Adoption of Veterinary Technologies Amongst Sheep and Goat Farmers in Qwawqa, South Africa

Technological breakthroughs in agriculture after the Second World War mainly concentrated on crop production (wheat, rice, and later maize). In the livestock production sector, besides the substantial improvements in the poultry and dairy production systems, the development of the other livestock technologies was neglected, due to lower returns when compared to those on crop technology. Nevertheless, the usage of livestock veterinary technologies such as veterinary services and medicines remains important for livestock production as animal diseases are a major cause of poor productivity and high mortality rates, which are major constraints to improve food security. The reasons for poor adoption of livestock veterinary technologies amongst livestock farmers all over the world are not fully understood. There is a generally accepted perception amongst veterinary practitioners that these farmers "react on what they see" when it comes to the adoption of these technologies and prefer a therapeutic approach rather than a preventative one. This hypothesis was never before scientifically tested. This study proved this hypothesis for the first time. The results suggest that medication technologies are mainly adopted once the problem becomes visible. Sheep and goat farmers (small ruminant farmers) in the former homelands only treat their animals for external parasites (ticks and mites) when they can see them on the animal's skin and wool. No farmer in this area adopts a prophylactic approach in preventing external parasites. This attitude explains a much higher adoption of external parasite remedies than internal parasite remedies, as well as a higher adoption of antibiotics (therapeutic medicine) than vaccines (preventative medicine). "Small ruminant farmers react on what they see when it comes to disease control."Farm Management, Livestock Production/Industries,

A Strategic Approach to the Implementation of Precision Agriculture Principles in Cash Crop Farming

Precision agriculture is one of the important agricultural technologies that can assist farmers and managers in promoting long-term success. Precision agriculture can help farm managers increase their management capacity, which is of utmost importance in the highly competitive modern agriculture. Increased yields and/or efficient input use can also be achieved with precision agriculture. Precision agriculture also involve a large capital outlay and requires skills in interpreting the masses of generated data. Modern farmers have to engage in pro-active thinking with regard to suitable agricultural systems that can enhance sustainable success of their farming businesses. Farm managers who are contemplating on getting involved in precision agriculture need to undergo a paradigm shift or a mind shift. This paper proposes a set of guidelines on how the process of implementing precision agriculture can be strategically approached in a holistic way.Precision agriculture, Strategic approach, Farming, Farming success, Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Strategies for Successfully Settling Farmers in South Africa

The South African government initiated the land reform program in 1994, which is facilitated by the Department of Land Affairs. The land reform programme has three divisions, namely redistribution, restitution and land tenure. The main objectives of land reform since its inception are poverty alleviation, justice, food security, rural transformation, economic growth and to readdress the landless, the poor, women, the disposed and the previously disadvantaged to acquire land. The question can be asked: Has land reform achieved its goals in the past 10 years since its inception? This paper outlines the concept of a strategic approach as described by Nell and. Napier (2005) to help successfully establish farmers in South Africa and also other strategies that the government can adopt to settle farmers successfully.land reform, strategic approach, emerging farmers, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Development, Land Economics/Use,

Precision Irrigation in South Africa

The Republic of South Africa covers an area of 122 million hectare of which 18 million hectare is potential land for cultivation. Eight percent of the potential arable land are under irrigation, which accounts for nearly half of the water requirement in South Africa. With a population of 42 million and an estimated annual population growth of 1,7%, urbanisation and industrialisation will increase the pressure on the availability of water resources and the allocation thereof in South Africa. The purpose of the National Water Act, Act 36 of 1998, is to ensure that the nation's water resources are protected, developed, conserved, managed and controlled. Agricultural production under irrigation in South Africa retrieves water from water resources such as groundwater which irrigates 24% of the irrigable area, while surface water irrigates 76% of the irrigable area in South Africa. Farmers using groundwater for irrigation is currently subjected to a water resource management charge of 0,54 c/m3. Users of surface water buy a water-right and pay an annual water levy, and groundwater belongs to the owner of the farm who can use it at no cost. Precision irrigation as an aspect of precision agriculture, is a relatively new concept in irrigation farming worldwide. It involves the application of irrigation water in optimum quantities over an area of land which are not uniform and has variations in soil type, soil water capacity, potential yield and topography. Precision irrigation provides a sustainable agricultural system which uses resources efficiently and develops and maintains the actual water demands. Precision agriculture is a knowledge-based technical management system which should optimise farm profit and minimise the impact of agriculture on the environment.Farm Management, Land Economics/Use,

Superconducting single-charge transistor in a tunable dissipative environment

We study a superconducting single-charge transistor, where the coherence of Cooper pair tunneling is destroyed by the coupling to a tunable dissipative environment. Sequential tunneling and cotunneling processes are analyzed to construct the shape of the conductance peaks and their dependence on the dissipation and temperature. Unexpected features are found due to a cross-over between two distinct regimes, one `environment-assisted' the other `environment-dominated'. Several of the predictions have been confirmed by recent experiments. The model and results apply also to the dynamics of Josephson junction quantum bits on a conducting ground plane, thus explaining the influence of dissipation on the coherence.Comment: Strongly revied version as accepted by Phys. Rev. Let

Meson retardation in deuteron photodisintegration above pi-threshold

Photodisintegration of the deuteron above pi-threshold is studied in a coupled channel approach including N Delta- and pi d-channels with pion retardation in potentials and exchange currents. A much improved description of total and differential cross sections in the energy region between pi-threshold and 400-450 MeV is achieved.Comment: 12 pages revtex including 5 postscript figure

Technology transfer-transportation

Problems in the public transportation industry and refining methods for decreasing the time gap between the development and the marketing of new technology are considered. Eight NASA innovations are either being adapted for use on highways, railways, or rapid transit, or are already entering the marketplace. Chronologies for three of these programs are provided