Research Articles (PLAAS)

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A 20-year evaluation of PLAAS research outputs: Impact on the scholarly domain and in social media
(Academy of Science of South Africa, 2019) Kerchhoff, Gillian; Kahn, Michelle; Nassimbeni, Mary
Patterns and methods of scholarly communication have changed with the growth in information technology, particularly the Internet and the social web. The changes have necessitated a broader definition of scholarly communication and the role of social media in the research process. We sought to record the body of work that the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), a research institute at the University of the Western Cape, produced over a 20-year period (1995–2015) – the first two decades of its existence – and to measure its visibility and impact using bibliometrics and altmetrics. A survey was also carried out to investigate to what extent PLAAS researchers knew and used social media in their research practice. Scopus and Google Scholar were used as citation indices and Altmetric.com provided Altmetric scores – a measure of impact through social and mainstream media.
Aging, resilience, and migration in the Sudano-sahelian ecological belt in Nigeria
(University of Western Cape, 2021) Makanju, Adebayo O.M.; Uriri, Alex E.
From the Sudano-Sahelian Zone to the coast, Nigeria is experiencing a variety of environmental change impacts, whether resulting from slow-onset changes or sudden shocks. These uptakes in events are significantly influencing migration decisions and livelihood resilience. The Sudano-Sahelian Ecological Zone, where natural resources form the foundation of livelihoods and food security, is a critical part of the environmental non-migration discussion. This study examines the relationship between environmental changes and non-migration outcomes. It also explores the household resilience of older non-migrants in the geographical area. The study utilized the LSMS-ISA datasets 2010-2018 (920 respondents, persons aged >50).
Behavioural reactivity of two lines of South African Merino sheep divergently selected for reproductive potential
(Elsevier, 2020) Cloete, Jasper J.E.; Bonato, Maud; Kruger, Anna C.M.
The behavioural reactivity of two divergently selected lines of South African Merino sheep for an increased (HL: N = 1187) and reduced (LL: N = 285) number of lambs weaned per ewe mated was investigated using a docility test and a ‘scale’ test. The objective of this study was to determine whether these two lines, which differed significantly in terms of reproduction performance, would also react differently when exposed to novel and challenging situations. In the first test, an individual animal was moved to the test pen by an experienced handler then an unfamiliar or familiar human entered the test pen and tried to encourage the animal to move into a marked area for 3 min. The test was terminated if the animal could not be moved within 3 min, came out of the marked area or if the animal could be contained in the marked area for 30 s (successful test). The latency of the animal to enter and time contained in the square area was recorded as well as whether the animal was bleating or urinating/defecating during the test. No difference was found between production lines and handler in terms of the success of the test and latency to enter (P > 0.05). LL sheep were however contained for longer and bleated more than HL sheep (P < 0.05). Sex differences were also observed, with ewes being more difficult to successfully contain and bleating more than rams, especially when exposed to an unfamiliar human (P < 0.05).
Between a rock and a hard place: the need for and challenges to implementation of Rights Based Fisheries Management in small-scale fisheries of Southern Lake Malawi
(Elsevier, 2016) Hara, Mafaniso; Njaya, Friday
There has been a decline in commercially valuable fish species, especially the Chambo (Oreochromis spp.), in southern Lake Malawi. Although there might be lack of reliable and scientifically backed evidence, most experts and experienced fishers concur that productivity of most fish stocks in the area is much below par compared to their productivity about two to three decades ago. This leads to the hypotheses that the fish stocks are generally over-exploited. This trend will continue or their productivity will remain at these depressed levels unless appropriate measures are taken. This article argues that Rights Based Management (RBM) could hold the best hope for moving towards sustainable fisheries management in the southern Lake Malawi (Southeast and Southwest Arms) area while recognizing the need for a broad human rights approach for fishing communities. Even then, the implementation of the RBM approach will not be easy given the historical developmental open access management approach and general unorganized characteristics of the small-scale fisheries sector. Of note is that co-management was introduced in area in the early millennium as part of attempts to strengthen user fishing rights, local accountability and stewardship—with mixed results.
Building leaders for the UN Ocean Science Decade: A guide to supporting early career women researchers within academic marine research institutions
(Oxford University Press, 2023) Shellock, Rebecca J; Cvitanovic, Christopher; Isaacs, Moenieba
Diverse and inclusive marine science is now recognized as essential for addressing the complex and accelerating challenges facing marine social-ecological systems (Blythe and Cvitanovic, 2020; Lawless et al., 2021). The United Nations (UN) Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021–2030) identifies gender diversity as integral to achieving its objectives of “the science we need for the ocean we want” and realizing the Sustainable Development Goals. For example, SDG 5.5 specifically aims to ensure that there are equal opportunities for women’s leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic, and public life (UN, 2015). The importance of gender equality has also been reflected in other global initiatives, including the UN Women’s programmes on leadership and participation (UN Women, 2022).
Bureaucrats, investors and smallholders: contesting land rights and agro-commercialisation in the Southern agricultural growth corridor of Tanzania
(Taylor & Francis, 2020) Sulle, Emmanuel
Since the triple crises of food, fuel and finance of 2007/8, investments in agricultural growth corridors have taken centrestage in government, donor and private sector initiatives. This article examines the politics of the multi-billion dollar development of the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT). The corridor’s proponents aim to create an environment in which agribusiness will operate alongside smallholders to improve food security and environmental sustainability, while reducing rural poverty
Can smallholder avocado production reduce poverty and improve food security through internal markets? The case of Giheta, Burundi
(Taylor & Francis, 2018) Hakizimanaa, C; Mayb, J.
The role of agriculture in rural development is widely documented in literature. Many analysts regard agriculture, specifically smallscale agriculture, as an effective instrument for poverty reduction and food security, particularly in rural communities of developing countries where large numbers of poor people are concentrated. However whether the focus of such production should be on export crops or for domestic food security remains an issue for debate. Using the avocado industry in Giheta-Burundi, this paper argues that some emerging tree crops such as avocados present enormous opportunities to income generation and food security for small-scale farmers. This paper suggests that small-scale avocado farming presents the economic, market and health potentiality to contribute to a viable and sustainable rural economy through internal markets thereby reducing levels of poverty and malnutrition in this area. From a policy perspective, the paper suggests that the avocado sector needs to be supported by both the private and public sectors, irrespective of whether the crop is consumed, traded domestically or exported. Increasing the capacity of avocado production and trade will then enable small-scale farmers and vendors to gain greater income from this sector.
Can smallholder avocado production reduce poverty and improve food security through internal markets? The case of Giheta, Burundi
(Taylor & Francis, 2018) Hakizimana, Cyriaque; May, J.
The role of agriculture in rural development is widely documented in literature. Many analysts regard agriculture, specifically smallscale agriculture, as an effective instrument for poverty reduction and food security, particularly in rural communities of developing countries where large numbers of poor people are concentrated. However whether the focus of such production should be on export crops or for domestic food security remains an issue for debate. Using the avocado industry in Giheta-Burundi, this paper argues that some emerging tree crops such as avocados present enormous opportunities to income generation and food security for small-scale farmers. This paper suggests that small-scale avocado farming presents the economic, market and health potentiality to contribute to a viable and sustainable rural economy through internal markets thereby reducing levels of poverty and malnutrition in this area. From a policy perspective, the paper suggests that the avocado sector needs to be supported by both the private and public sectors, irrespective of whether the crop is consumed, traded domestically or exported. Increasing the capacity of avocado production and trade will then enable small-scale farmers and vendors to gain greater income from this sector.
Cash transfers for sustainable rural livelihoods? Examining the long-term productive effects of the Child Support Grant in South Africa
(Elsivier, 2020) Neves, David; Granlund, Stefan
Cash transfers have received increased scholarly and policy attention, as a means of reducing poverty in the global South. While cash transfers are primarily intended to prevent impoverishment and deprivation, several studies suggest they can have 'productive' impacts, contributing to building sustainable livelihoods. However, pilot projects of unconditional cash transfers have often been too brief or too recent to determine how small, but regular, transfers can improve rural livelihoods over time. This paper explores potential long-term productive effects of cash transfers on rural household’s livelihoods. This is done through revisiting, after 14 years, all (273) households in two South African villages included in an extensive livelihood and asset survey in 2002. That survey predated the phasing in of the Child Support Grant (CSG), targeted at impoverished children. When re-surveyed in 2016, some households had cumulatively received significant, while others little or no CSG income. Multivariate regression analysis shows how households that received more CGS income were more likely to invest in productive assets (e.g. small ploughs), and engage in poultry, staple crop and vegetable production. We also found a statistically significant correlation between CSG incomes and growing a larger variety of crops, in an environment generally marked by deagrarianization. However, correlations between receiving more CSG and employment or engagement in informal small-scale trade were not significant. We use data from interviews and observations to explain these processes further.
Cash transfers for sustainable rural livelihoods? Examining the long-term productive effects of the Child Support Grant in South Africa
(Elsevier, 2020) Neves, David; Hajdu, Flora; Granlund, Stefan
Cash transfers have received increased scholarly and policy attention, as a means of reducing poverty in the global South. While cash transfers are primarily intended to prevent impoverishment and deprivation, several studies suggest they can have 'productive' impacts, contributing to building sustainable livelihoods. However, pilot projects of unconditional cash transfers have often been too brief or too recent to determine how small, but regular, transfers can improve rural livelihoods over time. This paper explores potential long-term productive effects of cash transfers on rural household's livelihoods. This is done through revisiting, after 14 years, all (273) households in two South African villages included in an extensive livelihood and asset survey in 2002. That survey predated the phasing in of the Child Support Grant (CSG), targeted at impoverished children. When re-surveyed in 2016, some households had cumulatively received significant, while others little or no CSG income. Multivariate regression analysis shows how households that received more CGS income were more likely to invest in productive assets (e.g. small ploughs), and engage in poultry, staple crop and vegetable production.
Changing livelihoods in rural Eastern Cape, South Africa (2002–2016): Diminishing employment and expanding social protection
(Taylor & Francis, 2020) Hajdu, Flora; Neves, David; Granlund, Stefan
This is evident in South Africa’s former ‘homelands’, the site where this study examined changes in rural livelihoods over a 14-year period. Detailed survey data (collected in 2002 and 2016) from two villages in the Pondoland region of Eastern Cape province, and augmented by in-depth fieldwork, are analysed to explore the drivers of contemporary livelihood change.
Class dynamics in contract farming: the case of tobacco production in Mozambique
(Taylor & Francis, 2016) Nino, Helena Perez
This paper examines the class relations emerging in a contract farming scheme in Mozambique. Debates in the literature about contract farming characterise this market arrangement as leading to farmers losing control over production at the hands of capital. By discussing both the drivers and impacts of changes in the division of property and labour, this paper reveals a complex class structure in which the pressure of merchant capital on farmers is internalized within households and transferred onto workers and sharecroppers. This challenges the pertinence of conventional policy that prescribes empowering contract farmers without considering their varied class positions and interests.
Co-production of knowledge in transdisciplinary communities of practice: Experiences from food governance in South Africa
(Oxford University Press, 2021) Adelle, Camilla; Gorgens, Tristan; Kroll, Florian; Losch, Bruno
Communities of Practice are sites of social learning for the co-production of knowledge. Building on recent literature on Transdisciplinary Communities of Practice, this article reflects on the experiences of an emergent ‘Food Governance Community of Practice’ in South Africa that brings together multiple stakeholders to co-produce knowledge to inform local food policy and governance. Our results show the following lessons for managers and participants engaged in establishing similar ‘third spaces’ for knowledge co-production: 1) make inevitable power asymmetries explicit; 2) the identity of the group should not be built on a particular normative position but emerge from discursive processes and 3) create a balance between supporting peripheral learning and maintaining the specialist cutting edge discussions needed for co-production. Furthermore, the most beneficial legacy of a Community of Practice may not be the outputs in terms of the co-produced knowledge but the development of a cohesive group of stakeholders with a new shared way of knowing
Community land formalization and company land acquisition procedures: A review of 33 procedures in 15 countries
(Elsevier, 2020) Sulle, Emmanuel; Notess, Laura; Veit, Peter
Indigenous and community lands, crucial for rural livelihoods, are typically held under informal customary tenure arrangements. This can leave the land vulnerable to outside commercial interests, so communities may seek to formalize their land rights in a government registry and obtain an official land document. But this process can be time-consuming and complex, and in contrast, companies can acquire land relatively quickly and find shortcuts around regulatory burdens. This article reviews and maps 19 community land formalization and 14 company land acquisition procedures is 15 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Comparing community and company procedures identifies multiple sources of inequity.
Corporate power in the agro-food system and the consumer food environment in South Africa
(Taylor & Francis, 2017) Greenberg, Stephen
This contribution maps the South African agro-food system with a focus on corporate ownership and power, inspired by value chain work applied to the food system as a whole. Corporations tend to dominate some nodes, for example input supply, grain storage and handling, and feedlots. Other nodes have a corporate core but with a wide number of smaller economic actors, for example agricultural production, food manufacturing, wholesale and retail, and consumer food service. This wide number of actors points to possible areas of intervention to boost livelihoods by supporting their economic activities. The paper considers the influence of corporations in structuring consumer perceptions on food quality and health, from input into apparently neutral dietary-based guidelines to advertising. Financialisation in the food system, including the institutionalisation of share ownership and the rise of agri-investment companies, and the multi-nationalisation of South African agro-food capital especially into Africa, have implications for the ability of the nation state to regulate activities in the agro-food system. The paper concludes with some recommendations for further work.
Creating learning and action space in South Africa’s post-apartheid land redistribution program
(SAGE Publications, 2017) Kepe, Thembela; Hall, Ruth
This paper uses the case of South Africa’s latest land redistribution strategy known as the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy, to explore whether, and how, research can have direct and positive impacts on beneficiaries of land reform. The study is situated within the practice of action research: to explore how it can generate knowledge that can be shared back and forth between stakeholders, as well as how it may ignite changes that the participants desire. The findings are that Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy is not meeting the overall goals land reform. But action research has allowed the beneficiaries to emerge from the process with new knowledge about their rights, as well as what options they have to move forward in their fight for secure land rights and decent livelihoods. We introduce a concept of a ‘learning and action space’ to explain our practice of action research. The paper concludes that action research is a desirable approach for land reform, but while it succeeded in educating beneficiaries, it is only one ingredient in ongoing struggles to challenge power relations among citizens and between citizens and the state.
A decision support tool for response to global change in marine systems: the IMBER-ADApT Framework
(John Wiley & Sons, 2016) Bundy, Alida; Chuenpagdee, Ratana; Cooley, Sarah R; Defeo, Omar; Glaeser, Bernhard; Guillotreau, Patrice; Isaacs, Moenieba; Mitsutaku, Makino; Perry, Ian R
Global change is occurring now, often with consequences far beyond those anticipated. Although there is a wide range of assessment approaches available to address-specific aspects of global change, there is currently no framework to identify what governance responses have worked and where, what has facilitated change and what preventative options are possible. To respond to this need, we present an integrated assessment framework that builds on knowledge learned from past experience of responses to global change in marine systems, to enable decision-makers, researchers, managers and local stakeholders to: (i) make decisions efficiently; (ii) triage and improve their responses; and (iii) evaluate where to most effectively allocate resources to reduce vulnerability and enhance resilience of coastal people. This integrated assessment framework, IMBER-ADApT is intended to enable and enhance decision-making through the development, a typology of case-studies providing lessons on how the natural, social and governance systems respond to the challenges of global change. The typology is developed from a database of case-studies detailing the systems affected by change, responses to change and, critically, an appraisal of these responses, generating knowledge-based solutions that can be applied to other comparable situations. Fisheries, which suffer from multiple pressures, are the current focus of the proposed framework, but it could be applied to a wide range of global change issues. IMBER-ADApT has the potential to contribute to timely, cost-effective policy and governing decision-making and response. It offers cross-scale learning to help ameliorate, and eventually prevent, loss of livelihoods, food sources and habitat.
Dietary patterns, food insecurity, and their relationships with food sources and social determinants in two small island developing states
(MDPI, 2022) Bhagtani, Divya; Augustus, Eden; Kroll, Florian
Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have high burdens of nutrition-related chronic diseases. This has been associated with lack of access to adequate and affordable nutritious foods and increasing reliance on imported foods. Our aim in this study was to investigate dietary patterns and food insecurity and assess their associations with socio-demographic characteristics and food sources. We recruited individuals aged 15 years and above from rural and urban areas in Fiji (n = 186) and St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) (n = 147). Data collection included a 24 h diet recall, food source questionnaire and the Food Insecurity Experience Scale. We conducted latent class analysis to identify dietary patterns, and multivariable regression to investigate independent associations with dietary patterns.
The effect of varying dietary nutrient densities on the relative growth of ostrich body components
(OpenJournals Publishing AOSIS (Pty) Ltd, 2020) Brand, T. S.; Kritzinger, Werné J.; Jordaan, Leanne
The influence of varying dietary protein and energy levels on the relative growth of body components of ostriches was evaluated over a 244-day growth period. One hundred twenty 1-day-old ostrich chicks were randomly assigned to 15 pens. Three varying energy regimes (high, medium and low) and five protein levels (1–5) were supplied ad libitum to each pen. A randomly selected bird from each pen was slaughtered at 1, 35, 63, 103, 159, 168 and 244 days of age. Each bird was weighed, stunned, exsanguinated, defeathered and eviscerated. Individual body components were dissected and weighed at every slaughter age. Proximate analysis was performed on these components, which were ground with the remainder of the carcass, excluding gut content, but including blood and feathers.
Efficacy of rights-based management of small pelagic fish within an ecosystems approach to fisheries in South Africa
(Taylor & Francis, 2013) Hara, Mafaniso
South Africa’s small pelagics fishery is moving towards a management strategy using an ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF), with rights-based management (RBM) as the key rights allocation system. While EAF strives to balance between, among others, ecological and social-economic objectives, RBM is driving the sector towards economic efficiency. Within EAF itself, there are still underlying mismatches between the two top objectives, ‘human wellbeing’ and ‘ecological wellbeing’, in effect requiring a better balance between these objectives than there is currently. For example, fishers do not believe they should be competing with marine mammals and birds for allocation of the resource, yet this is one of the primary trade-offs that have to be made when setting the annual total allowable catches (TACs) under EAF. A balance between the two objectives could be achieved through acceptable trade-offs between them among all stakeholders within inclusive governance. Implementation of RBM has had both positive and negative effects on the objectives for EAF. Of concern are the negative effects of RBM on human wellbeing. For example, fishers feel that RBM has weakened their bargaining position, thereby reducing their benefits. In addition, RBM has resulted in job losses and insecurity of employment within the fisheries sector. The most affected have been the most vulnerable — the low level workers — who ought to be the key beneficiaries of RBM. Thus prioritising and protecting vulnerable groups and fishing communities need careful consideration when creating RBM, even in the context of EAF. Rights-based management has also had negative effects on ecological wellbeing through practices such as increased dumping and ‘high grading’ as part of industry’s drive for increased efficiency under RBM. Whereas scientists believe that variability is largely due to environmental conditions, fishers strongly feel that dumping, high grading and high fishing pressure are the main factors. One of the positive aspects of RBM has been improved understanding among rights-holders and fishers of the need to consider other organisms in the TAC and to protect these through establishment of marine protected areas, island perimeter closures and limiting bycatch, thereby impacting positively on ecological wellbeing.

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