Soil securitization is increasingly becoming a quintessential currency for attaining sustainable ... more Soil securitization is increasingly becoming a quintessential currency for attaining sustainable development given the mounting global concerns of land degradation, loss of biological diversity and associated ecosystem services, climate change, food insecurity, and water stress. A well-functioning soil is a panacea to address these global concerns. This paper describes the contribution of conservation agriculture (CA) to biological diversity protection, climate change adaptation and mitigation, ecosystem service delivery, food security, and water security as a potential entry point for soil securitization. Using a review of literature, we share some insights into the contribution of CA to the soil security discourse. In our review, we also make key recommendations for good practices under each soil security pillar. Thus, we conclude that empirical research is required to deepen our understanding of the benefits of CA in soil security, especially in developing countries.
Emerging pests and diseases are a major threat to food production worldwide. In a recent survey, ... more Emerging pests and diseases are a major threat to food production worldwide. In a recent survey, Tomato torrado virus (ToTV) was identified on tomato crops in the Limpopo province of South Africa and a first report of the disease was published. In this follow-up study, the full genome sequence of a tomato-infecting isolate of ToTV from South Africa was elucidated. High-throughput sequencing was used to generate the full genome of ToTV infecting tomato crops in South Africa. The longest contig obtained for the RNA-1 and RNA-2 genome of ToTV was comprised of 7420 and 5381 nucleotides (nt), respectively. Blast analysis of the RNA-1 sequence of ToTV from South Africa (ToT-186) matched 99% to a Spanish and Polish isolate; the RNA-2 segment of ToTV from South Africa (ToT-186) matched 99% to ToTV isolates from Italy and Poland, respectively. The information presented in this study will go a long way towards better understanding the emergence and spread of ToTV and devising sustainable mana...
Globally, climate change poses enormous threats to the livelihoods of rural communities in arid a... more Globally, climate change poses enormous threats to the livelihoods of rural communities in arid and semi-arid regions. Assessing the extent of vulnerability is critical to identify climate hot spots and develop appropriate adaptation policies and strategies. This paper uses the Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) and the Livelihood Vulnerability Index—Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (LVI-IPCC) to compare vulnerability to climate change in the Exchange, Insukamini, and Ruchanyu smallholder irrigation schemes (SISs) in the Midlands Province of Zimbabwe. A questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 317 randomly selected households. Results show higher exposure and sensitivity to climate change in the Insukamini irrigation scheme despite the higher adaptive capacity. Both LVI and LVI-IPCC show that households in Insukamini irrigation scheme are more vulnerable to climate change than in Exchange and Ruchanyu irrigation schemes, attributed to water insecurity, poor...
Smallholder farmers in Limpopo Province generate income through growing vegetable crops such as c... more Smallholder farmers in Limpopo Province generate income through growing vegetable crops such as cabbage, tomato, and okra. These crops are produced for local and national markets. Okra crops are highly constrained by aphids. Smallholder farmers rely only on synthetic insecticides to manage aphids. This paper evaluated the efficacy of five plant materials (bio pesticides): pawpaw (Carica papaya L.), Mexican marigold (Tagetes minuta L.), serrano pepper (Capsicum annuum L.), common lantana (Lantana camara L.) and tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) on Aphis gossypii population in okra production. The field experiment was laid in a randomized complete block design, with seven treatments (five plant materials, mercaptothion insecticide as a control and the absolute control) replicated three times. Aphid abundance, leaf damage and the correlation between leaf damage and aphid abundance were analyzed using analysis of variance. Carica papaya L. (0.87) and Tagetes minuta L. (0.87) were more effe...
Maize production under smallholder systems in South Africa (RSA) depends on rainfall. Incidences ... more Maize production under smallholder systems in South Africa (RSA) depends on rainfall. Incidences of dry spells throughout the growing season have affected maize yields negatively. The study examined water distribution and water use efficiency (WUE) of maize rotated with two-year pigeonpea fallows as compared to continuous maize without fertilizer. A randomized complete block design, replicated three times, was used with four treatments, which included continuous unfertilized maize, natural fallow-maize, pigeonpea + grass-pigeonpea-maize, and two-year pigeonpea fallow-maize. Soil water mark sensors were installed 0.2; 0.5; and 1.2 m on each plot to monitor soil water tension (kPa). Soil samples were analyzed using pressure plates to determine water retention curves which were used to convert soil water tension to volumetric water content. Maize rotated with two-year pigeonpea fallows had higher dry matter yield (11,661 kg ha−1) and WUE (20.78 kg mm−1) than continuous maize (5314 kg h...
Smallholder irrigation farming is valuable for improving the welfare of rural communities in Sout... more Smallholder irrigation farming is valuable for improving the welfare of rural communities in South Africa. Irrigation schemes in South Africa perform below average as some collapsed. Boosting performance of irrigation schemes will ensure economic sustainability for low-income earners. There is little scholarly literature on factors affecting performance of smallholder irrigation schemes in South Africa. Therefore, this study assessed factors affecting yield and gross margin of sweet potato in Tshiombo Irrigation Scheme. Data was collected using structured questionnaires, Focus Group Discussions and in-depth interviews. Performance of the irrigation scheme was analysed using Ordinary Least Square. Yield or gross margin of sweet potatoes were used as proxies for scheme performance. Six estimators, namely age of farmers (-0.022), labour availability (-0.185), cultivated area (-0.130), pesticide subsidy (0.138), market price (6.090), and distance of the plot from the main canal (0.191) ...
The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa
Small-scale fisheries play a significant role in enhancing livelihoods, creating employment and c... more Small-scale fisheries play a significant role in enhancing livelihoods, creating employment and contributing to food security especially in developing countries. Rural fishing communities are highly dependent on natural resources, which are climate sensitive. Many research efforts have been made to understand the impacts of climate change on fisheries and fishing economies. However, little attention has been given to understand the challenges experienced by small-scale fishing communities in developing countries in Africa. This article assesses non-climate change and climate change-induced challenges according to the experiences of the gillnet small-scale fishers of Sanyathi fishing basin of Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe. The study used a qualitative research design, and data were collected using semi-structured in-depth interviews with fishers. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse interview transcripts. The study results showed that declining fish catches is one of the major chall...
Vegetable production is a source of income for smallholder farmers in Limpopo Province, South Afr... more Vegetable production is a source of income for smallholder farmers in Limpopo Province, South Africa. Vegetable production is constrained by the negative impacts of climate change and pests. This study assessed farmers’ awareness of climate change, farmers’ knowledge of insect pests and factors that influence insect pests’ prevalence. The data were collected using quantitative and qualitative methods. The data were subjected to descriptive and bivariate analysis. About 84.5% of smallholder farmers were aware of climate change. Late rainfall (24.4%), long dry spells (15%) and increased drought frequency (19.4%) were highlighted as dominant indicators of climate change by farmers. Aphids (22.2%), Bagrada hilaris (12.5%) and Spodoptera frugiperda (10.2%) were the most prevalent insect pests within the Vhembe District. Warmer winters, dry spells and high temperatures were perceived by farmers to influence insect pests’ prevalence within the district. It can be concluded that farmers are...
Renewed interest in the nexus between sustainability and food security has led to growing discuss... more Renewed interest in the nexus between sustainability and food security has led to growing discussions on the use of food sovereignty principles in agricultural practice. As a result of the transfiguration of the urban and socioeconomic landscape in the global South, urban and peri-urban agriculture has been touted as a potential response to increasing food insecurity in cities. Yet, both urban and peri-urban agriculture and food sovereignty have attracted cursory scholarship and programming in Zimbabwe due to fixation on more dominant rural and conventional agriculture. Beyond the rudimentary idea that the urban landscape is unfit for food production, literature has demonstrated that urban households have ingrained urban and peri-urban agriculture into their livelihoods. Regardless, institutional arrangements governing the practice remain ambivalent towards the practice, bringing to question the ability of households to fully exploit the benefits of the practice. This review undersc...
Considering the high maize yield loses caused by incidences of disease, as well as incomprehensiv... more Considering the high maize yield loses caused by incidences of disease, as well as incomprehensive monitoring initiatives in crop farming, there is a need for spatially explicit, cost-effective, and consistent approaches for monitoring, as well as for forecasting, food-crop diseases, such as maize Gray Leaf Spot. Such approaches are valuable in reducing the associated economic losses while fostering food security. In this study, we sought to investigate the utility of the forthcoming HyspIRI sensor in detecting disease progression of Maize Gray Leaf Spot infestation in relation to the Sentinel-2 MSI and Landsat 8 OLI spectral configurations simulated using proximally sensed data. Healthy, intermediate, and severe categories of maize crop infections by the Gray Leaf Spot disease were discriminated based on partial least squares–discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) algorithm. Comparatively, the results show that the HyspIRI’s simulated spectral settings slightly performed better than those ...
International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between gender and social ca... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between gender and social capital in adapting to climate variability in the arid and semi-arid regions in Turkana in Kenya. Design/methodology/approach This paper undertook literature review of secondary data sources, conducted focus group discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews (KIIs). The statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze data for the quantitative part of the paper. Findings Vulnerability is influenced by age, gender, education and disability. Elderly women are considered to be the most vulnerable to climate variability and change because they are the poorest in the community, followed by elderly men, the disabled, female-headed households, married women, men and, finally, the youth. Less than 30 per cent of women and men in both Katilu and Loima are able to read and write. The cross-tabulation results show that there is a statistical significant relationship between g...
Coryphodema tristis is a wood-boring insect, indigenous to South Africa, that has recently been i... more Coryphodema tristis is a wood-boring insect, indigenous to South Africa, that has recently been identified as an emerging pest feeding on Eucalyptus nitens, resulting in extensive damage and economic loss. Eucalyptus plantations contributes over 9% to the total exported manufactured goods of South Africa which contributes significantly to the gross domestic product. Currently, the distribution extent of the Coryphodema tristis is unknown and estimated to infest Eucalyptus nitens compartments from less than 1% to nearly 80%, which is certainly a concern for the forestry sector related to the quantity and quality of yield produced. Therefore, the study sought to model the probability of occurrence of Coryphodema tristis on Eucalyptus nitens plantations in Mpumalanga, South Africa, using data from the Sentinel-2 multispectral instrument (MSI). Traditional field surveys were carried out through mass trapping in all compartments (n = 878) of Eucalyptus nitens plantations. Only 371 Eucaly...
Soil securitization is increasingly becoming a quintessential currency for attaining sustainable ... more Soil securitization is increasingly becoming a quintessential currency for attaining sustainable development given the mounting global concerns of land degradation, loss of biological diversity and associated ecosystem services, climate change, food insecurity, and water stress. A well-functioning soil is a panacea to address these global concerns. This paper describes the contribution of conservation agriculture (CA) to biological diversity protection, climate change adaptation and mitigation, ecosystem service delivery, food security, and water security as a potential entry point for soil securitization. Using a review of literature, we share some insights into the contribution of CA to the soil security discourse. In our review, we also make key recommendations for good practices under each soil security pillar. Thus, we conclude that empirical research is required to deepen our understanding of the benefits of CA in soil security, especially in developing countries.
Emerging pests and diseases are a major threat to food production worldwide. In a recent survey, ... more Emerging pests and diseases are a major threat to food production worldwide. In a recent survey, Tomato torrado virus (ToTV) was identified on tomato crops in the Limpopo province of South Africa and a first report of the disease was published. In this follow-up study, the full genome sequence of a tomato-infecting isolate of ToTV from South Africa was elucidated. High-throughput sequencing was used to generate the full genome of ToTV infecting tomato crops in South Africa. The longest contig obtained for the RNA-1 and RNA-2 genome of ToTV was comprised of 7420 and 5381 nucleotides (nt), respectively. Blast analysis of the RNA-1 sequence of ToTV from South Africa (ToT-186) matched 99% to a Spanish and Polish isolate; the RNA-2 segment of ToTV from South Africa (ToT-186) matched 99% to ToTV isolates from Italy and Poland, respectively. The information presented in this study will go a long way towards better understanding the emergence and spread of ToTV and devising sustainable mana...
Globally, climate change poses enormous threats to the livelihoods of rural communities in arid a... more Globally, climate change poses enormous threats to the livelihoods of rural communities in arid and semi-arid regions. Assessing the extent of vulnerability is critical to identify climate hot spots and develop appropriate adaptation policies and strategies. This paper uses the Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) and the Livelihood Vulnerability Index—Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (LVI-IPCC) to compare vulnerability to climate change in the Exchange, Insukamini, and Ruchanyu smallholder irrigation schemes (SISs) in the Midlands Province of Zimbabwe. A questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 317 randomly selected households. Results show higher exposure and sensitivity to climate change in the Insukamini irrigation scheme despite the higher adaptive capacity. Both LVI and LVI-IPCC show that households in Insukamini irrigation scheme are more vulnerable to climate change than in Exchange and Ruchanyu irrigation schemes, attributed to water insecurity, poor...
Smallholder farmers in Limpopo Province generate income through growing vegetable crops such as c... more Smallholder farmers in Limpopo Province generate income through growing vegetable crops such as cabbage, tomato, and okra. These crops are produced for local and national markets. Okra crops are highly constrained by aphids. Smallholder farmers rely only on synthetic insecticides to manage aphids. This paper evaluated the efficacy of five plant materials (bio pesticides): pawpaw (Carica papaya L.), Mexican marigold (Tagetes minuta L.), serrano pepper (Capsicum annuum L.), common lantana (Lantana camara L.) and tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) on Aphis gossypii population in okra production. The field experiment was laid in a randomized complete block design, with seven treatments (five plant materials, mercaptothion insecticide as a control and the absolute control) replicated three times. Aphid abundance, leaf damage and the correlation between leaf damage and aphid abundance were analyzed using analysis of variance. Carica papaya L. (0.87) and Tagetes minuta L. (0.87) were more effe...
Maize production under smallholder systems in South Africa (RSA) depends on rainfall. Incidences ... more Maize production under smallholder systems in South Africa (RSA) depends on rainfall. Incidences of dry spells throughout the growing season have affected maize yields negatively. The study examined water distribution and water use efficiency (WUE) of maize rotated with two-year pigeonpea fallows as compared to continuous maize without fertilizer. A randomized complete block design, replicated three times, was used with four treatments, which included continuous unfertilized maize, natural fallow-maize, pigeonpea + grass-pigeonpea-maize, and two-year pigeonpea fallow-maize. Soil water mark sensors were installed 0.2; 0.5; and 1.2 m on each plot to monitor soil water tension (kPa). Soil samples were analyzed using pressure plates to determine water retention curves which were used to convert soil water tension to volumetric water content. Maize rotated with two-year pigeonpea fallows had higher dry matter yield (11,661 kg ha−1) and WUE (20.78 kg mm−1) than continuous maize (5314 kg h...
Smallholder irrigation farming is valuable for improving the welfare of rural communities in Sout... more Smallholder irrigation farming is valuable for improving the welfare of rural communities in South Africa. Irrigation schemes in South Africa perform below average as some collapsed. Boosting performance of irrigation schemes will ensure economic sustainability for low-income earners. There is little scholarly literature on factors affecting performance of smallholder irrigation schemes in South Africa. Therefore, this study assessed factors affecting yield and gross margin of sweet potato in Tshiombo Irrigation Scheme. Data was collected using structured questionnaires, Focus Group Discussions and in-depth interviews. Performance of the irrigation scheme was analysed using Ordinary Least Square. Yield or gross margin of sweet potatoes were used as proxies for scheme performance. Six estimators, namely age of farmers (-0.022), labour availability (-0.185), cultivated area (-0.130), pesticide subsidy (0.138), market price (6.090), and distance of the plot from the main canal (0.191) ...
The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa
Small-scale fisheries play a significant role in enhancing livelihoods, creating employment and c... more Small-scale fisheries play a significant role in enhancing livelihoods, creating employment and contributing to food security especially in developing countries. Rural fishing communities are highly dependent on natural resources, which are climate sensitive. Many research efforts have been made to understand the impacts of climate change on fisheries and fishing economies. However, little attention has been given to understand the challenges experienced by small-scale fishing communities in developing countries in Africa. This article assesses non-climate change and climate change-induced challenges according to the experiences of the gillnet small-scale fishers of Sanyathi fishing basin of Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe. The study used a qualitative research design, and data were collected using semi-structured in-depth interviews with fishers. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse interview transcripts. The study results showed that declining fish catches is one of the major chall...
Vegetable production is a source of income for smallholder farmers in Limpopo Province, South Afr... more Vegetable production is a source of income for smallholder farmers in Limpopo Province, South Africa. Vegetable production is constrained by the negative impacts of climate change and pests. This study assessed farmers’ awareness of climate change, farmers’ knowledge of insect pests and factors that influence insect pests’ prevalence. The data were collected using quantitative and qualitative methods. The data were subjected to descriptive and bivariate analysis. About 84.5% of smallholder farmers were aware of climate change. Late rainfall (24.4%), long dry spells (15%) and increased drought frequency (19.4%) were highlighted as dominant indicators of climate change by farmers. Aphids (22.2%), Bagrada hilaris (12.5%) and Spodoptera frugiperda (10.2%) were the most prevalent insect pests within the Vhembe District. Warmer winters, dry spells and high temperatures were perceived by farmers to influence insect pests’ prevalence within the district. It can be concluded that farmers are...
Renewed interest in the nexus between sustainability and food security has led to growing discuss... more Renewed interest in the nexus between sustainability and food security has led to growing discussions on the use of food sovereignty principles in agricultural practice. As a result of the transfiguration of the urban and socioeconomic landscape in the global South, urban and peri-urban agriculture has been touted as a potential response to increasing food insecurity in cities. Yet, both urban and peri-urban agriculture and food sovereignty have attracted cursory scholarship and programming in Zimbabwe due to fixation on more dominant rural and conventional agriculture. Beyond the rudimentary idea that the urban landscape is unfit for food production, literature has demonstrated that urban households have ingrained urban and peri-urban agriculture into their livelihoods. Regardless, institutional arrangements governing the practice remain ambivalent towards the practice, bringing to question the ability of households to fully exploit the benefits of the practice. This review undersc...
Considering the high maize yield loses caused by incidences of disease, as well as incomprehensiv... more Considering the high maize yield loses caused by incidences of disease, as well as incomprehensive monitoring initiatives in crop farming, there is a need for spatially explicit, cost-effective, and consistent approaches for monitoring, as well as for forecasting, food-crop diseases, such as maize Gray Leaf Spot. Such approaches are valuable in reducing the associated economic losses while fostering food security. In this study, we sought to investigate the utility of the forthcoming HyspIRI sensor in detecting disease progression of Maize Gray Leaf Spot infestation in relation to the Sentinel-2 MSI and Landsat 8 OLI spectral configurations simulated using proximally sensed data. Healthy, intermediate, and severe categories of maize crop infections by the Gray Leaf Spot disease were discriminated based on partial least squares–discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) algorithm. Comparatively, the results show that the HyspIRI’s simulated spectral settings slightly performed better than those ...
International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between gender and social ca... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between gender and social capital in adapting to climate variability in the arid and semi-arid regions in Turkana in Kenya. Design/methodology/approach This paper undertook literature review of secondary data sources, conducted focus group discussions (FGDs) and key informant interviews (KIIs). The statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze data for the quantitative part of the paper. Findings Vulnerability is influenced by age, gender, education and disability. Elderly women are considered to be the most vulnerable to climate variability and change because they are the poorest in the community, followed by elderly men, the disabled, female-headed households, married women, men and, finally, the youth. Less than 30 per cent of women and men in both Katilu and Loima are able to read and write. The cross-tabulation results show that there is a statistical significant relationship between g...
Coryphodema tristis is a wood-boring insect, indigenous to South Africa, that has recently been i... more Coryphodema tristis is a wood-boring insect, indigenous to South Africa, that has recently been identified as an emerging pest feeding on Eucalyptus nitens, resulting in extensive damage and economic loss. Eucalyptus plantations contributes over 9% to the total exported manufactured goods of South Africa which contributes significantly to the gross domestic product. Currently, the distribution extent of the Coryphodema tristis is unknown and estimated to infest Eucalyptus nitens compartments from less than 1% to nearly 80%, which is certainly a concern for the forestry sector related to the quantity and quality of yield produced. Therefore, the study sought to model the probability of occurrence of Coryphodema tristis on Eucalyptus nitens plantations in Mpumalanga, South Africa, using data from the Sentinel-2 multispectral instrument (MSI). Traditional field surveys were carried out through mass trapping in all compartments (n = 878) of Eucalyptus nitens plantations. Only 371 Eucaly...
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