AGRICULTURE AS A DRIVING FORCE OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: SUGGESTIONS FOR AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

The purpose of the paper is to explain the process by which modernisation of the agricultural sector by introducing new production technology into the sector serves as driving force of general economic development, with the social rate of return on these investments being very high, while the benefits of the development will be widespread in the economy, and generally in favour of the poor. Furthermore policies are discussed with the aim of increasing productivity and per capita income of rural people in Southern Africa.Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development,

The Post-Apartheid Labour Market: 1995-2004

This paper seeks to investigate some of the changes that have occurred within the South African labour market in the post-apartheid era between 1995 and 2004 and some of the challenges the labour market presents in the attainment of shared growth, updating previous work by Bhorat and Oosthuizen (2004). The two main sources of data are the October Household Survey of 1995 and the Labour Force Survey of September 2004. The paper has found that while the unemployment rate has risen over the period, total employment has increased, bringing into question the notion of jobless growth. Unemployment, however, continues to be concentrated in specific demographically and geographically defined groups, most notably rural dwellers, Africans, females, the poorly educated and the young and, for many, represents a long-term problem. Disturbingly, unemployment has continued to grow rapidly amongst relatively educated members of the labour force, despite the skills shortage faced by the country. An individual’s probability of being employed is found to depend on his or her race, gender, age, location and level of education. However, it appears that gender plays less of a role in determining the probability of employment in 2004 than in 1995, although this is not true of race. Length: 68 pagesSouth Africa: labour market, unemployment, jobless growth

A poverty profile of the Western Cape province of South Africa.

Poverty reduction and alleviation is a main priority of the South African government. For the Western Cape province to formulate and implement successful, well-targeted policies aimed at reducing poverty it is important to identify exactly who the poor are. This study aims to determine the extent of poverty in the Western Cape province and construct a clear picture of the poor, using data from the 1995 October Household Survey. In order to arrive at a clear poverty profile the question “who is the ‘representative poor individual’ in the Western Cape?” is answered. After inequality in the province is detailed, the characteristics of the Western Cape poor are then used to explain household income and expenditure. In conclusion it is stated that policymakers’ decision is whether to target those groups with the largest shares in poverty within the Western Cape, or those with the highest incidence of poverty.poverty, Western Cape

Global Warming and Heat Stress Among Western Australian Mine, Oil and Gas Workers

This chapter was originally published as: Mate, J., & Oosthuizen, J. D. (2012). Global warming and heat stress among Western Australian mine, oil and gas workers. In J Oosthuizen (Eds.). Environmental Health- Emerging Issues and Practice (pp. 289-305). InTech. Original book chapter available here This Book Chapter is posted at Research Online

Impact of capital on the growth process of a sugarcane farm in Mpumalanga

The research was conducted for a representative 50 ha farm in the Onderberg region in Mpumalanga province, where farmers use a combination of centre-pivot, drip, and dragline systems of different sizes to grow sugarcane. The main intention was to establish a multi-period linear programming model capable of economically evaluating a farm's expansion decision-making process for farmers faced with investment decisions in alternative irrigation systems, taking into account the available initial capital of the farm. A linear programming (LP) model was used to assign a mainline for a total of twelve irrigation system combinations based on the assumption that the farmer wishes to start with a 30 ha centre-pivot investment. The Generalized Algebraic Modelling System (GAMS) was used to formulate the farm growth model as mixed integer dynamic linear programming (MIDLP) for a 15-year planning horizon. Based on the results, farmers are initially forced to invest in lower-cost irrigation systems when they lack capital to start a farm business due to the time value of money. They only consider lowering operating costs by investing in capital intensive irrigation systems when they have more own capital or borrowing capacity.Agricultural Finance,

A Dynamic Risk Optimization Model for Evaluating Profitable and Feasible Water Management Plans

Currently the South African government is advocating the cultivation of high valued crops and more efficient use of available water resources through the adoption o f more efficient irrigation technology and irrigation scheduling. A requirement of the National Water Act (Act 36 of 1998) is the compilation of water management plans. The main objective of this paper is to develop a multiperiod mathematical risk programming model able of assisting water user associations with the compilation of water management plans that are both profitable and feasible. Special care was taken to represent canal capacities and irrigation system application rates in the model. Risk simulation procedures are used to generate an appropriately correlated inter- and intra-temporal risk matrix for the programming model. A combination of subjectively elicited distributions of crop yield and objective data on crop prices were used to characterize risk. The model was applied to a representative flood irrigation farm in the Vaalharts irrigation scheme South Africa to demonstrate the capability of the model to optimize water use over a 15 year planning horizon. Model results clearly indicated the potential of high value crops and more efficient irrigation technology to soften the impact of water shortages. Furthermore infrastructure, the financial position of the farmer and the level of risk averseness have significantly impacted on the results. Policy makers and government authorities should take cognizance of these factors when evaluating water use efficiency and water management plans of different water user associations. Improvements in the adopted modeling procedure are also made.Dynamic Linear Programming, risk, irrigation, feasibility, South Africa, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, C6, Q15, Q12,

IMPACT OF CAPITAL ON THE GROWTH PROCESS OF A SUGARCANE FARM IN MPUMALANGA

The research was conducted for a representative 50 ha farm in the Onderberg region in Mpumalanga province, where farmers use a combination of centre-pivot, drip, and dragline systems of different sizes to grow sugarcane. The main intention was to establish a multi-period linear programming model capable of economically evaluating a farm expansion decision making process for farmers faced with investment decisions in alternative irrigation systems, taking in to account the available initial capital of the farm. A linear programming (LP) model was used to assign a mainline for a total of twelve irrigation system combinations based on the assumption that the farmer wishes to start with a 30 ha centre-pivot investment. Generalized Algebraic Modelling System (GAMS) was used to formulate the farm growth model as mixed integer dynamic linear programming (MIDLP) for a 15 year planning horizon. Based on the results, farmers are initially forced to invest in lower cost irrigation systems when they lack capital to start a farm business due to the time value of money. They only consider lowering operating costs by investing in expensive irrigation systems when they have more own capital or borrowing capacity.Crop Production/Industries, Land Economics/Use, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Beyond hierarchy: The archaeology of collective governance

The question interrogated here, through the case study of agricultural resources, is whether the governance of collective rights of property in past non-literate communities can be explored through archaeological methods. Property rights and the structures for their governance are an expression of social relations. According to Alchian and Demsetz (1973, 16), the ‘techniques, rules, or customs to resolve conflicts that arise in the use of scarce resources’ that underlie property rights and their governance are likely to be consonant with each community’s perceptions of individual and collective relationships, rights and obligations in relation to others both within and beyond their own territory. This paper explores through seven brief illustrative exemplars the development of a methodology for inferring the practical details of collective governance of agricultural property in the non-literate past.This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in World Archaeology on 15 Oct 2013, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/00438243.2013.847634

Debate: The Emperor’s Old Clothes and The Origins of Medieval Nucleated Settlements and Their Open Fields

This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from the Medieval Settlement Research Group, see https://medieval-settlement.com/publications/journal/vol28

A truth universally acknowledged?: Morphology as an indicator of medieval planned market towns

The paper explores, through the case study of March, a large town in the northern part of the Cambridgeshire peat fens, the general invariability of interpretation as planned markets of new medieval settlements that include both regular plots and one or more geometric open spaces. It asks whether manorial lords might achieve similar ends to those derived from medieval market grants — an increase in income from rents and tolls — by applying lessons learned from commercial planned settlements in other economic contexts.David Edwards was generous enough to provide a copy of his transcript of Rev Walker’s note on the date of origin of the early seventeenth-century estate map. Edna Stacey at March Museum was kind enough to allow access to the Museum’s photostat copy of the estate map, which is printed in greater contrast (and thus shows more detail) that those in the Cambridge University Library and the Cambridge Archives.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Taylor & Francis via http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01433768.2013.79719