Johann Kirsten
University of Pretoria, Agricultural Economics, Faculty Member
ABSTRACT
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Research Interests: Business, Human Geography, Economics, Agricultural Economics, Applied Economics, and 15 moreGenetically Modified Crops, Production economics, South Africa, Developing Country, Business and Management, Insect Resistance, Profitability, Research and Development, Efficiency, South African, Emerging Technology, Bt Cotton, Farm management, Large Scale, and Production Efficiency
Research Interests: Geography and Agriculture
This study compares models for university engagement with private and public sector employers in Africa. It compares engagement models in countries with more developed food systems (South Africa) and a sample of selected African countries... more
This study compares models for university engagement with private and public sector employers in Africa. It compares engagement models in countries with more developed food systems (South Africa) and a sample of selected African countries with less developed food systems - Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Senegal. The study was conducted in two parts. Part one consisted of desk top review of the available literature in order to identify the available engagement models and development of a conceptual framework for engagement, and part two consisted of conducting structured interviews with selected private agricultural companies and public employers.
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Purpose This paper aims to make an empirical contribution by investigating the enforcement mechanisms and governance structures required to protect and govern a regional food product when public certification fails. As one of the recent... more
Purpose This paper aims to make an empirical contribution by investigating the enforcement mechanisms and governance structures required to protect and govern a regional food product when public certification fails. As one of the recent additions to South Africa’s repertoire of products with a designated origin, Karoo Lamb made for an interesting case study. Design/methodology/approach A conjoint analysis was conducted to elicit the farmers’ preferred enforcement mechanisms to protect the authenticity of the Karoo Lamb product. The investigation, furthermore, draws on survey data collected among 73 farmers, five abattoirs, two processors/packers and five retail outlets to evaluate the governance structures of the Karoo Lamb supply chain. Findings The results indicate that due to failed public certification that is governed by market-like structures, Karoo Lamb is better off being governed by hierarchical structures. These structures are expected to allow for a stronger focus on stri...
Research Interests: Business, Marketing, Supply Chain Management, Corporate Governance, Governance, and 14 moreConjoint Analysis, Supply Chain, South Africa, Business and Management, Buyer-Supplier Relationships, Enforcement, Monitoring, Originality, Transactional model, Certification, Meat Industry, Governance structures, enforcement mechanisms, and Conjoint Experiment
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Purpose - – African agri-food systems are undergoing major structural change in response to growing urbanization, rising incomes and shifting patterns of food consumption. The purpose of this paper is to explore four major dimensions of... more
Purpose - – African agri-food systems are undergoing major structural change in response to growing urbanization, rising incomes and shifting patterns of food consumption. The purpose of this paper is to explore four major dimensions of this surprisingly rapid structural shift in African food systems. Design/methodology/approach - – This chapter synthesizes the six chapters and in addition discusses future implications for agricultural education and training (AET) in Africa. Findings - – AET institutions face multiple pressures as a result of these ongoing changes. High fertility rates have produced a youth bulge that currently strains educational capacity at all levels and places huge pressures accommodating 700 million youth job market entrants over the coming 30 years. Research limitations/implications - – Countries vary considerably in a number of socio-economic and political dimensions making it difficult to completely generalize on each and every issue. Cross-country comparison to the level of determining which country is better than the other in many of the variables is difficult. Originality/value - – Synthesis of key parameters to consider in increasing the relevance of AET institutions in Africa.
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Research Interests: Human Geography, Economics, International Trade, Agricultural Policy, Agriculture, and 13 moreApplied Economics, Production economics, South Africa, Business and Management, Maize, Sorghum, Profitability, Economic Impact, South African, Mathematical Model, Liberalization, Production Cost, and Profitability Index
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Literature is awash with strategies of how the farm productivity of the smallholder agricultural sector can be transformed to equal that of the commercial sector. Policy options that have been suggested to transform smallholder... more
Literature is awash with strategies of how the farm productivity of the smallholder agricultural sector can be transformed to equal that of the commercial sector. Policy options that have been suggested to transform smallholder agriculture have centred on increasing state financial investments in areas such as infrastructural development, mechanisation and market access. However, this paper provides a practical demonstration of how prioritising investment in research and development (R&D can achieve this goal. It particularly focuses on how consistent funding towards breeding can lead to the establishment of a strong industry that can remain productive in face of various changes in the market, production environment and institutional domains. Using the Cost-Benefit variation of the Economic Surplus Approach, the paper shows that the use of new locally bred peach varieties, as opposed to obsolete and imported varieties has yielded benefits estimated to range around R61.2 million (inf...
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South African agriculture has a long history of ever increasing governmental intervention, reaching a zenith in approximately 1980, with a horde of laws, ordinances, statutes and regulations. These measures affected all aspects of... more
South African agriculture has a long history of ever increasing governmental intervention, reaching a zenith in approximately 1980, with a horde of laws, ordinances, statutes and regulations. These measures affected all aspects of agriculture, including prices of and/or access to and/or use of natural resources, finance, capital, labour, local markets, foreign
Providing affordable access to appropriate financial services for the low-income population has been an on-going challenge for most developing nations, Zambia included. On this premise, this paper seeks to empirically investigate and... more
Providing affordable access to appropriate financial services for the low-income population has been an on-going challenge for most developing nations, Zambia included. On this premise, this paper seeks to empirically investigate and quantify costs to clients in accessing financial services in the rural areas of Zambia, based on cross-sectional primary data collected in the Chongwe district from 236 households, documentation and key informant interviews. This study used the Probit and Heckman selection models to analyse cost to the client factors affecting the likelihood of accessing financial services (credit) by rural households in Zambia. Results revealed that households’ costs incurred by clients in accessing financial services are not limited to financial costs such interest, fees, transport and savings, etc., but equally other hidden costs such regulatory and compliance costs, economic costs, psychological costs, and social and cultural costs. The study recommends that policy ...
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Global trade protection in the form of tariffs has been on the downward trend since the conclusion of the World Trade Organisation Uruguay Round of negotiations. The same pattern was observed in SADC as well as other regional integration... more
Global trade protection in the form of tariffs has been on the downward trend since the conclusion of the World Trade Organisation Uruguay Round of negotiations. The same pattern was observed in SADC as well as other regional integration groups. In SADC the declining trade protection was not accompanied by improvement in trade performance. If anything, the share of intra-SADC trade has actually declined during the phase down of tariffs in the eight year period. This study explores the possible reason for poor trade performance in the tariff reducing environment using meat and dairy markets as case studies over the period 2000 to 2010. It is hypothesised that non tariff measures (NTMs) are more trade restricting that tariffs. The statistics show that on average each agricultural product traded is affected by about ten NTM. These vary from country to country, with Mozambique having the highest incidence of NTMs, and the lowest being Malawi. On a product level, fruits are the most affe...
In 1994, South Africa changed its political system from apartheid to democratic regime. In the spirit Act (NWA) was enacted in 1998. One of the purposes of the 1998 NWA was the decentralization of water resource management at most... more
In 1994, South Africa changed its political system from apartheid to democratic regime. In the spirit Act (NWA) was enacted in 1998. One of the purposes of the 1998 NWA was the decentralization of water resource management at most appropriate level. Under the 1998 Water Act, the country was divided into nineteen Water Management Areas (WMAs). One of the WMA created under the 1998 NWA is the Inkomati Water Management Area (IWMA). However, the pace and outcome of the decentralization process in South and in particular in IWMA since 1998 have not been satisfactory to many stakeholders. This study aims to understand the water reform process in Inkomati Water Management Area (IWMA) by evaluating the factors that impact the outcome of decentralization process and performance using a case study approach. Under this method, collected data are compared and contrasted with the hypotheses made in the literature about the impact of selected variables on the river basin decentralization process ...
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Identifying the factors that influence competitiveness is imperative in order, to appreciate the position of the firm in relation to its environment and to propose appropriate measures and strategies for increasing competitiveness of... more
Identifying the factors that influence competitiveness is imperative in order, to appreciate the position of the firm in relation to its environment and to propose appropriate measures and strategies for increasing competitiveness of agribusiness firms. The study sought to determine the competitiveness of the agribusiness sector in Swaziland and to identify the factors affecting competitiveness. Porter’s (1998) theory of the determinants of competitive advantage was applied in the analysis. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics. The results indicated that the top 3 constraining factors to competitiveness were: the unavailability of professional labour (mean = 1.63); high cost of supplies/inputs (mean = 1.69); incompetence of public sector personnel (mean = 1.69); ineffective public sector personnel (mean = 1.88) and the size of the local market (mean = 1.88). The enhancing factors to competitiveness were: production of affordable high quality products (mean = 4.19); availa...
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Research Interests: Geography and Agriculture
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The specific objective of this paper is to determine expenditure patterns of rural households with a view to evaluating factors which make households more food secured. Expenditure patterns of households participating in the Farmer... more
The specific objective of this paper is to determine expenditure patterns of rural households with a view to evaluating factors which make households more food secured. Expenditure patterns of households participating in the Farmer Support Programme of DBSA were analysed and compared with no-participants in two areas, Lebowa and Venda. It is evident from the results of this study that
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Research Interests: Human Geography, Economics, Agricultural Economics, Tobacco, Agriculture, and 14 moreApplied Economics, Production economics, Business and Management, Maize, Profitability, Commodity prices, Comparative Advantage, Agricultural Production, Incentive, Soybean, Commodity, Transport Costs, Policy Analysis Matrix, and Profitability Index
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... A household's wealth determines its 'bar-gaining power' in exchange relations (Haile Gebrial, 2000). ... Two approaches are commonly used to get a 'snapshot' of household differentiation in... more
... A household's wealth determines its 'bar-gaining power' in exchange relations (Haile Gebrial, 2000). ... Two approaches are commonly used to get a 'snapshot' of household differentiation in terms of stratification (Haile Gebrial, 2000). ...
Research Interests: Geography, Socioeconomics, Data Analysis, Rural Development, Food Security, and 15 moreLivelihood, Diversification, Discriminant Analysis, Descriptive Statistics, Agricultural Sustainability, Livelihoods, Food Insecurity, Classification, Psychological Intervention, Analyse de données et statistique, Rural Livelihood, Endowment, Durabilité, Enquête, and Logit Model
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Research Interests: Economics, Agricultural Economics, Rural Development, Productivity, Agriculture, and 14 moreEconomic Development, Data Envelopment Analysis, Applied Economics, Wine, Production economics, South Africa, Case Study, Agricultural Productivity, Survey data, Total factor productivity, Farm Size, Constant Returns to Scale, Economies of Scale, and Returns to Scale
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The Karoo Meat of Origin certification scheme is the first certification scheme established to differentiate and protect a region of origin meat product in South Africa. Although this scheme has come a long way in protecting the value... more
The Karoo Meat of Origin certification scheme is the first certification scheme established to differentiate and protect a region of origin meat product in South Africa. Although this scheme has come a long way in protecting the value embedded in the name ‘Karoo’, many challenges and loopholes for non-compliance still exist. These challenges include opportunistic behaviour on the farmers’ side regarding the vulnerable free range claim as well as inconsistent supply and mismatched objectives of supply chain stakeholders. Because of these challenges the niche product has not yet come to its own. The purpose of this case study is threefold. Firstly, to understand the notion of Karoo Lamb as a geographical indication, and the subsequent establishment of the Karoo Meat of Origin certification scheme. Secondly, to identify and understand both the institutional and supply chain challenges that Karoo Lamb is faced with. Thirdly, to guide the certification scheme to evaluate their modus oper...
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South Africa is unlikely to appear in the 'high risk'category in any international rating of food security. Despite its comparatively unfavourable natural resource base, in most years, it is a net exporter of agricultural... more
South Africa is unlikely to appear in the 'high risk'category in any international rating of food security. Despite its comparatively unfavourable natural resource base, in most years, it is a net exporter of agricultural commodities. Its per capita income is high for a developing country. It does not have a tight foreign exchange constraint. It is not landlocked. Its transport infrastructure is generally good. Its constitution entrenches the right to adequate nutrition for all and it has devised a national Integrated Food Security Strategy (IFSS). Clearly, food ...