Value Chain-Induced Constraints Limiting Scale of Conservation Agriculture in South Africa

The potential of scaling conservation agriculture (CA), for long-term food security, remains under-investigated within the context of agricultural food value chains in South Africa. To scale the use of CA an understanding of the current agricultural value chains, their functioning, regulatory framework and constraints, is essential and this raises a key question: What are the main shortfalls and deterrents in agricultural value chains and why might CA be faced with challenges to feed into these existing structures, through which it could, the hopes are, create a more inclusive and sustainable farming system for long-term food security? The empirical data from an ethnographic qualitative participant research showed that interviewed value chain participants (VCP) are limited in acting on account of their economic constraints. None of them had products that supported CA, while financial institutions argued that such products would not be necessary, as any risk mitigating farming system would, in any event, result in financial benefits to the farmer

The Struggles of Smallholder Farmers: A Cause of Modern Agricultural Value Chains in South Africa

The potential of sustaining smallholder farmers (SHFs), for long-term food security remains, within the context of rising modern food value chains, particularly in Africa, a threat. Support for a greener, lower carbon economy that creates jobs and improves human well-being as part of a sustainable and socially inclusive stable economic development should be driven, at least in part, by SHF

On the Regularity of Optimal Transportation Potentials on Round Spheres

In this paper the regularity of optimal transportation potentials defined on round spheres is investigated. Specifically, this research generalises the calculations done by Loeper, where he showed that the strong (A3) condition of Trudinger and Wang is satisfied on the round sphere, when the cost-function is the geodesic distance squared. In order to generalise Loeper's calculation to a broader class of cost-functions, the (A3) condition is reformulated via a stereographic projection that maps charts of the sphere into Euclidean space. This reformulation subsequently allows one to verify the (A3) condition for any case where the cost-fuction of the associated optimal transportation problem can be expressed as a function of the geodesic distance between points on a round sphere. With this, several examples of such cost-functions are then analysed to see whether or not they satisfy this (A3) condition.Comment: 24 pages, 4 figure

A glimpse into the differential topology and geometry of optimal transport

This note exposes the differential topology and geometry underlying some of the basic phenomena of optimal transportation. It surveys basic questions concerning Monge maps and Kantorovich measures: existence and regularity of the former, uniqueness of the latter, and estimates for the dimension of its support, as well as the associated linear programming duality. It shows the answers to these questions concern the differential geometry and topology of the chosen transportation cost. It also establishes new connections --- some heuristic and others rigorous --- based on the properties of the cross-difference of this cost, and its Taylor expansion at the diagonal.Comment: 27 page

Identifying ‘win-win-win’ futures from inequitable value chain trade-offs: A system dynamics approach

Context There is growing recognition that food systems must adapt to become more sustainable and equitable. Consequently, in developing country contexts, there is increasing momentum away from traditional producer-facing value chain upgrades towards efforts to increase both the availability and affordability of nutritious foods at the consumer level. However, such goals must navigate the inherent complexities of agricultural value chains, which involve multiple interactions, feedbacks and unintended consequences, including important but often surprising trade-offs between producers and consumers. Objective and methods Based around the 'Loop' horticultural aggregation scheme of Digital Green in Bihar, India, we develop a system dynamics modelling framework to survey the value chain trade-offs emerging from upgrades that aim to improve the availability of fruits and vegetables in small retail-oriented markets. We model the processes of horticultural production, aggregation, marketing, and retailing – searching for futures that are ‘win-win-win’ for: (i) the availability of fruits and vegetables in small retail markets, (ii) the profits of farmers participating in aggregation, and (iii) the sustainability of the initial scheme for Digital Green as an organisation. We simulate two internal upgrades to aggregation and two upgrades to the wider enabling environment through a series of 5000 Monte Carlo trajectories – designed to explore the plausible future dynamics of the three outcome dimensions relative to the baseline. Results We find that ‘win-win-win’ futures cannot be achieved by internal changes to the aggregation scheme alone, emerging under a narrow range of scenarios that boost supplies to the small retail market whilst simultaneously supporting the financial takeaways of farmers. In contrast, undesirable producer versus consumer trade-offs emerge as unintended consequences of scaling-up aggregation and the introduction of market-based cold storage. Significance This approach furthers ongoing efforts to capture complex value chain processes, outcomes and upgrades within system dynamics modelling frameworks, before scanning the horizon of plausible external scenarios, internal dynamics and unintended trade-offs to identify ‘win-win-win’ futures for all

Enhancing the meaning of urban biking through implicit interaction

Fundamentally, interaction design is about getting in between: Between people and what is important to them. While it often makes sense to make mediated interactions explicit, implicit interactions can integrate harmoniously into the here and now and happen almost unnoticed. In this master’s thesis, I explore different approaches to harmoniously integrate interactions with mobile and wearable devices into cycling. Cycling can be treated as a modality. It can influence the behaviour of the operating system or provide considerations for the design of applications. Rather than adding to the existing flow of signals, I propose to tap into that flow and even take it a step further: I explore ways to add meaning to what people are already doing as if there were no interface. Wearable devices, such as the current Apple Watch, can provide comprehensive insight into ongoing activities. The name "smartwatch" suggests that this device is meant to be attended to, but the greater opportunity lies in sensing and adding meaning to what is already happening. This allows people to immerse themselves in their ‘natural’ environment with their heads up and their hands free

Enhancing the meaning of urban biking through implicit interaction

Fundamentally, interaction design is about getting in between: Between people and what is important to them. While it often makes sense to make mediated interactions explicit, implicit interactions can integrate harmoniously into the here and now and happen almost unnoticed. In this master’s thesis, I explore different approaches to harmoniously integrate interactions with mobile and wearable devices into cycling. Cycling can be treated as a modality. It can influence the behaviour of the operating system or provide considerations for the design of applications. Rather than adding to the existing flow of signals, I propose to tap into that flow and even take it a step further: I explore ways to add meaning to what people are already doing as if there were no interface. Wearable devices, such as the current Apple Watch, can provide comprehensive insight into ongoing activities. The name "smartwatch" suggests that this device is meant to be attended to, but the greater opportunity lies in sensing and adding meaning to what is already happening. This allows people to immerse themselves in their ‘natural’ environment with their heads up and their hands free