THE URUGUAY ROUND AGREEMENT ON AGRICULTURE: A REVIEW OF PROGRESS AND CHALLENGES IN THE SADC REGION

Through the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture (URAA), the multilateral trade negotiations saw a turning point in the inclusion of agriculture in the trade liberalization debate. This development bears important implications for developing countries, including those of SADC, who have agricultural as a critical element of their economic growth, poverty alleviation, and food security. This article reviews the progress of SADC countries towards implementation of the URAA. We find that the extent of SADC countries support to the agricultural sector is still within the URAA provisions. However, despite certain preferential trade agreements in place between SADC and the developed world, trade barriers are still high in many developed countries. A barrier-free access to developed country markets has important growth and poverty alleviation implications for SADC countries.International Relations/Trade,

Integrating Agricultural Input Expenditure into a South African Agricultural Sector’s Partial Equilibrium Model

Agricultural inputs expenditure has not been widely incorporated in most partial equilibrium models. Moreover, input costs are treated exogenous and the recursive link between input and output side of the sector is overlooked in few of the models that attempts to incorporate input expenditures. The study has addressed both issues by integrating agricultural input expenditures into the South African sectoral partial equilibrium model by endogenising input costs and recursively linking both input and output side of the agricultural sectors to enhance the results of a standard partial equilibrium model in analysing the effect of policies on agricultural sector.Agricultural Finance, Farm Management,

Compensation of Absorption Effects in Seismic Data

The frequency content of seismic data is changing with propagation depth due to intrinsic absorption. This implies that the higher frequencies are highly attenuated, thus leading to a loss in resolution of the seismic image. In addition, absorption anomalies, for example, caused by gas sands, will further dim the seismic reconstruction. It is possible to correct for such absorption effects by employing so called inverse Q filtering (IQF). This is a filtering technique that tries to restore the loss of the higher frequencies due to propagation. Newer developments within IQF can be regarded as a migration type of algorithm, and such classes of techniques are studied in this paper. As seismic waves travel through the earth, the visco-elasticity of the earth's medium will cause energy dissipation and waveform distortion. This phenomenon is referred to as seismic absorption. In explaining the propagation of seismic wave in a given medium we explore the relationship between the pressure and displacement stresses. Therefore, by introducing an absorption function into the stress and strain relationship we derived a non-linear wave equation. We, then, employed a layered earth model to solve the non-linear wave equation

Modelling agricultural input expenditure in a multi-market modelling framework

Agricultural input expenditures have not been widely incorporated in most partial equilibrium models. Thus, investigating the effect of economic policies and other exogenous factors on the agricultural sector will produce only a partial analysis, since the simultaneous impact of these factors on input expenditures is excluded. This study, therefore, extends the existing partial equilibrium multi-market model of the South African agricultural sector (BFAP model) by incorporating agricultural input expenditure. Thus, the analysis of the impact of economic policies on the agricultural sector, which was limited only on the gross income (production, area planted and prices), has now been extended to assess their effects on input expenditures, gross value added and net farming income of the sector. In addition, the analysis is further extended to evaluate the financial and economic position of the agricultural sector by investigating the implications of the policies on the asset and debt values of the sector. The comparative result obtained from the shocks of a crude oil and world fertiliser price rise shows that due to the inclusion of the recursive effect from the output to input side of the sector and vice versa and endogenising input costs, the effect of the shock on gross value added and net farming income converges slowly and cyclically in the recursively linked model, compared to the unlinked model, in which the effect abruptly halts after a single year. Thus, the recursively linked integrated model replicates the dynamics experienced by the agricultural sector better than the recursively unlinked integrated model. In addition, the endogenisation of domestic input costs on the integrated model allows a comprehensive analysis of the effect of macroeconomic variables on the agricultural sector by considering their impact on both outputs and inputs. Thus, using the recursively linked model, a fifty percent devaluation of exchange rate is assessed. The result showed that a depreciation of exchange rate resulted in a net benefit for the sector, as the gain from enhancing agricultural income outweighs the rise in expenditure. Excluding the simultaneous impact on input expenditure would have overestimated the benefit by looking only at its effect on gross income. The integrated model was also used to project a baseline for the South African agricultural sector’s main aggregate variables for the medium term (2010-2015) under the status quo of policy assumptions and forecast values of exogenous variables. The baseline projections of the gross income, intermediate input expenditure and gross value added show a modest average annual growth rate during the baseline period. The net farming income, however, depicts a relatively lower growth due to the general modest rise in agricultural gross income compared with total input expenditure. Based on the projected values of main aggregate variables, several financial and economic performance indicators for the agricultural sector are also projected. In general, the economic performance indicators of the sector, measured by the net return on the sector’s investment and equity, show good performance when compared with the average cost of borrowing during the baseline period. Thus, this study shows that integrating input expenditure in a multi-market output model by recursively linking both sides and endogenising domestic input costs would improve the result of the standard partial equilibrium by generating projections for several key aggregate variables, providing the net effect of economic policies on the agricultural sector and replicating the dynamics of the agricultural sector better than models that have few/no input components or that assess the effects separately and ignore the recursive linkage. Thus, this study provides a powerful modelling tool to be used by policy makers to comprehensively investigate the net effects of economic policies on the agricultural sector and to answer several ‘what if’ questions.Thesis (DCom)--University of Pretoria, 2010.Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Developmentunrestricte

Productive and reproductive performance and reproductive health problems of Begait breed cows under farmers’ management in and around Seharti Samre, South East zone of Tigray regional state, Ethiopia

A survey was carried out on productive and reproductive performance and reproductive health problems of Begait cows under farmers’ management in and around Seharti Samre. Accordingly, 93 farmers were selected randomly for interview, and 123 Begait breed cows at parity one and two were selected to assess productive and reproductive performance as well as reproductive health problems. Data were obtained from the farmers by using pre-tested, structured questionnaire. Majority (96.8%) of the farmers were males with farming experience from 1-10 years (58.1%) All (100%) of the farmers were engaged in mixed crop-livestock production, and crop production was found to be the main source of income for 92.5% of them. The reproductive performances were: age at first service (27.12 ± 0.387 months), age at first calving (36.27 ± 0.424 months), number of services per conception (1.07 ± 0.24), calving interval (18.54 ± 0.569 months) and days open (9.97 ± 0.54 months). The productive performances were: lactation milk yield (605.85 ± 20.793 liters) and lactation length (6.96 ± 0.126 months). The reproductive health problems were: calf mortality (92.5%), anestrus (82.8%), repeat breeding (74.2%), uterine prolapse (62.4%), dystocia (57%), abortion (55.9%) and retained placenta (44.1%).Keywords: Begait cows; Productive performance; Reproductive performance; Reproductive Health problems; Seharti Samr

A review on solar thermal utilization for industrial heating and cooling processes : global and Ethiopian perspective

A substantial share of the total energy in various countries is consumed by industries and manufacturing sectors. Most of the energy is used for low and medium temperature process heating (up to 300 degrees C) as well as low and medium cooling capacity (up to 350kW). To meet the demand, the industrial sector consumes most of its energy in either thermal (heat) or electrical energy forms. The use of fossil fuels accounts for about half of the overall share. This resulted in a necessity to commercialize local and clean renewable energy sources efficiently considering the reduction of economic dependence on fossil fuels and greenhouse gases emission. As such, solar energy has proven potential and resulted in considerable development and deployment of solar heating industrial processes (SHIP) and solar cooling systems in recent times. Thus, an attempt to present a review of the available literature on overall energy intensiveness, process temperature levels, solar technology match, and solar thermal system performance and cost have been made in this paper. The review also includes identifying the potential and relevance of involving solar thermal for industrial heating and cooling demand. As a result, at least 624 SHIP including promising large-scale plants and 1350 solar cooling systems most of them in small and medium capacities in operation are identified. Though limited data is available for solar cooling potential and installation, investigations projected the global SHIP potential to 5.6 EJ for 2050. Consequently, given the presence of many low and medium temperature heating processes and cooling capacities in industries with immense solar energy potential, developing counties such as Ethiopia can take experience and pay attention to the development of sustainable industrial systems

A Simulation Based Performance Evaluation of Optical Ethernet Switch

With the advent of several new Cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN) technologies, todays networking environment is dramatically altered and is experiencing a rapid transformation. One of the most important is Ethernet based C-RAN, in support of which many products such as optical Ethernet switches have recently appeared on the market. This paper presents the performance analysis of such switches with respect to Packet Loss Ratio (PLR), Latency and Packet Delay Variation (PDV). We employed the Simula based on Discrete Event Modelling on Simula (DEMOS), a context class for discrete event simulation to simulate a cut-through optical Ethernet switch under two types of traffics: High priority (HP) traffic and Low priority (LP) traffic. In this way, the paper evaluates the optical Ethernet switch performance quantitatively. The results obtained from the simulator showed that the high quality of service was reflected on HP traffic and the low quality of service in LP traffic. Hence, HP traffic can be used for transporting Radio over Ethernet (RoE) traffic while LP traffic can used for transporting time insensitive application. It is also found that HP traffic experiences a PDV equals to the duration of maximum sized LP traffic in Optical Ethernet switch.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1911.0761

Quantifying the trade effect of sanitary and phytosanitary regulations in OECD countries on South African food exports

The integration of agriculture in multilateral trade negotiations was a crowning achievement in the reform of world agricultural trade. Restraining trade distortive agricultural policies, which were prevalent in all countries, was the major mandate of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture (URAA), where promoting market access, limiting trade distorting domestic support and curtailing export subsidies are among the key elements discussed at length and were committed for reduction by all members of the WTO. A comprehensive survey of the progress made on the implementation of the commitments by OECD countries was done in this dissertation to get insight on the major OECD agricultural policies where SADC countries are adversely affected. Though most of the commitments have been fulfilled, significant tariff protection still exists for major products exported by SADC countries. Moreover, tariff escalation is still being practiced for almost all agriculture commodity groups by most of the OECD countries. The in-quota and over-quota tariff rates of these countries are also excessively high and trade prohibitive. Export subsidies applied by most OECD countries, especially those of the EU, have adverse effect on the price of agricultural commodities and thus affect the welfare of many SADC countries. Moreover, domestic agricultural support of OECD countries is still significant and trade distorting. Many studies, thus, suggest that decoupling OECD domestic support would improve the welfare of all developing countries. In addition, other studies show that tariff reduction by OECD countries will have more impact in augmenting the welfare for developing countries in general, and SADC countries in particular, than a cut in the domestic support. Stringent sanitary and phytosanitary standards (SPS) have also proliferated in the aftermath of the URAA. These standards are currently becoming a major stumbling block in agricultural trade of developing countries. Estimating the trade impact of these stringent SPS standards, therefore, would assist to facilitate trade negotiations, promote active participation of developing countries in SPS related issues and discussions of issues related to compensation claims. Limited by inadequate resources and expertise, among other things, these countries also have poor participation rate in discussions related to SPS, which impedes the representation of their interests and concerns in the setting of international standards for agricultural products. Using a gravity model, this study estimated the trade effect of total aflatoxin level set by five OECD countries (Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Germany and USA), on South Africa’s food exports. The findings of the study support the hypotheses that stringent SPS standards are limiting trade markedly. The trade elasticity of aflatoxin standard is 0.41 and statistically significant. Moreover, the simulation result based on the assumption that these five OECD countries adopt the total aflatoxin level recommended by CODEX, shows that South Africa would have gained an estimated additional amount of US$ 69 million per year from food exports to these countries from 1995 to 1999. The results suggest that unless due attention is given to SPS standards set by developed countries and OECD countries, in particular, the expected potential gain from agricultural trade liberalization could be seriously undermined. Stated differently, developing countries market access to OECD countries’ could still be severely restricted, even though significant tariff cuts might be achieved in these developed countries. The study recommended that active participation in all SPS related issues must be encouraged to raise concerns when new standards are established. In addition, as significant tariff barriers and massive domestic support still exist in OECD countries, it is important for pushing a further cut in tariff barriers and advocate the decoupling of OECD domestic support for realizing a welfare gain by all developing countries. Lastly, the study indicated areas of further research to be undertaken. Among others, it suggested that the cost of compliance to standard regulations should be estimated. This is a challenging area of research that most empirical studies on the trade effects of SPS regulations have not addressed.Dissertation (MCom (Agricultural Economics))--University of Pretoria, 2005.Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Developmentunrestricte

Improving the Productivity of the Sewing Section through Line Balancing Techniques: A Case Study of Almeda Garment Factory

Nowadays, business manufacturers must have the ability to respond rapidly to customer demands. In order to have this power, the organization generally produces mass volumes of specific products. In mass production systems of specified products, assembly lines are generally used. In assembly production, imbalances are well-known problems. Line balancing (LB) is the leveling of the workload across all processes in a line or value stream to remove bottlenecks and excess capacity. Poor balance causes an increase in the production cycle time as well as idle time. This leads to lower efficiency and subsequently lowers productivity in the organization. Furthermore, this research addresses the implementation of line balancing concepts in Almeda Garment Industry (AGI). The existing operating Garment Industries are facing problems in fulfilling targets demanded by customers, resulting in the use of overtime, to overcome the problem, thus, increasing production cost. At an earlier stage, a review of the literature on productivity and different line balancing models was conducted, from the creation of the concept of productivity to its main tools and techniques. After understanding the concepts of line balancing, a description and critical analysis of the existing system in Almeda Garment Industry was made and the problem diagnosed. Improvement scenarios were suggested relating to resources, method change, and layout arrangement.After implementation of some of the solutions, results observed were highly encouraging. Some of the key benefits included, increased balance efficiency (by 25.74%), reduced production cost by (-2.41 birr/pcs), a 35.5% increase in productivity and a production rate increase from 49 to 68 pieces per hour. In the last part of this thesis, results before and after balancing were compared.