ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN FLOWER INDUSTRY

In this paper some interesting findings from recent studies regarding the economic aspects of the South African flower industry are highlighted. By looking at South Africa’s competitiveness and doing a comparative advantage study, an international perspective is firstly developed. The contribution of the flower industry in the South African economy is then discussed. This includes a case study on flower growers in the Gauteng Province. The final section notes some challenges for this industry. This network of studies provide a basis from which a conclusion can be drawn that it would be important to structure government initiatives to assist the private sector to expand this industry. A strategic planning exercise where the South African flower industry is positioned within an international perspective as well as to take note of the current transformation stage of the economy will be required.Agribusiness, Crop Production/Industries,

CHALLENGES AND ROLES FOR AGRICULTURE IN THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN REGION

The Southern African Region is facing formidable economic challenges on issues such as poverty reduction, food security, employment creation, increased farm productivity, the sustainable use of natural resources, land reform and human capital development. To meet these challenges it is argued in this article that the agricultural sector should perform a essential role in the generation of rural incomes, employment and food security and also to transfer resources efficiently to other sectors of the regional economy. However, this sector is not fully utilized yet in the different countries of the region. The nature of this role will also differ between countries.Farm Management,

Le Cam meets LeCun: Deficiency and Generic Feature Learning

"Deep Learning" methods attempt to learn generic features in an unsupervised fashion from a large unlabelled data set. These generic features should perform as well as the best hand crafted features for any learning problem that makes use of this data. We provide a definition of generic features, characterize when it is possible to learn them and provide methods closely related to the autoencoder and deep belief network of deep learning. In order to do so we use the notion of deficiency and illustrate its value in studying certain general learning problems.Comment: 25 pages, 2 figure

Measuring the agribusiness decision environment: Constructing an agribusiness confidence index for South Africa

South African agribusinesses are experiencing far reaching changes. Economists have developed indicators, generally known as indexes, to measure relative change in the industry. In this article the methodology to construct a business confidence index for agribusiness in South Africa is discussed. The objective of such an index is to determine the business confidence of agribusinesses as accurately as possible. Some 80 agribusinesses in South Africa are at present participating in the AGRIBUSINESS CONFIDENCE INDEX. For the first quarter of 2002 the index points to a 20% improvement in the business confidence of South African agribusinesses compared to the same period the year before, while in the second quarter the index was up 14% on the previous year. This increase in confidence goes hand in hand with some other positive trends in the agricultural sector of South Africa regarding competitiveness and investment.Agribusiness,

BUSINESS SYSTEMS FOR INCREASED COMPETITIVENESS IN THE AGRIBUSINESS SECTOR OF SOUTH AFRICA

Agribusiness,

Unexploited Agricultural Growth: The Case of Crop–Livestock Production Systems in Zimbabwe

Livestock is the most important source of cash for small-scale farmers in the semi-arid tropics of southern Africa. However, with limited access to markets, farmers do not have the incentive to invest in improved livestock management. Livestock production and off-takes remain low and farmers are unable to realize the full potential of their herds. We believe that improved market access will be the driver to increase technology adoption for income growth and poverty reduction. In Zimbabwe, a recent baseline diagnosis by ICRISAT and partners found that cash income from goats is crucial to cover day-to-day expenditures for food, education and human health. Cattle are more important for draft power and milk, and support subsistence cropping activities. Major production constraints include high mortality rates attributed to dry season feed shortages, particularly affecting farmers with small herds. An increasing demand for livestock products in rural and urban areas offers small-scale farmers opportunities for market participation. However, the existing markets are underdeveloped, with high transaction costs implying low producer prices and poor access to information for farmers. The challenge is to sustain livestock production, develop more effective market facilities, and thereby increase off-take. The potential of market-led technology development in crop–livestock systems has not been sufficiently exploited by research and development. To have an impact on incomes and poverty, we develop an innovative approach that would first evaluate local constraints in production and marketing, and then test alternative livestock markets and management strategies, with a strong linkage between private and public sectorsAgricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Livestock Production/Industries, Marketing, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

CREATING A CHAIN REACTION: THE COMPETITIVENESS OF THE AGRICULTURAL INPUT INDUSTRY IN SOUTH AFRICA

The South African agricultural industry is consistently challenged to increase its competitiveness. The agribusiness supply chain starts with the input sector. The objective of this paper is therefore to determine the competitiveness of the various agricultural input industries in South Africa by using Balassa's method of Revealed Comparative Trade Advantage. This status will then be related to performance of the agricultural industry as a whole. South African manufacturing of farming requisites as a whole are relative marginally competitive in the international arena. However, positive trends in competitiveness is observed. The agricultural machinery industries is not competitive but is improving. The fertilizer industries is becoming increasingly more competitive while in the pesticides industries there is a decrease in the ability to compete internationally. From 1995 there is a relatively high and positive correlation between the competitiveness of the input industry and the agro-food industry in South Africa. This relationship substantiated the claim that fundamentally the South African agricultural economy is more competitive today then a decade ago.Agribusiness,

"WINNERS", "LOSERS" AND "TURNAROUNDS" IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN AGRO-FOOD AND FIBRE INDUSTRY

South African agribusinesses are now part of the global trading environment and must compete, despite the presence of highly "unequal economic playing fields". Competing under these conditions is hard, with South African agribusinesses involved in an exhausting race of "catch-up" with competitors. However, given a global regulatory environment that entrenches the notions of international competition (on both a regional and global level), to "catch-up" and compete is exactly what agribusiness has to do. An analysis of the agro-food and fibre complex reveals a remarkable achievement, namely that, despite difficult local conditions, the agricultural industry succeeded in operating more competitively for the last eight years. On the primarily level the sugar, groundnuts, oranges, apples, grapes and wool industries establish themselves as "winners" in the global trading environment. On the value added level the maize flour, apple juice, grape juice and raisins industries have distinguished themselves as "winners". Agribusiness in these industries clearly started to focus on the "right stuff". Unfortunately, some "losers" also emerged, while some industries created positive "turnaround" situations.Agribusiness,