Talking Points

In this episode we discuss cloud computing and the use of technology in teaching and learning. Professor Tawana Kupe and Professor Willem Fourie speak to Aubrey Masango and discuss why cloud computing is critical to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

https://omny.fm/shows/life-podcasts/use-of-tech-in-teaching-and-learning-and-cloud-com

The Future Africa Campus and Institute is a research hub and an initiative to bring young researchers from across the continent to put their skills together as they live and work in a dynamic space to create African solutions for some of the world's most pressing concerns. Professor James Ogude, Director and Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship, Professor Stephanie Burton and Professor Bernard Slippers speak to Aubrey Masango about the University of Pretoria as a Future of Africa Campus.

https://omny.fm/shows/life-podcasts/future-of-africa-campuses-a-convergance-of-ideas-t

In this episode we look at how art and literature have been key to social change and are key to learning and why retelling our most painful and exciting stories has helped in owning our narrative. Professor Molly Brown, head of the Department of English; and playwright, Mike van Graan speak to Aubrey Masango.

https://omny.fm/shows/life-podcasts/arts-and-literature-the-key-to-learning

In this episode we look at retaining biodiversity when it comes to our wildlife. Professor André Ganswindt, director of the Mammal Research Institute, and Professor Robin Crewe, professor of entomology at the Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship; discuss what happens when animals go extinct and why it's so critical for us to be aware of conservation and animal welfare.

https://omny.fm/shows/life-podcasts/nature-conservation-wildlife-and-biodiversity
 

In February 2021, as the first COVID-19 vaccinations were rolled out to healthcare workers in South Africa, there was a renewed sense of hope in the fight against SARS-CoV-2. At the time there were concerns around vaccine procurement and inequity in vaccine distribution. But in the latter part of the year the major obstacle was a slow uptake of the vaccine among the South African public.

Just over 17 million South African adults are fully vaccinated, out of an adult population of about 40 million.

Meanwhile, the emergence of new variants and waves of COVID-19 pose a massive cost to society in terms of lives lost, resources occupied and economic diminution.

The emergence of new variants of concern may lead to a perception that vaccines are futile as the virus continues to mutate. But the best chance of decreasing mutations and preserving vaccine efficacy is to increase the proportion of the population who are vaccinated.

Vaccines are our best chance of overcoming this pandemic.

Efforts to improve vaccine uptake must be tailored to the needs and concerns of the individuals and families who make up society, rather than just mass-campaigning to the public as a whole.

In every country there is a spectrum of stances on vaccination. There are the so-called “anti-vaxxers” who actively campaign against vaccines. There are vaccine refusers who have decided they will not take the vaccine and are unlikely to be convinced otherwise. And then there are those who have vaccine hesitancy – they do not refuse vaccination altogether, but have reservations, unanswered questions and fears around the COVID-19 vaccines.

This latter group is the most likely to be open to honest, transparent and good-quality data sharing.

South Africa’s vaccination uptake shows that vaccine hesitancy is a major problem. The country has enough vaccine supply for the entire adult population. As we race against the development of more resistant and transmissible variants it is important to consider what can be done to address such hesitancy.

Barriers to vaccination

Vaccines are one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of public health. They have indisputably contributed to a decline in sickness and death from numerous infectious diseases. But their success is completely dependent on high uptake by the public. In South Africa, the COVID-19 vaccination programme has been driven mainly by health professionals’ recommendations and public health policies. Perhaps we need to pay more attention to the socio-political factors that may influence the individual’s decision-making process when it comes to vaccination.

Information: The first factor that influences an individual’s perception is their knowledge and the quality of information that is available to them. Healthcare professionals and regulatory bodies have a responsibility to provide quality information to the public, as well as platforms where data can be interpreted and discussed. The National Institute for Communicable Diseases has an information-sharing platform, which provides accurate information. But it may not be accessible to all.

It would be useful to have virtual spaces where people can ask questions. Past experiences and the experiences of others can influence a person’s perception of the risk of vaccination and contribute to vaccine hesitancy.

One of the recurrent themes of concern, for instance, is the rapid rate at which the COVID-19 vaccines were developed. Fears around insufficient testing and studying of the vaccine can be put to rest if people understand that:

• the technology and manufacturing facilities to develop the vaccines were already in place at the start of the pandemic

• there was unprecedented global funding and information sharing

• studies could be rapidly conducted due to the contagious nature of the virus.
  Trust: Individual discussions with trusted healthcare workers can unpack misconceptions and address concerns. A survey performed in 2021 showed that most people consider their personal physician to be the most trusted source of vaccine information.

Healthcare workers should be transparent about what they don’t know and realistic about potential side effects and limitations of the vaccines. Ignoring these is likely to damage vaccination efforts.

It is critical to understand that the aim of the vaccine is not to prevent infection with SARS-CoV-2, but to prevent severe disease and death from it. A perception that the vaccine is meant to prevent all disease can lead to mistrust in its efficacy.

Religion: Misinformation and misconceptions may lead to a perception that the vaccine is in opposition to religious standards. Rather than being viewed as a “problem” when it comes to COVID-19 and vaccination, religion should be considered as an important part of society’s world view. Religious leaders can demystify COVID-19 related policies as they act as a “gatekeeper” to their communities and exert influence on behaviour.

Culture: Cultures influence how vaccines are perceived and taken up. Mistrust in conventional medicine is more widespread in certain communities than in others. If we are to increase the uptake of vaccines in South Africa, we have to engage on the issues relevant specifically to such cultures. In our multifaceted society something as simple as ensuring information is available in all official languages can go a long way to improve understanding. Appealing to South Africans’ sense of “ubuntu” (the concept that “I am because you are”) can foster a sense that the vaccine is taken to protect others as well as oneself.

Media: Responsible media coverage, without sensationalism, is essential. The use of social media has been shown to increase during periods of crisis. Deliberate anti-vaccine campaigns have proliferated and necessitated active intervention from social media companies to curb disinformation. The scientific community should understand the workings of social media and harness its power to provide quality information that the public can understand.

Mandates: One of the more controversial means to increase vaccine coverage is mandatory vaccination. The debate in South Africa rages on, but various institutions have initiated mandatory vaccination policies. First prize remains voluntary vaccination.

Going forward

Emphasising the benefits of vaccines beyond just preventing death may help communities understand the urgency of increasing the number of vaccinated individuals in South Africa. Such benefits include:

• protecting the most vulnerable among us, such as children and immune suppressed individuals

• the ability to resume economic activity and provide for loved ones

• the freeing up of healthcare resources to address chronic diseases that have been overshadowed by the pandemic.

Sharing positive stories, together with good quality data around vaccine effectiveness, will encourage vaccination. Presenting vaccines as a way to regain some control over our own lives may be effective.

Interventions need to take multiple factors into account. They should aim to increase knowledge, awareness and confidence in the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines. Engagement of community leaders, religious leaders and healthcare professionals who have the trust of community members is more likely to increase vaccination than policies and campaigns by government institutions would be. Efforts to improve awareness should be accompanied by efforts to improve access and convenience of vaccination sites in all communities.

Vaccines are our best chance of overcoming this pandemic. They are safe and well-studied. They offer protection against severe disease and death. And they are the way we can protect not just ourselves but each other.

Veronica Ueckermann, Adjunct Professor: Department Internal Medicine, University of Pretoria

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Value addition is a central theme in agriculture. The concept involves adding value at every step, from production to delivery of a product. This creates opportunities for farmers and companies to find competitive advantages. It also has the potential to improve food security and create employment.

In South Africa, the government has used value addition as a policy to try to correct some of the historical imbalances in the agriculture sector.

Large-scale commercial enterprises have dominated the sector since the first part of the 20th century. They compare favourably with those anywhere in the world. But they are in stark contrast with the small scale farming sector in terms of productivity and value addition. And the divide has a racial dimension. About 72% of farm land is held by white people, and only 4% by black people.

Large commercial enterprises are run mostly by white farmers. In the case of grain, oilseed and meat these enterprises account for about three quarters of the country’s production. For their part, small scale farmers – about 2 million of them – farm on a limited scale, rearing animals or cultivating crops. Their farming activities are characterised by, among others, low yields, a lack of mechanisation, and lack of financing solutions.

It is therefore difficult for small scale enterprises to commercialise and add value.

The South African government has taken some steps to help these farmers boost their productivity and become better integrated into the country’s agricultural economy. Its policies and plans include the Agricultural Policy Action Plan 2015-2019. The more recent efforts have focused on value addition as a strategy.

We conducted a study to analyse whether these initiatives had worked. We looked at the contribution of small-scale farmers to food value addition.

We found that their participation in agro-processing was limited. And we concluded that government’s funding policy for the sector should give priority to improving farmers’ access to information, technology, skills and markets.

The vision for value addition

Value addition in the food industry is applied at every link of the chain to increase production. For example, sophisticated techniques can process maize into different products such as corn meal, corn syrup, corn starch and corn oil which can find their way to markets around the world. Maize processing by traditional methods, in contrast, limits the variety of products and is only sufficient for home consumption.

South Africa’s government has recognised the potential that value addition has to improve small-scale agriculture and, in turn, national food security. In 2021, for example, about R1.2 billion was allocated to the agriculture and food sector budget to support smallholder farmers through various initiatives related to value addition.

The Department of Agriculture, Forests and Fisheries budgeted about R5.6 billion between 2018 and 2021 to support 145,000 black commercial, subsistence and smallholder producers. The support included production inputs and farm infrastructure.

Also, a scheme called the Micro Agricultural Financial Institutions of South Africa has existed since 2004 to address the financial services needs of smallholder farmers and agribusinesses. It lends money at lower than market rates.

The idea was that these interventions would yield returns in the production of high-value crops such as macadamia nuts, fruit production, poultry production, red meat production schemes or initiatives to improve animal production in rural areas.

From policy to practice

Our study reviewed documents about food value chains and agro-processing in South Africa. We wanted to know how food value-addition policies encouraged food value addition in the small-scale agricultural sector, and what challenges were inhibiting the sector.

The findings show that policies are not contributing much to food value chain addition at the national level. The overall contribution of agro-processing to GDP was a paltry 5.7%. About 3% of farmers are trained in food processing. And the small-scale agricultural and aquaculture sectors are not well established. Land reform remains an issue.

The constraints to value addition operate mainly at the primary production level. They limit both quality and quantity of output, which has practical implications for agro-processing participation. For example, an analysis of African leafy vegetable value chains in Limpopo province shows smallholder producers experience considerable post-harvest losses because of their more frequent use of informal market channels and low capitalisation.

The key constraints we identified in the literature were:

• a lack of access to finance and rising input costs

• government budget cuts in vital support functions such as extension services and research and development

• a lack of appropriate technology

• a dearth of technical and entrepreneurial skills

• a lack of knowledge and skills in agro-processing and food quality standards required by markets

• a lack of access to information about technology and markets

• bottlenecks in the supply of raw materials like oil and grain

• food trade policy misalignment with partner countries

• dumping of food products by trading partners, effectively destroying the domestic food value chain.

What next?

The contribution of the small scale agricultural sector to the South African food value addition agenda is restricted on many frontiers which require government intervention.

Firstly, the South African government needs to rethink its funding policy for agriculture and agro-processing.

It should prioritise programmes that enhance farmers’ access to information about technology and markets. Such programmes should also aim to improve farmers’ knowledge and skills around agro-processing – and help them to understand and comply with food quality standards in line with customer preferences.

Finally, food trade policy should be aligned with partner countries in various blocs to protect the food industry from dumping. This has ripple effects on markets and employment.

Adrino Mazenda, Senior Researcher, University of Pretoria and Tyanai Masiya, Senior Lecturer, University of Pretoria

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.