Reducing pitfalls in agricultural development projects: a case for the participatory project management cycle (PPMC)

The management of agricultural development projects is a factor that can contribute to their success or failure. In worst-case scenarios poorly managed projects seem to continue with a life of their own and without clear direction. In the cycle of agricultural development projects, including programmed extension, major pitfalls can occur if the necessary phases are ignored or incorrectly implemented. The argument is that these can be avoided if the Participatory Project Management Cycle (PPMC) is followed. While there are a number of methods available for trained agricultural extensionists these are not readily available for agricultural researchers who do not undergo such training but are often expected to carry out technology transfer. This is often done without the collaboration of trained extensionists. Subsequently, a method had to be developed using the basic project management knowledge that some agricultural researchers had obtained through experience and short courses. Two case studies are used to highlight what happens when the PPMC is followed or not. Case Study One is a project that was implemented to completion without following the Participatory Project Management Cycle. For the purpose of this study the PPMC was used during the ex-post evaluation to identify where and why major pitfalls occurred. Case Study Two concerns a project that was initiated using the PPMC but was temporarily suspended at the beginning of phase four of the cycle. This decision was based on the information obtained while following the PPMC and avoided the unnecessary use of scarce resources. Keywords: participatory project management cycle, agricultural development, case studies, Southern and Eastern Cape South African Journal of Agricultural Extension Vol. 34(1) 2005: 104-12

Finiteness, own resurrection and the polities of différance

Employing Derrida' s notion of différance, the author approaches the conviction of life after death (own resurrection ) as a conviction which has been typically marginalized and even disallowed by modernity. The politics of differance, which could be regarded as a postmodern strategy for rehabilitating those aspects of reality which were marginalized by modernity, is shown to have critical consequences for the linear (modern) understanding of finiteness and death. Rather than understand finiteness and own resurrection as being in linear relation, the author appeals to the postmodern persuasion of the siclical nature of reality: death is own resurrection. Death is a life giving gift: The Self dies so that Others may live - and the Self is resurrected when it lives on in the lives of Others. Thus parting company with the empirical understanding of history, death and resurrection, the author leaves us with the tadt question: is this not the way the resurrection of Christ is to be understood? He lives on in us, as we will live on in Others.Spine cut of Journal binding and pages scanned on flatbed EPSON Expression 10000 XL; 400dpi; text/lineart - black and white - stored to Tiff Derivation: Abbyy Fine Reader v.9 work with PNG-format (black and white); Photoshop CS3; Adobe Acrobat v.9 Web display format PDFhttp://explore.up.ac.za/record=b1001341wm201

Modelling the Effect of Breakeven Date in Spring Rotation Planner on Production and Profit of a Pasture-Based Dairy System

The breakeven date is the expected date when pasture supply exceeds cow demand. This date is used to plan the rotation rates, slow during the winter, when pasture growth is low and cows are dry, to a fast rotation in spring, when growth is accelerating and most cows lactating. This date is influenced by regional climate, mainly rainfall and soil temperature, which affects timing and rate of growth acceleration. The objective of this modeling exercise was to explore the effect of the breakeven date on milksolids (MS), grass silage, farm cover and economic farm surplus (EFS) over different climate years for the Canterbury region of New Zealand

Evaluating the Benefits of Restricted Grazing to Protect Wet Pasture Soils in Two Dairy Regions of New Zealand

Many dairy farms in the Manawatu and Southland regions of New Zealand have poorly drained soils that are prone to treading damage, an undesirable outcome on grazed pastures during the wetter months of the year. Removing cows to a stand-off pad during wet conditions can reduce damage, but incurs costs. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of different levels of restricted grazing (from 0 to 10 hours grazing time/day for lactating cows) on pasture yield, damage and wastage, feed and stand-off expenses, and farm operating profit. A simulated farm from each region was used in a farm systems model. This model simulated pasture-cow-management interactions, using site-specific climate data as inputs for the soil-pasture sub-models. Days to recover previous yield potential for damaged paddocks can vary widely. A sensitivity analysis (40 to 200 days to recover) was conducted to evaluate the effect of this parameter on results. Full protection when there is risk of damage (0 grazing hours/day) appeared to be less profitable compared with some level of grazing, because the advantages of reduced damage were outweighed by the disadvantages of managing infrequently grazed pastures. The differences in operating profit between full protection and some level of grazing became less as the recovery time increased, but for both regions grazing durations of 6-8 hours/day when a risk of damage is present appeared to be a sensible strategy irrespective of recovery time

Synergy between EngE, XynA and ManA from Clostridium cellulovorans on corn stalk, grass and pineapple pulp substrates

The synergistic interaction between various hemi/cellulolytic enzymes has become more important in order to achieve effective and optimal degradation of complex lignocellulose substrates for biofuel production. This study investigated the synergistic effect of three enzymes endoglucanase (EngE), mannanase (ManA) and xylanase (XynA) on the degradation of corn stalk, grass, and pineapple fruit pulp and determined the optimal degree of synergy between combinations of these enzymes. It was established that EngE was essential for degradation of all of the substrates, while the hemicellulases were able to contribute in a synergistic fashion to increase the activity on these substrates. Maximum specific activity and degree of synergy on the corn stalk and grass was found with EngE:XynA in a ratio of 75:25%, with a specific activity of 41.1 U/mg protein and a degree of synergy of 6.3 for corn stalk, and 44.1 U/mg protein and 3.4 for grass, respectively. The pineapple fruit pulp was optimally digested using a ManA:EngE combination in a 50:50% ratio; the specific activity and degree of synergy achieved were 52.4 U/mg protein and 2.7, respectively. This study highlights the importance of hemicellulases for the synergistic degradation of complex lignocellulose. The inclusion of a mannanase in an enzyme consortium for biomass degradation should be examined further as this study suggests that it may play an important, although mostly overlooked, role in the synergistic saccharification of lignocellulose

Semi-synthesis and evaluation of sargahydroquinoic acid derivatives as potential antimalarial agents:

Malaria continues to present a major health problem, especially in developing countries. The development of new antimalarial drugs to counter drug resistance and ensure a steady supply of new treatment options is therefore an important area of research. Meroditerpenes have previously been shown to exhibit antiplasmodial activity against a chloroquinone sensitive strain of Plasmodium falciparum (D10). In this study we explored the antiplasmodial activity of several semi-synthetic analogs of sargahydroquinoic acid

Summary of research paper published in atmospheric chemistry and physics titled: Spatial, temporal and source contribution assessments of black carbon over the northern interior of South Africa

Non peer reviewe

Spatial and temporal assessment of organic and black carbon at four sites in the interior of South Africa

Limited data currently exist for atmospheric organic carbon (OC) and black carbon (BC) in South Africa (SA). In this paper OC and BC measured in SA were explored in terms of spatial and temporal patterns, mass fractions of the total aerosol mass, as well as possible sources. PM10 and PM2.5 samples were collected at five sites in SA operated within the Deposition of Biogeochemical Important Trace Species-IGAC DEBITS in Africa (DEBITS-IDAF) network. OC were higher than BC concentrations at all sites in both size fractions, while most OC and BC occurred in the PM2.5 fraction. OC/BC ratios reflected the location of the different sites, as well as possible sources impacting these sites. The OC and BC mass fraction percentages of the total aerosol mass varied up to 24% and 12%, respectively. A relatively well defined seasonal pattern was observed, with higher OC and BC measured from May to October, which coincides with the dry season in the interior of SA. An inverse seasonal pattern was observed for the fractional mass contributions of OC and BC to the total aerosol mass, which indicates substantially higher aerosol load during this time of the year. The relationship between OC and BC concentrations with the distance that air mass back trajectories passed by biomass burning fires and large point sources proved that biomass burning fires contribute significantly to regional OC and BC during the burning season, while large point sources did not contribute that significantly to regional OC and BC. The results from a highly industrialised and populated site also indicated that household combustion for space heating contributed at least to local OC and BC concentrations