Performance of Smallholder Agriculture Under Limited Mechanization and the Fast Track Land Reform Program in Zimbabwe

agricultural mechanization, fast track land reform, agricultural development, Stochastic Frontier model, technical efficiency, agribusiness management, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Development, Land Economics/Use, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Efficiency Effects Zimbabwe’s Agricultural Mechanization and Fast Track Land Reform Programme: A Stochastic Frontier Approach

A development goal pursued by the Zimbabwean government even before the much-maligned fast track land reform programme (FTLRP) was expansion of agricultural production through agricultural mechanization. This goal has been pursued through the acquisition and use of tractors by arable crop farmers in communal and resettlement state land delineated during the period following the launch of the FTLRP. This research project investigated the combined impacts of mechanization and an unplanned land reform on agricultural productivity in the Bindura district of Zimbabwe. The existing land policy and the issue of technical efficiency in agricultural productivity are assumed to be the drivers of the programme. It is likely that these issues will be important considerations in determining the sustainability of the mechanization policy. A multistage sampling technique was used to randomly select 90 farmers in the study area and structured questionnaires were used to collect demographic, investment and production data which were subsequently fitted by means of the Stochastic Frontier Model. Results revealed that mechanization was an important factor in the performance of the farmers who participated in the programme. The results also suggest that availability of land and access to production resources are crucial to farm productivity. Despite these, overall production and productivity remain low and the hyperinflationary situation triggered by supply constraints are only beginning to slightly ease. As the national unity government grapples with the huge task to restore growth in the Zimbabwean economy, it is important that these issues are borne in mind.Technical Constraints, Market Access, Agricultural Development, Induced Innovation Model, The Stochastic Frontier model, The Productive Efficiency and Mandate of Extension, Farm Management,

Investigating schistosomiasis markers of inflammation and immune responses in school children on repeated mass drug administration in Bandanyenje, Zimbabwe.

Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Microbiology. University of KwaZulu-Natal. Durban, 2017.Abstract available in PDF file

Exploring para-thiophenols to expand the SAR of antimalarial 3-indolylethanones

Expected release date-April 201

The digital divide at three disadvantaged secondary schools in Gauteng, South Africa

The study aimed at exploring the extent of the deepening digital divide at some disadvantaged secondary schools in Sedibeng West, Gauteng Province of South Africa propelled by the Covid-19 pandemic. The rapid diffusion of the information and communication technology (ICT) has changed societies around the globe, including the education sector. Not only technology has affected, for instance, the way teachers and students communicate, learn and work but also the outbreak of Covid-19 across the globe. With the advent of the internet, teaching and learning is no longer confined to classroom walls. However, the reality of the digital divide exists, more especially now, exposed by the presence of Covid-19. Data were collected from 48 teachers and three school principals, through focus group discussions and in-depth face-to-face interviews, respectively. This study concludes that inadequate ICT to some teachers and learners creates digital, information and knowledge divides at schools. Furthermore, these schools cannot run online classes during this wave of the Covid-19 as reported on the media that teaching and learning will resume online. The paper recommends training of teachers and learners on how to use technology in teaching as this would help in uncertain times like the Covid-19 period

Knowledge, attitudes and practices among pregnant women on intermittent presumptive therapy in Guruve District, Zimbabwe

A research article on pregnant women's understanding of anti-malarial drugs in Zimbabwe.The purpose of this study was to determine knowledge, attitudes and practices among pregnant women on Intermittent Presumptive Therapy in Guruve District. This district lies along the Zambezi valley which is a malaria endemic area where forty-five percent of maternal deaths are due to malaria. Furthermore, some deaths are due to severe aneamia associated with malaria. Intermittent Presumptive Therapy refers to the use of anti-malarial chugs given in treatment doses at predetermined intervals after quickening. Malaria is a parasitic disease transmitted through the bite of an infected female, anopheles mosquito. Malaria endemic areas have malaria all year round. The pregnant women in the malaria endemic area are given Intermittent Presumptive Therapy (IPT) as a prophylaxis measure. The problem noted was that, despite the prophylaxis measure, maternal deaths due to malaria and associated problems still occurred. It seemed as if the pregnant women did not have knowledge of the malaria prophylaxis drugs and had negative attitudes and practices. Thus the investigator wanted to find out the knowledge possessed by these women, their attitudes and practices on Intermittent Presumptive Therapy. The assumptions made were that: all pregnant women in Guruve District attending antenatal clinics were on Intermittent Presumptive Therapy; that IPT was being practiced and information was being disseminated to pregnant women in the district through health education by health workers

Evaluating an Information Literacy intervention for first year Faculty of Business students at Rosebank College Cape Town

Magister Bibliothecologiae - MBiblThe purpose of this research is to investigate the effectiveness of an Information Literacy intervention administered to first year Faculty of Business students at Rosebank College Cape Town. The exponential nature of information has led to students having access to abundant information which often comes unfiltered. This requires them to be in possession of life long competencies to find and apply this information to solve problems. Recent shifts in pedagogy and curricula have also precipitated the importance of independent learners who are capable of constructing their own knowledge. Student centred methods of teaching employed in tertiary institutions such as, problem based learning, evidence based learning and inquiry learning have necessitated the importance of Information Literacy training towards the development of independent learners. The study assesses the baseline incoming skills of the Faculty of Business students. Two intervention workshops are conducted for the experimental cohort and a post-test is administered. After the post-test the results of the control and experimental group are compared. The study uses the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Information Literacy Standards for higher education as a theoretical foundation. The standards are applied as benchmarks when assessing the Information Literacy competencies. The study explores the following research questions • Are the Information Literacy interventions administered to the first year business faculty students effective and do they meet the proposed outcomes? • What are the existing Information Literacy competencies of the incoming students in the Faculty of Business? • How should Information Literacy programmes be delivered? • Are the ACRL standards a reliable tool to assess Information Literacy skills and the effectiveness of the interventions administered? The study found out that offering Information Literacy interventions would result in students accumulating these skills. This is supported by the difference in scores between the control group and the experimental cohort. However it must be noted that Information Literacy training is not an event but rather an on-going process

Post Roe v. Wade: Evaluation of Abortion Attitudes

With the recent overturning of Roe v Wade, abortion is at the forefront of many political discussions. This study aims to investigate how exposure to a politically charged topic (abortion) versus a general heath topic (Cancer) affects a person’s bias and social identity. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: abortion or cancer and then completed measures on collective self-esteem, global self-esteem, Conservatism, in-group bias, and demographics. The younger group rated republicans more favourable (t(198) = 2.48, p \u3c .01)., had less abortion knowledge (t(103) = -2.51, p \u3c .01)., and were higher in core conservatism ((t(200) = 2.9, p \u3c .01) compared to the older group. Republicans (in a forced choice question) rated themselves higher and democrats lower, were higher in conservatism, but were lower in prochoice attitudes and abortion knowledge (all p’s \u3c .001). There were no significant differences in conservatism, pro-choice attitudes, and political bias when comparing states with legal abortion access versus illegal abortion laws

The Noah flood narrative within the context of cyclone Idai in Zimbabwe : an exegetical and hermeneutical study of Genesis 6:5 – 9:17

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2024.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research entails an investigation into the interpretation of the Genesis Flood story (Genesis 6-9) by Zimbabwean Christians in the Chipinge and Chimanimani areas. The special focus is on finding out the impact that the flooding during Cyclone Idai had on their understanding of the biblical flood narrative. A close look into most of Zimbabwean church leaders and ordinary readers’ appropriations of biblical narratives indicates that they tend to ignore historical-critical and social-scientific methods of biblical interpretation and prefer allegorical and/or literary self-projective reading methods. This kind of reading of the scriptures is applied to the Genesis flood story by most preachers and readers in the Chipinge and Chimanimani areas that had the most damage during Cyclone Idai in 2019. This has far-reaching implications both for how they make sense of the devastating event of the cyclone, as well as on how they may re ad the entire Bible in specific contexts. The research wants to study the methodological implications those Zimbabwean interpretations have for doing critical-scientific exegesis. There are several exegetical methodologies that are typically used in academic study to analyze the stories of the Old Testament and the Bible. These methods normally focus on the literary, historical, and theological dimensions of the biblical texts in order to reveal the intended meanings of a biblical passage, before the passage is interpreted in modern-day contexts. The question that stands central in this research is how, if at all, a combination of scientific methodological insights with lay readings of Genesis 6-9 can enrich our contemporary understandings, given the contextual experience of Zimbabweans during Cyclone Idai. The research therefore engages with the existing methodological tensions between Western and African readers of the Bible and asks how these could be integrated through communal and multidimensional approaches, for the benefit of both critical-scientific and lay readers’ understanding of the Bible within the context of the African continent.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie navorsing behels ‘n ondersoek na die interpretasie van die Genesis-vloedverhaal (Genesis 6-9) deur Zimbabwiese Christene in die Chipinge- en Chimanimani -gebiede. Die spesiale fokus is om uit te vind watter impak die oorstromings tydens sikloon Idai gehad het op hul begrip van die Bybelse vloedvertelling. ’n Noukeurige blik op die meeste Zimbabwiese kerkleiers en gewone lesers se toeëiening van Bybelse narratiewe dui daarop dat hulle geneig is om histories-kritiese en sosiaal-wetenskaplike metodes van Bybelinterpretasie te ign oreer enverkies om allegoriese en/of literêre self-projektiewe leesmetodes te gebruik. Hierdie soort lees van die Skrif word toegepas op die Genesis-vloedverhaal deur die meeste predikers en lesers in die Chipinge- en Chimanimani-gebiede wat die meeste skade gehad het tydens sikloon Idia in 2019. Dit het verreikende implikasies vir beide hoe hulle sin maak van die verwoestende gebeurtenis van die sikloon, asook oor hoe hulle die hele Bybel in spesifieke kontekste kan lees. Die navorsing wil die metodologiese implikasies wat die Zimbabwiese interpretasies het vir die doen van krities-wetenskaplike eksegese bestudeer. Daar is verskeie eksegetiese metodologieë wat tipies in akademiese studie gebruik word om die verhale van die Ou Testament en die Bybel te ontleed. Hierdie metodes fokus normaalweg op die literêre, historiese en teologiese dimensies van die Bybelse tekste om die bedoelde betekenisse van ‘n Bybelgedeelte te ontdek, voordat die gedeelte in hedendaagse kontekste geïnterpreteer word. Die vraag wat sentraal in hierdie navorsing staan, is hoe, indien enigsins, ‘n kombinasie van wetenskaplike metodologiese insigte met leke-lesings van Genesis 6-9 ons begrip kan verryk, gegewe die kontekstuele ervaring van Zimbabwiërs tydens sikloon Idai. Die navorsing het dus betrekking op die bestaande metodologiese spanning tussen Westerse en Afrika-lesers van die Bybel, en dit vra hoe hierdie benaderings geïntegreer kan word deur gemeenskaplike en multidimensionele benaderings, tot voordeel van beide krities-wetenskaplike en leke-lesers se verstaan van die Bybel binne die konteks. van die Afrika-kontinent.Doctora