Academic literature on the topic 'Forest products industry South Africa Mpumalanga'

Branded meat of consistently high quality has earned a reputation worldwide as a means to increase beef consumption. The feedlot industry is the main beef producer in South Africa and falls in the category of Small Businesses. For these small business meat retailers to be successful in an industry subjected to fierce competition, it is necessary to be innovative in a market where high quality beef serves as just another commodity. This study explored the marketing efforts of meat producers in Middelburg, Mpumalanga, by drawing tangent planes between effective marketing and the knowledgeable consumer. The research approach that was used included both quantitative and qualitative research. The population consisted of consumers buying meat products at three different retailers in Middelburg, Mpumalanga. A sample of 612 was conveniently selected for the study. A total of 588 questionnaires were completed. The results of the study provide insights into the measures that influence brand equity for branded meat products. The importance to establish a link between brand variables and consumers perception regarding the importance of these variables is thus critical in the success of branded meat products. These marketing insights make a significant contribution to the competitive marketing strategies of small business meat retailers.

The feedlot industry is the main beef producer in South Africa and falls in the category of Small Businesses. For these small business enterprises to be successful in an industry subjected to fierce competition, it is necessary to be innovative in a market where high quality beef serves as just another commodity. Previous research has shown that demographic factors can influence brand preferences. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationships between language and gender with brand attribute preference. Another objective was to identify opportunities that will differentiate and position branded meat products that will create consumer equity and build strong brand names. The case study approach was used and included quantitative and qualitative research. The population consisted of consumers buying meat products at the different retailers in Middelburg, Mpumalanga, under the brand names Kanhym Fresh Meat, Farm Inn Meat, and Franks Meat. A sample of 612 was conveniently selected for the study. A total of 588 questionnaires were completed. This study confirmed the interrelationship of the demographic variables gender and language that may affect consumers preferences. This means consumers will try different products with specific attributes. The results of this study identify opportunities of implementing strategies to maintain and enhance the competitiveness of branded meat retailers. It is finally recommended that brand retailers determine the demographic and psychographic profile of their target market for a specific product when producing or marketing products.

Background Traditional medicines remain an important health-care service among African indigenous cultures. In South Africa, medicinal plant use (bark, roots, bulbs, and herbs) threatens biodiversity and the sustainability of this informal industry. Several realities have stimulated experimental and adaptive management research into cultivation of key high-demand medicinal plant species in and around the home gardens of poor rural communities for domestic use and for trade: declining supplies, localized extinctions, increasing market prices, and economic opportunities for commercializing traditional medicinal products. Objective and methods This paper reviews three recent South African studies aiming to create alternative medicinal plant resources to reduce dependency on the dwindling wild resources: commercial production of medicinal crop plants; chemistry of wild versus cultivated plants, and of bark versus leaves; and growing of forest tree seedlings in rural home gardens. Results Cultivation trials and chemical testing indicated that different agricultural treatments suit each species differently in terms of either rapid growth rates, strong chemical concentrations, or both. Wild-harvested plants of some species have stronger chemical concentrations than cultivated plants. For several tree species, the bark and leaves contain the same active components associated with healing. Conclusions Successful propagation is not dependent on elaborate and expensive equipment and technologies, but rather on some basic principles of plant growth and methods of manipulating these under controlled conditions. An alternative cultivation method for tree species is the production of leaves as opposed to bark. Cultivation could be done successfully at the school, in home gardens, and in production systems in the village.

IN 1929, the French colonial administration's forced recruitment of labor for two road construction projects designed to create more effective transportation links between the town of Lambaréné on the Middle Ogooué and the colonial post at Mouila on the Upper Ngounié led to food shortages in several parts of southern Gabon. A disturbing pattern had developed over the previous 15 years where colonial demands for labor led to disruptions in the seasonal cycle of agricultural production. Able-bodied men forced to gather forest products or work as porters to pay the head tax, or required to participate in the construction of colonial infrastructure projects, or even willingly employed as laborers in the growing timber industry, could not meet their traditional obligations to clear fields for women farmers during the long dry season (generally June to September), thus leading to poor harvests and food shortages. French officials at the end of the 1920s were especially anxious as the Fang populations in the northern portion of the colony had experienced severe famine several years earlier, partly due to male workers being recruited into the timber industry. Memories of famine occurring between 1916 and 1918 were also quite vivid among the peoples living along the Ngounié. Labor recruitment for the timber industry and colonial infrastructure projects remained a precarious enterprise at the outset of the 1930s. Yet by the 1940s, the most difficult segment of the Lambaréné–Mouila road network – a 50 kilometer stretch through hilly, forested terrain south of Lambaréné – was completed without resorting to forced labor and without the threat of food shortages. The intervening decade had witnessed the final stage of the transformation of Gabonese labor wrought by the French colonial presence, a transformation that broke the pre-colonial system of labor exploitation controlled by clan leaders. At the outbreak of World War II, the process had advanced to the point that there now existed a ‘labor market’ in the French Equatorial Africa federation integrated into the capitalist wage-earning sector and capable of accomplishing infrastructure projects without disastrous consequences for the local population. We argue that the predominance of the timber industry in Gabon placed these developments on a strangely ambiguous path when compared to the growth of capitalist wage-labor in other parts of the continent.

AbstractSouth Africa is a known exporter of subtropical fruit (avocado, litchi and mango). The main production areas for subtropical fruit in South Africa are parts of Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal. The avocado and litchi industries are export orientated while the majority of mangoes produced are processed. The main export markets are the European Union and the United Kingdom. Subtropical fruit production is susceptible to various insect pests that significantly contribute to yield losses. Twenty years ago mainly broad spectrum insecticides (organophosphates and pyrethroids) had been registered for control of pests and progress was made in adopting eco-friendlier management approaches. The lowering of maximum residue levels for pesticides on food products by importing countries provide new challenges for growers. Here, details are provided on the important insect pests of subtropical crops and the current management strategies use for controlling these pests. An integrated pest management strategy should aim to use interventions that lower maximum residue levels. A challenge that still remains is the sucking bug complex on avocado and more environmentally friendly strategies used for suppression need to be developed. An effective trapping system to monitor adult sucking bugs coming into the orchards will be important for effective management. Challenges that still remain are the litchi moth, Cryptophlebia peltastica (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) on litchi, and the citrus thrips, Scirtothrips aurantii Faure (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) and the mango seed weevil, Sternochetus mangiferae (Fabricius) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) on mango. The development and testing of mating disruption products, attract and kill products, and biological control products for litchi moth is important. Biological control products also need to be tested against citrus thrips on mango. The mango industry needs to find more environmentally safe suppression methods that can be used with sanitation to manage mango seed weevil as it is a pest of phytosanitary concern. The set of economic thresholds for the important pests also need some attention. The use of botanical pesticides has not yet been tested on a large scale and could possibly contribute to the control of pests in the future.

The aim of the research is to quantify the HIV prevalence in human resources of forestry contracting businesses and to develop a management framework to promote economic sustainability of forestry contractors. HIV tests were conducted in the forest industry on the employees of contracting concerns from 2002/2003 to 2004/2005 with an accompanying questionnaire to collect demographic data. The HIV test results were analyzed with the demographic data to determine relationships between HIV prevalence and demographic factors. Contractors responded to a questionnaire on the effect of HIV and AIDS prevalence on (their) contracting businesses. The questionnaire also collected information about HIV and AIDS interventions and assistance to HIV and AIDS affected employees. Key stakeholders of other forestry sub-sectors were interviewed to facilitate comparison of the different sub-sectors and to establish if there were major differences between the sub-sectors, however, the focus was on the human resources of the forestry contracting sub-sector. The research results indicated that the HIV prevalence was increasing for the research period and was, in some regions, exceeding 40 per cent. The highest prevalence was recorded in the Highveld and Zululand regions and the lowest prevalence in the North-Eastern Cape. The HIV prevalence for females was constantly higher than the incidence for males and the ratio of males to females (all regions) approximated 68 per cent to 32 per cent. The high prevalence of HIV results in major social and economic impacts. The economic impact is aggravated through regulation (due to perceived market failure) and a bid for more equal distribution of wealth in the economy. The result of the sum of the impacts alludes to a conversion from labour to capital; however, to make well-informed decisions, various scenarios should be simulated to establish the optimum labour to capital ratio. The research further established that appropriate staffing is increasingly difficult and that the development of human capital is under pressure due to the high prevalence of HIV and AIDS. HIV and AIDS mitigation programmes will make a significant contribution to the return on human capital assets, as the economic life and productivity of such assets will be enhanced by such interventions. The management framework developed was assessed to be visually acceptable and useful by domain experts; however, to realise the full potential of the framework it should be used with anticipation of the research results regarding prevalence and future estimated AIDS releases and in conjunction with industry cost simulation models.

Harvesting and transport accounts for up to 70% of the total production cost of roundwood in South Africa. This invokes an interest to improve harvesting systems through the introduction of improved equipment, road networks and more refined operating techniques. A literature review was conducted which investigated the various harvesting systems and equipment with a focus on ground based extraction, as it accounts for 96% of the timber being extracted annually in South Africa. A review of forest roads in South Africa was also conducted and it was concluded that at present there has been little focus on the upgrading and maintenance of forest road networks. It was concluded that the most significant reduction in transport costs would be achieved by reducing the distances travelled by expensive extended pnmary transport (R5.83 t-1.km-1) and by allowing less expensive secondary terminal transport (R0.4 t-1.km-1) to move further into the plantations. This could only be achieved by investing large amounts of capital into the upgrading of forest roads to a standard suitable to service secondary transport vehicles. A model was developed which was able to determine the tonnage of timber needed to flow over a particular road that will warrant the upgrading cost. The model was applied to two study areas, the first study yielded no results due to the already dense network of B- class roads, possibly excessive. The second study area identified three possible road upgrades to improve the existing transport system. A full costing of the existing and modified transport system was completed and a significant cost saving was shown, not accounting for the road upgrading cost. Capital budgets were used to account for more complex parameters, such as tax and discount rates, previously excluded from the simple model. These were used to determine the economic viability of the upgrades and to evaluate the suitability of the model. The model proved to be successful and confirmed that forest roads can be optimised accompanied by significant cost savings. The model is generic and simple allowing for easy application to a variety of situations and is also flexible to modifications.
Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2005.

Some forestry industry operations in South Africa are currently on land that is under claim. This case study was aimed at identifying the most suitable model for future engagement of communities in forestry with forest land under claim in Mpumalanga. In total, 231 households were purposively sampled at Jessievale (n=100) and Roburna (n=131) where the primary data was collected through interviews and interactions with household heads. In general, 70% of the respondents indicated that they would opt for a settlement model that involves forestry. About 26.8% chose the joint venture model, whereas 18.6% chose the lease agreement model and 19.4% chose at least one of any other forestry settlement model among those that were given. The joint venture model was the most preferred due to its ability to transfer the land to the claimants and to transfer management skills, create jobs and empower communities. In addition, the study showed that age and forestry skills significantly contribute to the choice of a different model. The study also showed that while communities were interested in getting their land back, they are not fully utilizing the small portions of land currently available to them for agriculture and that the demand for land may be driven more by other land use options such as land for expanding new homes and grazing. In conclusion, communities are still interested in forestry as a land use option. However, future forestry models should clearly address land ownership and accommodate other land use options.
Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2013.
gm2014
Plant Production and Soil Science
unrestricted

The survey has been carried out in North West Province within Rustenburg Local Municipality. This is an Urban Forestry research in which six sites including peri-urban, urban, suburban and semi-rural areas were selected for the study. The aim of the study was to determine the relationship between households and their local trees and forests. Forest in this context included community gardens, vegetation cover, open spaces, soil, water, productive sites and animals that form part of forest. Data collection was mainly based on questionnaires and covered sample of 272 households. Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) 15.0 using 5% sampling intensity (confidence level) was used in which the data has been represented by numbers. Analysis was based on determining households’ relationship with their trees and local forest, and how they influence forest productivity or development. With SPSS two techniques, regression model and descriptive statistics were applied to analyze quantitative and qualitative data. Regression model was significant in prediction of the dependent variable (Y) using independent variables (X), and proved to be a good model to analyze data for fuelwood, timber and forest food production. Descriptive statistics was important in counting number of times each category or variable is used. Participants had varying perceptions regarding the use of forest due to factors such as availability of forest resource, type of residence, and their living standard. Generally, households in suburban and urban areas value the forests for economic and environmental benefit, while the peri-urban and semi-rural households utilized their trees and forest to meet their energy demand. A large number of households consume forest food as compared to timber and fuelwood due to the availability of the resources. The Municipality as a whole is undergoing rapid development expected to continue throughout years. These developments are stimulated by mining activities and influx of people in the area. All these factors threaten the existing natural resources especially forest areas and water. Areas of these resources are declining due to the current demand for housing, new mining sites and continuous establishment of informal settlements. Trees and forest within peri-urban and semi-rural areas are in poor conditions as compared to urban and suburban areas. Poor waste management and poverty are issues aggravating the situation especially in poor developing sites that have been studied. Most agricultural sites have been transformed into residential areas, and thus exacerbating problems of food insecurity in the whole country. Household size has major influence in fuelwood, timber and forest food production as an increase or decrease in the size will determine the amount of consumption, production or development. Value for forest, access to forest, level of interaction and restrictions regarding the use of forest are also significant aspects contributing to forest productivity and development as they show the relationship that exists between forest and households.
Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.