: Varved mudstone rhythmite intercalated with siltstone and minor sandstone. Sedimentological characteristics of the identified facies associations indicate four deposition environments, namely, deep marine basin, turbidite, shallow marine and lacustrine environments, which constitute a gradually regression sequence as a result of sea-level dropping and shallowing of the basin during the developmental processes. Geochemical analysis of the Ecca mudrocks and sandstones revealed that the rocks are of quartzose sedimentary provenance, suggesting that they were derived from a cratonic interior or recycled orogen. The petrography and geochemistry of the sandstones indicated that the source areas are composed of plutonic and metamorphic rocks with a minor component from sedimentary rocks. The geochemical diagrams and indices of weathering suggested that the granitic source rocks underwent moderate to high degree of chemical weathering. The tectonic setting discrimination diagrams support passive continental margin setting of the provenance

Paper_The occurrence of rare earth elements in South African coal ash- identification and characterisation

The occurrence of rare earth elements in South African coal ash: identification and characterisation Authors Prof. Nicola Wagner - South Africa - University of Johannesburg Ms. Vhonani Rerani - South Africa - Mintek Prof. Christopher Baiyegunhi - South Africa - University of Limpopo Dr. Sanki Biswas - South Africa - University of Johnannesburg Ms. Happy Mabowa - South Africa - Mintek Abstract South Africa\u27s coal-fired power generation results in significant amounts of ash. Coal ash is considered a potential secondary resource for rare earth elements (REEs). Thus, there is growing interest in researching the occurrence of REEs in South African coal and ash. In this study, laboratory-derived coal ash, power station coal ash (fly ash and bottom ash) and corresponding feed coals collected from different coalfields in South Africa were analysed for their chemical and mineralogical characteristics. ICP-MS results revealed varying REE values, ranging from 400-900 ppm in the ash samples. It is apparent that the REE occurrence differs between the different sources / coalfields, related to sediment source in the peat swamp and subsequent mineralogical and elemental precipitation and alteration. Ash samples with high total REE values were examined using the Mineral Liberation Analyser (MLA). In one sample set, four rare earth-bearing particles were identified using the bright phase search mode and grouped as monazite-REE, xenotime-REE, REE-silicates, and REE-cerium. The back-scattered electron (BSE) detector images revealed a combination of locked, middling, and liberated REE-hosted particles. This information is useful when determining appropriate REE extraction techniques

Geological and geophysical investigation of the South Eastern Karoo Basin, South Africa

Geological and geophysical methods were used to investigate the southeastern Karoo Basin of South Africa in an area extending from longitudes 24 o E to 29o E and latitudes 32o S to 35o S. This was undertaken in order to reveal geologic structures, isochore thicknesses of the geologic sequence and their variations across the study area, proffer the possible provenance of the sediments and assess the potential of oil and gas accumulation. The methodology used includes field investigation, rock sampling, preparation of thin sections, petrographic studies, X-ray diffraction analysis, density measurements, porosity calculations, extraction of elevation data from Google Earth, 2½ D gravity profile modelling, generating of isochore (true vertical) thicknesses and depositional surfaces maps from the models, PetroMod 1D modelling and qualitative interpretation of magnetic, gravity and radiometric maps.Petrographic study was carried out on twenty six thin sections of rocks from the eleven geologic formations that cover the study area. Petrographic studies on the diamictite of the Dwyka Group shows abundance of monocrystalline quartz, granite and quartzite components in the breccias which possibly indicate the existence of granitic and metamorphic rocks in the source areas. The sandstones of the Ecca and Beaufort Groups are immature, greywacke and the heavy mineral assemblages signify that the minerals are of granitic, volcanic and metamorphic origin. The magnetic maps show two main magnetic anomalies, a major one trending in a northeast to southwest direction which is part of the Beattie magnetic anomaly and another that is a “bean-shaped” anomaly. The radially averaged power spectrum shows two depths to magnetic sources. The first depth is about 0.6 km which is the average depth to the top of the shallow sources, while the average depth to the top of the deep sources is about 15 km. The shallow sources are connected to magnetic minerals within the Beaufort Group while deep magnetic sources were inferred to be in the basement. The gamma ray spectrometric map shows areas with relatively high gamma radiation count. The high radiation count is possibly due to the uranium and thorium in the detrital materials, as well as the enrichment of radioelements in the feldspars (k-feldspar), calcite, quartz, zircon and clay minerals in the fluvial channel sandstones of the Beaufort Group. A total of two hundred and fifty-eight (258) rock samples were collected in the field and densities (dry, wet and grain densities) and porosities were determined in the laboratory. The Karoo Supergroup density values range from 2.526 – 2.828 g/cm3. The average porosities range from 0. 49 – 3.31 %. The dry densities and porosities of all the formations are inversely correlated with correlation coefficient values (R) that range from 0.9491 - 0.9982. The density of the dolerite intrusions (mostly sill) ranges from 2.700 – 2.837 g/cm3 whilst the porosity range from 0.1118 – 0.3868 %. The Bouguer anomaly map shows an increase in gravity values from -140.7 mGal in inland to about 60.1 mGal in coastal areas. This dominant gravity variation is inferred to be due to a deeper basement and/or Moho that get shallower from inland towards the coast. The Moho is at about 45 km depth inland and shallows to about 42 km at the coast. The 2½ D gravity modelling was done for fourteen (14) profiles with each profile having three (3) models corresponding to minimum, average and maximum densities to obtain the thicknesses of the geologic sequence. The current isochore thicknesses extracted from the gravity models show that the Beaufort Group is the thickest of all the groups that make up the Karoo Supergroup with maximum vertical thickness of up to 634 m, followed by the Ecca and Dwyka Groups with maximum vertical thicknesses of about 3207 m and 727 m, respectively. The maximum elevation for the Dwyka, Ecca and Beaufort sediments are about 500 m, 400 m and 285 m, respectively, whilst the maximum depth below sea level are around 8500 m, 7000 m and 5500 m, respectively. The PetroMod1D model result yield average vitrinite reflectance and temperature values of about 6 % and 500 ℃ respectively for the lower Ecca Group which belong to the dry gas window based on classification by several authors. Thus the rocks of the lower Ecca Group are thermally matured for hydrocarbon (shale gas) generation that can merit gas exploration in the Karoo Basin

Influence of Socio-Psychological Factors on Consumer Willingness to Pay (WTP) for Organic Food Products

This study evaluates consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) a premium for organic vegetables and fruits in Pietermaritzburg metropolis, KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa, using data collected from 210 consumers approached during their food shopping. The standard economic approach to valuation was extended by including psychological factors. The results from the empirical model show that psychological factors (behavioural control, attitude and subjective norms) exerted more influence on consumers’ WTP for organic products. In addition, socio-demographic factors such as gender, education, number of children in a household, high income and race, are statistically significant in explaining consumers’ WTP for organic food. Policy implications for advancement and improved promotion, sales and consumption of organic food products were discussed. &nbsp