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06 April 2018
Photo Rulanzen Martin
From the left: Dr Thulisile Mphambukeli, leader of the BRICS research team that is exploring the political economy of water and food security, and her research partner, Dr Victor Okorie.
A Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) delegation is to hold the 10th Annual BRICS Summit in the last week of May 2018 in Johannesburg. Dr Thulisile Mphambukeli, leader of the University of the Free State (UFS) research team alongside Dr Victor Okorie from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, in collaboration with Prof Lere Amusan of North-West University, will ensure that water and food security is a prominent feature on the gathering’s agenda.
First, the project titled: “Exploring the political economy of water and food security nexus in BRICS and Africa” will debut at the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences BRICS Think Tank Forum”.
According to Dr Mphambukeli, the key to water security is attitudinal change by means of education and conscientisation. This, she is adamant about, holds the potential to drive behavioural adjustments in the way society interacts with water.
Genetic and social approaches
Dr Okorie asserts that if strides towards reducing the demand for water were to be made, research efforts should be geared towards effecting changes at DNA level. Meaning we need to explore waterwise ways that enable crops and animals to thrive optimally.
The project also looks at social dimensions of water such as flushing a toilet. “Research activities on redesigning toilets, especially the urinal, where more than nine litres of water are used to flush less than one cubic centimetre of urine, are timely in the context of managing water and the food nexus crises,” said Dr Okorie.
Combining the genetic and social approaches would allow us to produce more with a smaller water footprint. This can be made possible by implementing precision agriculture which is about estimating and applying exact quantities of water and nutrients needed for the production of crops or the raising of livestock.
Paradigm shifting policies
Prof Amusan said the team intended to propose functional solutions that take the quality of water into consideration. Equitable production and distribution of water depends on endorsing policies of co-production between citizens, governments and the public sector. BRICS member states mutually consider water and food security as an issue of paramount significance, hence its feature on this prestigious summit’s agenda.
dti announces nominees for 2008 Science and Technology Awards
2008-10-03
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At the announcement of the nominees for the 2008 dti Technology Awards were, from the left: Prof. Schalk Louw, Department of Zoology and Entomology, Mr Sipho Zikode, Deputy Director General at the Department of Trade and Industry (dti), Dr Romilla Maharaj, Executive Director: Human and Institutional Capacity Development at the National Research Foundation (NRF), and Mr Ephraim Baloyi, Director: Innovation and Technology at the dti.
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Mr Michael Chung, master’s student in Plant Pathology, explaining some of the research conducted in the Centre for Plant Health Management (Cephma).
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Prof. Schalk Louw, Department of Zoology and Entomology, and Mr Ephraim Baloyi, Director: Innovation and Technology at the dti in the Cephma laboratory.
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dti announces nominees for 2008 Science and Technology Awards
The Department of Trade and Industry’s (dti) Deputy Director-General, Mr Sipho Zikode, yesterday announced the nominees for the 2008 dti Technology Awards which will take place on 30 and 31 October in Bloemfontein.
The purpose of these annual awards is to recognise those researchers, private institutions and students who performed well in terms of innovation and technology development, says Mr Ephraim Baloyi, Director: Innovation and Technology at the dti.
The awards are a combination of the Annual Awards of the different dti programmes supporting technology in industry. They are the Technology and Human Resources for Industry Programme (THRIP), administered by the National Research Foundation (NRF), the Support Programme for Industrial Innovation (SPII), administered by the Industrial Development Corporation, and seda Technology Programme (stp), administered by the Small Enterprise Development Agency.
The dti delegation also visited the laboratory of Prof. Schalk Louw of the UFS to view the work of this former dti Technology Awards recipient. Prof. Louw is a member of the UFS Centre for Plant Health Management (Cephma) team that won a 2007 Technology Award for groundbreaking research work on kenaf (a South African commercial fibre crop used, amongst others, in the automotive industry). The research of the Cephma team is supported by the NRF’s THRIP programme.
The awards are hosted in a different province each year to increase awareness around the dti’s technology support for researchers, small enterprises, large industries and business incubators.
Media Release
Issued by: Leonie Bolleurs
Tel: 051 401 2707
Cell: 083 645 5853
3 October 2008
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