Investigating alternative governance systems for the South African mohair supply chain

Mohair is an exclusive natural animal fibre with niche market appeal. It is, however, questionable whether it is inherently suited to a commodity-based marketing system in a marketing environment that requires marketing systems to convey far more information than commodity-based systems do. Historically, mohair has been considered a commodity and the marketing system for mohair has been structured accordingly. It is, however, argued that, the exchange between mohair growers and the buyers of greasy mohair requires increased levels of coordination to govern the exchange in a transaction costs efficient manner. The inefficiencies created by an inappropriate or incomplete marketing system for South African mohair are expected to lead to a loss of consumer value and a loss of potential profit throughout the mohair supply chain if a more coordinated governance structure is not implemented to curb these costs and augment the current spot market exchange.Mohair, marketing, governance structure, supply chain,

Recycled realities : the exploration of source matieral in contemporary pictorial art

The use in pictorial art of visual reference to prototypes and conventions in encoding reality forms the crux of the theoretical research. The theoretical component complements the practical research, which focuses on the interplay between perceptions of 'reality' and visual conventions in landscape art. The existence of diverse realities, based on individual ideological and sociocultural perspectives, is acknowledged. In encoding these realities, artists may draw on a reservoir of stylistic, formal and conceptual prototypes. Visual reference constitutes an allegorical procedure because the artist refers to an antecedent text in the representation of a particular 'reality'. Pictorial signs also rely on conventions to convey meaning. Both the perception and the artistic recreation of different realities may thus be regarded as recycling processes. In a world saturated with visual information, reference to prototypes is a powerful procedure which assists contemporary pictorial artists in the creation of meaningful images of current realities.Art History, Visual Arts and MusicologyM.A. (Fine Arts

Private Standards, Handling and Hygiene in Fruit Export Supply Chains: A Preliminary Evaluation of the Economic Impact of Parallel Standards

With the emergence of private food safety and quality standards in developed countries fruit exporting countries in the developing world face increasing constraints to access markets in the rich industrialised countries in the North. Producers in the South have no alternative as to make the necessary investments on farms and in pack houses to comply with the requirements of these food quality and safety standards. The export of fresh fruit is an important component of South African agricultural exports, with citrus fruit exported to markets such as Europe being of particular importance. This paper reports selected results from a large research project into the impact of private standard compliance on the quality of the fruit and the returns to farmers. The research process involved a multi-disciplinary analysis of Agricultural Economics and Microbiology / Plant pathology as we analysed the dynamics of the citrus export supply chain from the farms in South Africa to the end consumer in Europe. Sampled fruit containers were followed through the whole supply chain which allowed us to provide an exposé of the behaviour of the different actors in the citrus supply chain and obtain some evidence of poor handling and hygiene standards by means of a comparison of the experimental observations with various relevant components of the EurepGAP control points and compliance criteria for fruit and vegetables. Observations suggest that these standards are adequately applied to the production and handling of fruit at the farm and pack house levels while on the other hand the subsequent stages (mainly after the importing harbour in Europe) of the fruit supply chain are seemingly not subjected to the same strict requirements laid out for producers, leading to fruit quality deterioration and financial losses for producers. This constitutes clear parallel standards in terms of fruit safety and quality standards between upstream and downstream sections of the supply chain and questions thus the purpose of the standards and the financial return for producers making large investments to comply with these privately introduced standards.International Relations/Trade,

Comparative characteristics of elite New Zealand and South African u/16 rugby-players with reference to game-specific skills, physical abilities and anthropometric data

Please read the abstract in the section front of this documentDissertation (MA (Human Movement Sciences))--University of Pretoria, 2008.Biokinetics, Sport and Leisure Sciencesunrestricte

Alternative marketing options for small-scale farmers in the wake of changing agri-food supply chains in South Africa

With South Africa’s urban population approaching 60%, supermarkets and fast food chains have become important players in the South African food system. These large players in the food sector have systematically modified their procurement practices especially with regard to fresh fruit and vegetables and are now circumventing spot markets in favour of sourcing via in-house sourcing companies who mainly procure from preferred supplier producers. This paper draws extensively from a global research programme which seeks to highlight the market changes that potentially contribute to continued exclusion of the small producers from mass consumer markets. This paper illustrates, through a series of case studies, how integration of small-scale farmers into the urban retail market can be facilitated and how the challenges posed by the changing food system could possibly be overcome. The case studies illustrate various initiatives through which small-scale farmers and agribusinesses can be integrated into mainstream agri-food systems and may be used as models for an innovative approach to include small-scale farmers while still maintaining profitable business operations. They highlight the need for a multi actor approach for the successful participation of smallholder farmers in order to allow them to join the supply chain at any point within the channel.Marketing, Agribusiness,

A critical analysis of the South African mohair marketing system in the evolving global agribusiness environment

The primary marketing of South African mohair has been the topic of much discussion and it has become a contentious issue since producer prices became unusually unstable, producer returns increasingly uncertain, and production consequently began declining. This dissertation has aimed to structure these discussions and issues and to critically analyse the South African mohair marketing system in the evolving global agribusiness environment. It is widely documented that the intangible attributes of products are growing in importance as retailers and consumers become increasingly interested in and concerned about safety, provenance, welfare, society and sustainability. Marketing systems are consequently compelled to convey not only objective but also subjective product quality attributes. Mohair is an exclusive product with niche market appeal and the central question of this dissertation is whether mohair is inherently suited to the current fifty-five year old commodity-based marketing system in a marketing environment that requires marketing systems to convey far more information than commodity-based systems do. This, in effect, boils down to the question whether the mohair clip can be considered a commodity or a niche product. Historically, mohair has been considered a commodity and the marketing system for mohair has been structured accordingly. Mohair is, however, one of the scarcer animal fibres globally, diverse in its physical properties and is suitable for use in many products all of which have different market and demand characteristics. It is therefore argued that mohair currently boasts with the characteristics of a product despite its historical development as a commodity. Mohair’s unit type (whether it is a product or a commodity) informs two theoretical frameworks used to determine an appropriate governance structure for the exchange between producers and processors. Both these frameworks reveal that the exchange between mohair producers and processors should be governed by more intensively coordinated governance structures than the current spot market. This is in accordance with global trends where there is a shift away from open market trading to more stringent coordination of the supply chain. In view of this it is proposed that the spot market, which this dissertation contends to be a “value bottleneck” in some instances, be augmented by a number of hybrid governance structures like long term contracts, cooperation agreements or some form of vertical ownership to offer additional exchange structures, where necessary, to transmit all of mohair’s attributes more effectively between producers and processors and ultimately the whole mohair supply chain when required to do so. It is proposed that these additional options should function in tandem with the current spot market which continues to be a critical exchange mechanism for mohair that is used as a generic input to the production of multi-purpose blended fibres where price and availability are the major determinants of demand and not the type of fibre or its intangible attributes. In such instances the conveyance of any attributes other than price and quantity (within the respective classing standards) is superfluous and a spot market to facilitate the exchange would suffice since it provides sufficient coordination control for the specific transaction. The discontinued or diluted use of a spot market as proposed is, however, not without pitfalls. The spot market price for mohair is the only public price forming mechanism. If the use of the spot market were to be discontinued or diluted there would be no reliable yardstick to use for negotiating prices for mohair that is exchanged by means of other governance structures and alternative mechanisms would need to be developed to determine such prices. In an attempt to keep up with global trends in agricultural marketing a South African mohair producer group recently established an “innovative” approach to the marketing of mohair. This innovation in marketing is, however, not quite complete although the producer group have instinctively made huge strides in the right direction. The producer group also continues to make use of a spot market to exchange their niche quality mohair, resulting in relatively high transaction costs that could be reduced by more coordinated governance structures. Over and above the theoretical arguments to this effect, mohair producers are also demanding vertical coordination structures that require increased levels of coordination to govern the exchange between themselves and mohair processors. The implementation of such strategies would be best undertaken by brokers or producer groups given the superior levels of trust that producers have expressed in brokers and the fact that the levels of transaction costs are the lowest between parties where the greatest levels of trust are exhibited. The inefficiencies created by an inappropriate or incomplete marketing system for South African mohair are expected to lead to a loss of consumer value and a loss of potential profit throughout the mohair supply chain. In anticipation of the ever changing, and now consumer driven agricultural marketing environment the South African mohair industry would therefore be well advised to collectively consider and to encourage the creation of exchange mechanisms that offer greater coordination within the mohair supply chain to function in tandem with the current spot market exchange mechanism and to embrace these developments in a practical and mutually inclusive manner to the benefit of the whole South African mohair industry – a challenge that would compel the industry to shake off its reputation as a sluggish adapter to the dynamic changes in world markets.Dissertation (MSc (Agric))--University of Pretoria, 2007.Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural DevelopmentMScUnrestricte

Supply chain risks and smallholder fresh produce farmers in the Gauteng province of South Africa

A survey of 52 smallholder fresh produce farmers was conducted in the Gauteng province of South Africa to grasp how risk and its management affect the mainstreaming of smallholder farmers into formal, high-value markets. The study employed a supply chain analysis approach, which focused on the functions and risks that occur along the fresh produce chain. The results highlight the risks that impede the participation of smallholder farmers in formal, high-value chains. At the production level, risk is prominent from input procurement through to the post-harvest stage of the chains. At the retail and consumption level, risks are linked to the adherence to quality and quantity standards, including prescribed packaging, grading, labelling and traceability and transport requirements. As a result of these risks across the formal chain, smallholder farmers often resort to distributing their products in low-value informal markets. The consequence is that smallholder farmers tend to remain trapped in poverty, in part, because of their risk appetites and their ability to bear risk. 8Further research is required in the areas pertaining to smallholder farmers’ risk appetite and risk-bearing ability and mechanisms to deal with the particular risks in the value chain that impede their all-round ability to escape the “smallholder dilemma”.http://www.unisa.ac.za/default.asp?Cmd=ViewContent&ContentID=22335am2016Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Developmen

Crush pillar support - designing for controlled pillar failure

The aim of any mine design is to ensure that the excavations remain stable for the period they will be in use. Various pillar systems are used to ensure that underground stopes remain stable and that mining activities do not affect the surface infrastructure through either surface subsidence or seismicity. Intermediate-depth platinum mines make use of in-stope pillars designed to fail while the pillars are being cut at the mining face. The pillar stress exceeds the loading capacity and the pillars crush as a result. The aim of the paper is to provide an overview of in-stope crush pillars. This will include the application, behaviour, function, mechanism, impact, and design of a crush pillar system.This paper was first presented at the, Platinum Conference 2014, 20–24 October 2014, Sun City South Africa.The work described in this paper forms part of the PhD study of Michael du Plessis at the University of Pretoria.http://www.saimm.co.za/journal-papersam201

The trade-off between chain performance and fragility considering coordination strategies of agri-food chains : a South African egg chain’s case study

The mainstream strategy in the coordination of agri-food chains has traditionally focused more on the enhancement of chain performance by adopting lean and highly integrated strategies. These strategies are premised on the principle that governance structures are the result of tactics that economize on transaction costs in exchanges in chains. Due to existing interdependencies between chain players such strategies expose these chains to detrimentally disruptive uncertainty. This paper adopted a heuristic stress-testing approach to measure the fragility of South African egg value chain and performed a comparative fragility analysis of two coordination approaches in the egg chain. Additionally, the analysis of results indicated that the egg chain strategy with high levels of interdependencies between its chain players as significantly fragile. Precisely, the difference between the chain strategies was associated with a variety of differences at the factor and chain player levels that led up to a higher overall chain fragility of the chain with higher levels of interdependency. Inevitably, the paper propositions that there is a trade-off between chain performance and fragility. The results of the study affirmed that there is a trade-off between chain performance and fragility which needs to be balanced.The African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), through its Collaborative Masters in Agricultural and Applied Economics (CMAAE) programme.http://www.wageningenacademic.com/loi/ifamram2022Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Developmen

Fibrous myopathy induced by intramuscular injections of cyclizine

A 63-year-old woman was referred to neurology with bilateral severe progressive pain and stiffness in her thighs. The patient had a 3-year history of injecting intramuscular cyclizine into the anterior thigh to treat nausea associated with a longstanding pan-enteric dysmotility syndrome. MRI of the thighs demonstrated fibrotic appearances. A biopsy of the left vastus lateralis and surrounding fascia identified pathology consistent with a fibrous myopathy. The patient was advised to stop intramuscular injections of cyclizine and undergo physiotherapy but she still remained in considerable pain. Although fibrous myopathy occurring as a consequence of recurrent intramuscular drug injections, particularly heroin, has been previously described, this is the first report of fibrous myopathy associated with the use of intramuscular cyclizine. We highlight this rare association and suggest that the long-term use of intramuscular cyclizine be avoided