Thesis (MBA) -- University of Limpopo, 2008 / Land reform is divided into three sub-programmes, which are redistribution programmes, restitution and tenure reform. The redistribution programme consists of Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development settlement and non-agricultural enterprises. Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development programme was established to redress the imbalances of land owners aroused from the previous government and its policies. A person who qualifies to purchase farms through the Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development programme is a previously disadvantaged person, that is, an African, Coloured and Indian. If a person belongs to a previously disadvantaged group and that particular person works for the government he/she does not qualify to be funded by the Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development programme. The National Department of Agriculture introduced a new programme called the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme. The primary aim of the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme is to make provision for agricultural support to targeted beneficiaries of the land reform and agrarian reform programme. This dissertation proposed an investigation of the success factors of Comprehensive agricultural Support programme on the farms allocated under the Land redistribution for Agricultural Development in the Waterberg District of the Limpopo Province. The objectives of study were: i. To determine factors influencing the success of the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme projects on farms allocated under the Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development farms ii. To suggest recommendations for the improvement of the implementation of the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme. iv A case study approach was used to investigate the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme funded projects. Personal interview questions were posed to participants who were the farmers who receiving the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme grant and managers who were managing the Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development farms. Open-ended questionnaires were used to collect data and four farms allocated under Land Redistribution for Agricultural Development funded by the Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme and four municipal managers in the Waterberg District of the Limpopo Province were interviewed. The qualitative approach was used to process the data The chapter layouts of this research are as follows: Chapter 1: Problem Statement, Aims and Objectives of the Study, Chapter 2: Literature Survey, Chapter 3: Research Design, Chapter 4: Analysis of Data and Interpretation, and Chapter 5: Recommendations and Conclusion. The analysis of the data revealed that Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme is a success on the farms allocated under the Land redistribution for Agricultural Development in the Waterberg District of the Limpopo Province.

M. Tech. Nature Conservation / Ticks are blood feeding external parasites of mammals, birds, and reptiles throughout the world. Tick infestation is considered to be one of the main constraints to successful game ranching in southern Africa. Several blood parasites are transmitted by ticks and have been incriminated as the cause of death in several wildlife species Ticks thus affect wildlife and domestic animal management worldwide, with approximately 850 species of ticks having been described The aim of the thesis is to collect and describe fully the nature and extent of the tick cohort of a semi-intensive and control free game ranch in the Limpopo Province of South Africa farm and to establish the environmental management effects on tick abundances and species.

M.A. / This research project assesses the impact of South Africa's Land Reform Programme on the Land Redistribution Programme and thus, on the productivity and sustainability of farming operations in Limpopo Province. The impact of the Land Redistribution Programme was examined on five farms within four district municipalities in Limpopo Province, namely: Capricorn Municipality (Vaalkop 656LS), Vhembe Municipality (Spitzkop), Waterberg Municipality (Hartebeespoort 84 KR, Speculatie 139LQ and St Catherine 1257LQ). Landsat 5 remote-sensing images and quantitative and qualitative survey techniques were employed to source the information..

PhD (Agricultural Economics) / Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness / The high attrition rate of cooperatives in Limpopo Province is a great concern considering that cooperatives globally and in South Africa have been esteemed to play a role in rural development and poverty reduction. The problem of attrition is a threat in the development of our societies. In response to this, the study investigated the formation of cooperatives, influence of social, human capital and household characteristics. The study also assessed the differences that can be used to discriminate cooperatives earning monthly income and those without a monthly income. The main aim of the study was to develop a framework that could be used to create sustainable cooperatives in the future in Limpopo Province. The study was conducted in five districts of Limpopo Province namely: Sekhukhune, Waterberg, Mopani, Capricorn and Vhembe. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire from 146 cooperatives. Key respondents were cooperatives leaders. Focus group data from Mopani district cooperatives was used to provide a background to the researcher in the development of the framework. Focus group discussion information was only used by the researcher in order to understand the cooperative member’s views. Purposive sampling was used to select a sample of 146 cooperatives due to the availability and accessibility of the cooperatives. SPSS analytical tool was used to analyse the data. Models used in the study were Binary logistic, Multinomial and Discriminant analysis. The findings of the study revealed that household characteristics such as gender, member affiliation affected the formation of legitimate cooperatives. Social capital indicators such as access to information and benefits derived by relatives encouraged the need for funding. However human capital indicators were found not to influence the need for external funding. The study also discovered that there were major differences between cooperatives earning a monthly income and those without the income. There were various benefits derived from the cooperatives by members. The study concluded that for cooperatives to be sustainable, focus should be on human capital, extension services and improvement of the level of education. The notion is that an informed, trained and educated cooperative society is the future.

MRDV / Institute for Rural Development / See the attached abstract below

MSc (Zoology) / Department of Zoology / See the attached abstract below

PhD (Zoology) / Department of Zoology / An ever growing human population and accelerating land use change is associated with the loss of species and their ecosystem services. Agricultural intensification has led to a worldwide threat of extinction to about one quarter of all bat species, despite the valuable ecosystem service of pest control provided by bats. The decline in bat populations is mainly attributed to the loss or fragmentation of habitats, roost sites and feeding opportunities related to agricultural intensification and land use change. Therefore, proactive management of bat communities in agricultural landscapes is essential. South Africa is the world’s largest producer of macadamias and the industry continues to grow. This study gains insight into the habitat use and foraging behaviour of insectivorous bat species on a temporal and spatial scale, in and around macadamia orchards in order to advise management strategies on how to increase bat activity and, possibly, pest control. It also focuses on the preferences of artificial roost sites used by insectivorous bats in macadamia orchards. The diet of insectivorous bat species is especially difficult to study and the least invasive tool to gain information is the study of bat faecal pellets. In order to provide evidence for the consumption of pest insect species by bats and thus incentive to farmers for a more integrated pest management approach (IPM), this study explored molecular approach to insectivorous bat diet analyses using fragment analysis of bat faecal pellets with fluorescent-labelled species-specific primers (designed for the CO I gene). This study was conducted in the subtropical fruit growing area of Levubu, Limpopo province, South Africa between the towns Thohoyandou (22°59'03.7 S, 30°27'12.8 E) and Makhado/Louis Trichardt (23°03'03.6 S, 29°55'12.7 E). Levubu also accounts for the second highest production of macadamia in South Africa. An introduction to the order Chiroptera and into the relevance of insectivorous bat species to agriculture as well as the importance of a more integrated pest management approach (IPM) focusing on bats is provided in Chapter One. Bats were acoustically monitored and light traps were used to catch arthropods during one annual cycle. I sampled five macadamia orchards once a month from September 2015 to August 2016 and used GIS and R to analyse both the general bat activity and foraging bat activity of the two main foraging guilds (open-air/clutter edge guild) in different land use types as well as total bat activity with respect to arthropod abundances. As reported in Chapter Two, results show that the overall clutter edge guild activity (number of passes) decreased with macadamia and orchard (all other fruit) cover in the macadamia high season (December to end of May) and increased with bush cover and distance to settlements (potential roosts) in the macadamia low season (June to end of November). Open-air guild activity increased with fallow cover (uncultivated grassland with scattered trees and shrubs) in the high season. Foraging activity (feeding buzzes) of the clutter edge guild increased with bush cover over the whole year. Total activity (both guilds) increased with abundance of true bugs (Hemiptera), including the main macadamia pests, and bush cover. Macadamia cover has a negative effect on the activity of the clutter edge guild in the high season, with low activity in the orchard center (high cover), and activity increasing in a linear way with decreasing orchard cover at the orchard edge (low cover). These results suggest that the clutter edge guild prefers foraging close to the edges of the orchards rather than in the center, while the open-air guild prefers semi-natural habitats (fallow). When numbers of pest arthropods drop in the macadamia orchards, the natural land use type, bush, becomes a more important foraging habitat and thereby increased the activity of the clutter edge guild. From June 2016 to July 2017, I scanned 31 bat houses, mounted on poles on six macadamia orchards, for bats or any other occupants such as wasps, birds and bees. Twenty-one multichambered bat houses of three slightly different chamber designs were erected on poles, in sets of three. Additionally, five bat houses of the type ‘Rocket box’, four bat houses in sets of two (black and white) and one colony bat house were erected. Bats were counted and visually identified to family or species level. From December 2016 to end of March 2017, three IButtons were installed to record temperature variation between one set of three bat houses. As reported in Chapter Three, results show that the central bat house in the set of three and the black bat house in the set of two had a significantly positive effect on bat house occupancy. There was a significant difference in the mean temperature between the houses in the set of three, with a significant difference in temperature of 0.46°C between the central and the first bat house. The three bat houses erected in sets varied slightly in their chamber design, with the central bathouse having the most chambers (six), while the bat houses to either side had less chambers (four), set at an angle or straight. This and the insulation to either side by the other bat houses is assumingly what caused the central bat house to be on average warmer. The Yellow-bellied house bat (Scotophilus dinganii) was by far the most recorded and the only species observed to co-habitat a bat house with another animal species, in particular honeybees. The study might confirm assumptions in that the microclimate of bat houses, respectively their insulation, sun exposure and color appear to be important factors influencing bat house occupancy. The two preferred bat houses in our study were the black, in the set of black and white, as well as the central, and on average warmest bat house, in the set of three. I collected bat faecal pellets with two different methods between July 2015 and April 2017 to determine the prevalence of pest insects in faecal pellets. Eighteen of the bat houses (in sets of three) on three different farms and two Egyptian slit-faced bat (Nycteris thebaica) roosts were fitted with trays in order to collect pellets from those occupied by bats. I noted occupancy of bat houses to species or family level to keep disturbance minimal. Additionally, I collected pellets from individuals captured by means of mist nets and harp traps. Four of the main pest-insects; the two-spotted stinkbug (Pentatomidae: Bathycoelia distincta), the green vegetable bug (Pentatomidae: Nezara viridula), the macadamia nut borer (Tortricidae: Thaumatotibia batrachopa) and the litchi moth (Tortricidae: Cryptophlebia peltastica), were collected from pheromone traps or after scouting for primer development and optimisation. After extracting DNA from the bat faecal samples the target regions were amplified in a multiplex PCR and fluorescently labelled PCR amplicons were analysed and interpreted. In order to verify multiplex analyses results, all samples were amplified with all four sets of primers in plates and those that produced amplicons were purified and sequenced. As reported in Chapter Four, results show that fragment analyses yielded a total of 63 out of 103 samples tested positive for pest insect species (61%) with a total of 92 positive fragments. Primer specificity could be confirmed to 100% for the sequences obtained for Bathycoelia distincta (26/26) and Nezara viridula (12/12) primers but not for all sequences obtained fot Cryptophlebia peltastica (18/30) and Thaumatotibia batrachopa (1/14) primers. One sample showed no positive fragments but contained a positive sequence for N. viridula. Three samples tested positive for one pest-species fragment but contained a positive sequence for a second pest-species (B. distincta, T. batrachopa and C. peltastica). Adding four positive fragments and one additional positive sequence to the data. This means that sequences of pest insect species were obtained from 54 out of the 103 samples (55.6%) with a total of 73 pest insect sequences. For the high season (December to end of May) a total of 37 positive fragments for the four pest insect species and 24 negative samples were yielded and for the a low season (June to end of November) a total of 36 positive fragments and 15 negative samples. Looking at the pest consumption of the different bat species or families, our results show that all of them foraged on pest insect species. Whereas, all species and families except Myotis bocagii and Rhinolophus simulator (for which N<2) foraged on both the Lepidopteran and Hemipteran pest species. Therefore, all families of bats of which faecal pellets were analysed for this study (Molossidae, Nycteridae, Rhinolophidae and Vespertilionidae) foraged on one or more of the four pest insect species. In summary, Chapter Five concludes that natural and semi-natural vegetation promote bat activity in macadamia orchards, and potentially bats' provision of the ecosystem service of pest control. In times of accelerating land use change, remnants of natural vegetation are important refuges and need to be maintained or restored to conserve bat species and promote their ecosystem services. The study also shows that bat activity might be improved by adding roosting opportunities to orchards. Warm and well-insulated bat houses mounted freestanding on poles and in sets appeared to work best in northern South Africa. Further research on co-habitation of bat houses and displacement behaviour as well as the potential importance of altitude and distance to water is needed. All of the species or families of bats from which faecal pellets were collected have been confirmed to forage on at least one of the four pest insects and the bat species have shown to be much more generalist and presumably opportunistic feeders than previously assumed. Thus, this study provides incentive and advice to farmers for a more integrated pest management approach (IPM). / NRF