From 2 to 5 October 2022, colleagues from the Agricultural Economics Department at Stellenbosch University (SU) participated in the 59th annual conference of the Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA) in Swakopmund, Namibia. Under the conference theme “How recent value chain disruptions shaped agri-food systems in sub-Saharan Africa”, delegates were able to share expertise and explore opportunities for collaboration.

SU master’s student Desmond Annandale, supervised by Profs André Jooste and Johan van Rooyen, presented a paper from his thesis. The paper examined the use of composite indices in identifying potential agricultural export markets in the African region, more particularly the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which is tasked to expand intra-African trade and integration. Desmond used a country priority index comprising three dimensions known to affect an export destination’s trade potential (namely market conditions, business environment and logistical conditions). His analysis confirmed the index as a valuable first step towards identifying export potential to African countries. However, some deviations from actual trade do occur due to geographical proximity from South Africa, the availability of a product in the home country, the competitiveness of South African products relative to other countries, and the expansion of South African retailers to other African countries.

SU representatives also participated in a panel discussion on the effects of Covid-19, climate shocks and the Russian-Ukraine war, or the so-called “perfect storm” for global food systems. The session was organised by the University’s Bureau for Food and Agricultural Policy (BFAP). The discussion centred on the rapid rise in global agricultural commodity prices, uncertainty in futures markets for agricultural products, rising input and energy prices, and uncertainty regarding current and future market dynamics and its implication for food systems. Highlighting the current effects of external shocks on food systems, the panel provided a global overview and presented specific case studies for Namibia and South Africa. In addition, they debated how alternative future outcomes may inform the dos and don’ts for governments and strategic private-sector decisions.

The event also saw Dr Melissa van der Merwe, AEASA president and SU lecturer, deliver her inaugural presidential address, in which she explored whether Agricultural Economics could be considered a discipline in crisis. Unpacking the status of the discipline in terms of teaching, research, and the AEASA, she concluded that stakeholders in Agricultural Economics training and research need to carefully manage their contributions and efforts to continue delivering graduates who are equipped with relevant skills and knowledge to meet the changing needs of the market.

Kayamandi High School attracts learners from as far as Franschhoek, Jonkershoek, and Pniel. However, the majority of learners are fed through the two local primary schools. The School offers all three recognised agricultural subjects, namely Agricultural Sciences, Agricultural Technology, and Agricultural Management Practices, and is a true gem as far as high school agricultural education is concerned. Moreover, the School is privileged to have dedicated teachers who have previously gone to great lengths to maximise learner exposure to postschool agricultural education by organising trips to higher education institutions in the Eastern Cape. Collaboration between the School and additional higher education institutions such as the Elsenburg Agricultural Training Institute and Stellenbosch University is a prospective opportunity that can develop agricultural study and career paths and aid in learner success.

To this end, Stellenbosch University’s Department of Agronomy hosted 31 learners from Kayamandi High School for a Practical Demonstration Day on the 11 November. The learners are all in Grade 11 and study Agricultural Management Practices. The day started with a water and carbon cycle presentation in class, which highlighted the importance of these two resources in crop production. This was followed by various demonstrations covering soil organic matter estimation, water quality determination and crop management evaluation. This is the first of other similar demonstrations to be offered to Kayamandi and other high schools in 2023 through the Agricultural Sustainability Education Lab. This first offering was a resounding success following the invaluable role of Dr Estelle Kempen and a dedicated team of senior and postgraduate students from Agronomy, including Beatrix Alweendo, Princess Dolly Tuaandi, Nellah Mabasa, Louise Bestbier, Hanneke Augustyn and Chantal Ndhlovu, who accepted to participate in and contribute to the proposed programme of the Agricultural Sustainability Education Lab (AgSus EduLab).

Through the Practical Demonstrations programme, the AgSus EduLab takes on an approach of experiential agricultural education at secondary education level. As a suitable alternative to traditional learning, experiential learning directly capitalises skills and attitudes related to critical thinking and problem solving, being less anchored in mechanical learning and memorising, while accelerating collaboration between schools and the AgriSciences Faculty, particularly towards aligning to STEAMAC (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics, Agriculture and Coding).

We look forward to what 2023 presents and the various proposed programmes. This includes a similar practical demonstration hosted in collaboration with the Faculty’s Institute for Plant Biotechnology (IPB).

Faculty of AgriSciences members came together to have discussions on their impactful projects at the Amazink in Khayamandi. The Faculty’s Dean opened the event by sharing a background history of the Faculty with the audience.

Guest speaker Prof Jonathan Jansen from the Education Faculty touched on the Khampepe report and the major focus of his discussion was on ‘deep transformation’.

He also stated that in five years’ time, Stellenbosch University student numbers would be fully diverse, as the number of non-white students at the University is slowly showing and increase each year. That is the type of transformation set for the University.

Prof Jansen urges individuals to self-introspect and says “Deep transformation will only happen when we transform ourselves first as individuals. We need to look deep within us. It is impossible to transform other people unless we are transformed ourselves,” he continued.

Henk Stander provided an overview of the Jala Peo initiative, which is a Sotho word for ‘seed planting’ and is part of the National School Nutrition Programme (NSNP). The initiative promotes nutritional education by improving nutritional knowledge and healthy food choices, and a healthy lifestyle. He also mentioned the School Food and Nutrition Gardens (SFNG) Programme that gives teachers and students hands-on experience with agricultural initiatives.

Dr Melissa van der Merwe, lecturer in Agricultural Economics, discussed the progress of a project she is working on to provide training to smallholder farmers in Africa.

Khalid Salie from the Department of Animal Science presented interesting findings on the repurposing of fish waste. This is the process of converting fish skin into useful leather products. Rebecca Mathobela, a PhD candidate, spoke about her research on empowering peri-urban smallholder farmers for sustainable pork production in the Cape Metropolitan Area.

Stellenbosch University (SU) is part of a consortium of 14 universities in sub-Saharan Africa, as well as Ghent University in Belgium and the Université Côte d’Azur in France, that works together in terms of a European Union-funded grant for Nematology Education in sub-Saharan Africa (NEMEDUSSA) and aims to uplift the science of Nematology.

In 2012, Ghent University released an English colouring book for children entitled From A to Z, Nematodes Colour Our Lives! that Dr Nomakholwa Stokwe, lecturer and researcher in Nematology at SU Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, has since translated into isiXhosa.

The Department brings together a substantial body of teaching and research expertise, including integrated pest management, biological control, natural communities conservation, living resources management, conservation policy formulation, and technology transfer. In addition to being the only university in South Africa with an undergraduate elective module in Nematology (344) (16), SU also offers an MSc programme in Nematology (requiring the successful completion of a master’s thesis), a PhD programme in Nematology (requiring the successful completion of a doctoral dissertation), and a DSc in Nematology (requiring DSc research collection).

At SU, we encounter similar difficulties in relation to the science of Nematology that experts in the field are facing worldwide. The study of plant-parasitic Nematology was initiated at SU in 1973, as part of the Department of Entomology and Nematology, with one full-time staff member, Professor Bertus Meyer, being dedicated to the study of Nematology, until his retirement in 2002. During that time, the Department was fused with another to become a new department called Conservation Ecology and Entomology. For the next 14 years, until 2016, ad hoc nematologists presented a semester module in plant‑parasitic nematodes. In that same year, after expending much effort in support of South African nematologists and entomologists from the Department, Dr Nomakholwa Stokwe was appointed as a full-time staff member and lecturer in the Department.

SU works in close corporation with the North-West University in terms of assisting with short courses and the training of students in the study of plant-parasitic and entomopathogenic nematodes. With SU being the only tertiary-level institution in South Africa that presents an undergraduate course in plant-parasitic nematodes, an urgent need has been felt to revive the postgraduate training of students in such nematodes and the undergraduate training of students in entomopathogenic nematodes. Such training can be accomplished only with the provision of technical and postdoctoral assistance in teaching capacity. Given the lack of available and appropriate staff, the potential for including the study of the science of Nematology at BSc level in sub-Saharan Africa remains fragile.

Nematology, as an independent science alongside other plant health disciplines, requires serious efforts when included as a key area of expertise in university curricula. While trained nematologists currently work mostly at the academic level, the information flow to the community and to smallholder farmers remains insufficient across the entire sub-Sahara Africa region. The current NEMEDUSSA project represents a logical continuation of attempts to make a structural, relatively broad and sustainable impact with nematology education from the grassroots level up. Particularly, more women from the sub-Sahara Africa region should be brought on board. This would ensure a critical mass of qualified women providing nematology awareness instruction and advisory support to rural communities, to reach more female smallholder farmers in South Africa and in the rest of Africa.

With the translation into isiXhosa of Ghent University’s colouring book for children, we hope to familiarise young children and adults alike with the most abundant animal on earth that previously was unknown to them.

For more information about the Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education: Nematology Education in Sub-Saharan Africa (NEMEDUSSA) project, please visit the project website at https://nemedussa.ugent.be/

Ancois de Villiers, PhD candidate in the Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, recently received the PeerJ Award for Best Student Presentation at the International Mediterranean Ecosystems Conference (MEDECOS 2022) held at Langebaan, South Africa, from 5 to 9 September.

Ancois presented some of the emerging findings from her transdisciplinary exploration of collaborative landscape-based initiatives for sustainability. Her research focuses on certain implementation challenges associated with supporting, tracking, and evaluating the psycho-social dimensions involved in the impacts and dynamics of ecosystem rehabilitation.

The study is a collaboration between Dutch and South African institutions, as well as academics and practitioners. This includes the interdisciplinary contributions of the supervision team of Prof Karen Esler (Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, SU), Prof Marja Spierenburg (Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology, Leiden University), and Dr Jessica Cockburn (Department of Environmental Science, Rhodes University). The study is designed and carried out in collaboration with Living Lands, a non-profit company that facilitates landscape-based rehabilitation projects in South Africa in partnership with Commonland, a Dutch-based initiative promoting both socio-economic and ecological outcomes for sustainability. The research is supported by an NRF-Nuffic Doctoral Scholarship and a GreenMatter Fellowship Bursary.

The contributions of the various collaborators have been fundamental to current achievements and progress made, providing perspectives, resources, and insights in unpacking the complexity, uncertainty and contestation involved in rehabilitating landscapes across national, institutional and practice partnerships.

The MEDECOS 2022 conference itself saw significant participation by the Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology. The conference was organised by the Fynbos Forum (43‑year old partnership, chaired by Dr Martina Treurnicht) for ISO‑MED (51‑year old International Society for Mediterranean Ecology), of which Prof Esler is the regional representative.

Dr Tatenda Kawhena received a PhD in Horticultural Science from Stellenbosch University for a study on pomegranates. Photo by Stefan Els/SU

An idea that could eventually help shrink the pomegranate industry’s plastics footprint and can curb food losses along its value chain. That’s what a newly graduated PhD student in Horticultural Sciences at Stellenbosch University (SU), Dr Tatenda Kawhena, came up with when he developed an edible coating that extends the storage and shelf life of this Mediterranean fruit.
 
The coating includes ingredients such as gum Arabic, maize starch, lemongrass essential oil, glycerol and an emulsifier. Gum Arabic, a natural gum, consists of the hardened sap of two species of Acacia tree, Senegalia senegal and Vachellia seyal, which are not indigenous to South Africa.
 
Through laboratory-based studies, Dr Kawhena showed proof of concept that dipping ‘Wonderful’ pomegranates into the solution he developed works well to extend the storage and shelf life of the fruit. Furthermore, the fruits last even longer when they are first dipped into the coating solution, and then packaged in plastic polyliners and standard open cartons.
 
A next step would be to test it within the context of a packhouse.
 
Dr Kawhena started his PhD studies with the grand vision of helping to reduce waste and minimise food loss within the pomegranate industry.
 
There has been a rapid rise in pomegranate production in South Africa to meet global demand. However, pomegranate fruit is highly susceptible to postharvest losses and waste, which limits the growth of the local industry.
 
“Great care must be taken to ensure that pomegranates last as long as possible, and do not go to waste once they have been picked. They are easily damaged along the postharvest logistics chain,” explains Dr Kawhena. “Therefore, the development and application of new science-based technologies to reduce postharvest losses in pomegranate fruit is a priority.
 
“Currently, as part of efforts to make pomegranates being exported last longer, around ten fruit are packed together into a plastic bag, and then further into cartons.. Within one fruit season, that all adds up to a lot of plastic, which is often only used once.”
 
His PhD studies were funded by the Pomegranate Producers’ Association of South Africa (POMESA) and the DSI-NRF South African Research Chairs Initiative (SARChI) in Postharvest Technology at SU. Some of his results have already been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
 
Path towards a PhD 
“With a PhD, you start in the wild and then you find your way through,” Dr Kawhena summarises the many months of experimentation that went into finding the right combination of ingredients for his edible pomegranate coating.
 
He learnt a lot of resilience while pursuing this phase of his research, as it coincided with the hard lockdown COVID-19 months in South Africa, in 2020 and 2021. The SU campus was lonely because only a few students were allowed to pursue their laboratory-based studies.
 
“And I had to work with a mask, which is not something that an agricultural researcher is used to,” he remembers.
 
His studies were supervised by Prof Umezuruike Linus Opara, an agricultural engineer who Dr Kawhena holds in high regard, and Prof Olaniyi Fawole of the University of Johannesburg. Prof Opara is the South African Research Chair (SARChI) in Postharvest Technology, a distinguished professor in the SU Department of Horticultural Science, and a world leader in postharvest care of pomegranates.
 
Dr Kawhena hails from Marondera in Zimbabwe, and matriculated in 2009. He began his life in the agricultural sector by studying crop and soil science as an undergraduate at the University of Fort Hare in South Africa. In 2018 he completed an MSc in Horticultural Science at Stellenbosch University, already under guidance of Prof Opara. During this period, he studied how to control superficial scald on ‘Granny Smith’ apples and ‘Packham’s Triumph’ pears using a non-chemical cold storage technique called Dynamic Controlled Atmosphere (DCA).
 
He is now pursuing a career in the South African horticultural sector, as a Project Manager for Provar, a company based in Paarl focusing on the independent evaluation of new fruit cultivars and rootstocks, and a data centre for the latest product development intelligence.

SU lecturer Dr Rhoda Malgas, founder of the Small Things Fund (in rooi), received her doctorate in conservation ecology from Stellenbosch University. With her are friends and supporters of the Fund, Oluwegbenga Ajila, Siphosethu Magqupu, Monika Basson (a director of the Fund) and Mpho Molapo. Siphosethu Magqupu received her MSc in Animal Sciences at the same ceremony. Photo by Otshepeng Pooe

Conservation Ecology lecturer and founder of the student-centred Small Things Fund, Dr Rhoda Malgas, received her PhD in Conservation Ecology from Stellenbosch University (SU). Her study focused on rural communities who make a living from wild harvesting indigenous rooibos and honeybush in the fynbos region. It has its roots in her experiences working with a tea co-op in Nieuwoudtville.

The Small Things Fund is a crowdfunding initiative that has since 2015 supported students who need small amounts of money to keep going with their studies. In some cases it can mean the difference between academic success or not, between a student giving up or going on.

“We offer first line support to first generation university students in aid of their academic success. To some our contribution might mean being able to buy a lab coat, while to others it might be be in the form of data or airtime, or a ticket to a concert that they need to attend as part of their course. The support we provide is capped at R3500, hence the name of the Fund.”

It is supported by a network of supporters to whom Dr Malgas can turns when she receives requests.

And she never says yes to a request without first sharing a meal and a heart-to-heart chat with the student who has knocked on her door for help.

“Because sometimes that might actually be all that a young person needs to keep going.”

Her decision to start the fund is not only a reflection of her community spirit. It is this first generation scholar from Rocklands in Mitchell’s Plain’s way of paying back the many kind people whose support in big and small ways helped her successfully pursue a career in academia – to the point that she today can write the coveted title of “Dr” in front of her name.

Rural communities who make a living from indigenous teas
Dr Malgas has been a lecturer in Conservation Ecology in the SU Faculty of AgriSciences since 2009. The topic of her PhD thesis by and large reflects her belief that “the search for sustainability is in fact all about the search for community.”

The research idea has its roots in the community education work in the field of public archaeology she did in the early 2000s in Clanwilliam, a town at the heart of South Africa’s rooibos industry, and her later work in the mid-2000s as programme manager for sustainable natural resource use at Indigo Development and Change. In this role she became acquainted with smallscale farmers of the Suid Bokkeveld who are harvestors and custodians of wild rooibos tea. Her subsequent MSc degree from the University of Cape Town, obtained in 2006, had the sustainable harvesting of wild rooibos and the value of local ecological knowledge at its heart. As trustee she is today still closely involved with three community-based agri-conservation initiatives.

“Rooibos and honeybush wild-harvesting supports many rural livelihoods. For that reason, it is important that we sustain production in Fynbos landscapes. Through my research, I explored the plants, and people’s knowledge about them, to investigate how environmental and social sustainability can be achieved,” explains Dr Malgas, who studied archaeology and geography as an undergraduate at UCT.

Her reflections and writings on the topic has Nobel Prize winner and political economic Eleonor Ostrom’s framework of social-ecological systems at heart. Ostrom demonstrated how common property can be successfully managed by user associations.

She used it to better understand the pathways and pitfalls that stand in the way of the longterm sustainability of co-operative ventures in the rooibos and honeybush sectors. This includes sustainable harvesting, sustainable livelihoods and the importance of ensuring that the ecological integrity of wild rooibos and honeybush populations are maintained.

“Findings from the study are relevant for policy formulation.

“The fact that permits are issued for honeybush wild-harvesting in the Eastern Cape, but not in the Western Cape, is an example of a disjuncture in the institutional arrangement within a sector that relies on species that straddle both provinces. The result is a potential loop-hole: there is no mechanism to trace or monitor wild honeybush biomass entering Eastern Cape processing plants. It also nullifies cross-border law enforcement, limiting the effectiveness of the permitting system in the Eastern Cape. This points to institutional weaknesses in the sector.

Dr Malgas is a strong believer of the value that lies in taping into local knowledge when trying to solve big questions such as environmental sustainability, and the provision of better livelihoods in rural communities and conservation of indigenous fynbos crop species.

“I hope my work will inform regulatory frameworks that reflect the ethos of local users. A policy framework more closely aligned with the aspirations of farmers is likely to be more palatable to them. For instance, one should include local knowledge and the monitoring of local species into management plans and harvesting protocols, if you want to ensure sustainable rooibos and honeybush production.”

The African food dialogues are an initiative of the Southern African Food Lab, which is housed in the Faculty of AgriSciences bringing together a panel of leading experts on the food system. The most recent dialogue focused on nutrition inequality with Nicholas Nisbett (IDS, Sussex, UK) and Jane Battersby from the University of Cape Town speaking. This dialogue was facilitated by Prof Thuli Madonsela from the Law Faculty at Stellenbosch University and Prof Dieter von Fintel from Economic and Management Sciences chaired the session.

The viewpoint on reducing inequalities for food security was the main topic of discussion. Nisbett and Battersby presented a report that was commissioned by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) panel of experts by the through the evaluation of the current state of the food system, food security, and nutrition underlying causes. This rigorous research presented identifies additional emerging issues, which then feeds back into a setting of future agenda.

Prof von Fintel said that he found the Dialogue helpful as it was centred around the report of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) High Level Panel on food system and nutrition inequalities that Battersby and Nisbett have been involved in. This work was done with the inputs of experts from multiple disciplines, including economists, lawyers and food systems experts. The FAO is open to comments on the draught of their report into the new year, but at the Dialogue there was a clear call for participation and public commentary from other stakeholders who do not typically participate in these high-level debates. This kind of participation indicates that the FAO panel is concerned about both food inequalities and participation inequalities.

The panel’s discussion emphasised many aspects of the food system and went beyond just “farm to fork”. It involved; how should we consider the contribution of food waste? the causes of inequality? How should we consider land rights in maintaining current inequalities or keeping people in poverty? Considering that the majority of young people finishing agricultural skill training lack access to land; how then can we enable these people to use their skills? Is there a possibility to re-engage training on indigenous food?

The discussion also touched on the double burden of malnutrition on young children and their caregivers in south Africa, expressing concern that data shows inequality outcomes – that 25% of children are stunted and the health implications of this long-term are not acceptable and demand attention. The difficult question of ‘how’ to change these numbers was an exit point. With the suggestion that many small transformations as well as systemic ones are needed.

“There were serious concerns about who should be in charge of food production as well as the viability of using traditional, climate-resilient crops to address current issues in the food system. The effectiveness of social transfers in reducing food inequalities has been questioned.” Adds Prof von Fintel

In summary, the discussion clarified the relationship between social justice and food equity, and how to build commitments and action to address unfairness, injustice, and exclusion.