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04 December 2018 | Story Lacea Loader | Photo Stephen Collet
Regional confrence read more
From the left: Prof Henk de Jager, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Central University of Technology; Prof Yunus Ballim, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Sol Plaatje University; Mrs Dipiloane Phutsisi, Principal of Motheo TVET College; Prof Puleng LenkaBula, Vice-Rector: Institutional Change, Student Affairs and Community Engagement at the UFS; Prof Nicky Morgan, Coordinator of HERDIC, and Mr Mr Brian Madalane, Principal of the Northern Cape Urban TVET.
Five post-school education institutions in the central inland region have established an initiative to collaborate in a number of focus areas to the benefit of communities in the region.
 
Established during an inaugural meeting in Bloemfontein on 14 November 2018, the Higher Education Regional Development Initiative of Central South Africa (HERDIC - SA) will collaborate in a manner that delivers operational and academic benefits to each institution, increase benefits to communities in the region, and responds to the need for high-level learning opportunities in South Africa. The collaboration with critical stakeholders in support of development in the region, as expressed in the partnership of teaching, learning, research, and engaged scholarship aspirations and the pursuit of mutually beneficial synergies and benefits of scale in critical support structures, was highlighted.

During the inaugural meeting, it was unanimously agreed that working together for enhanced access to higher education, staff development, and student welfare initiatives, as well as regional collaborations with the wider public sector and business, could have a transformative effect on the capacity and sustainability of the communities in the central inland region. The five institutions that form part of the initiative are: Motheo TVET College (Bloemfontein); Northern Cape Urban TVET College (Kimberley); Sol Plaatje University (SPU) (Kimberley); University of the Free State (UFS) (Bloemfontein and Qwaqwa Campuses); and the Central University of Technology, Free State (CUT) (Bloemfontein and Welkom).
 
During the meeting, the importance of collaboration between higher-education institutions and colleges of technical and vocational education training in creating synergies and leveraging joint capabilities to enhance development, was highlighted. The focus areas that HERDIC – SA will work on, include operational efficiencies (including shared services), articulation between the institutions (including teaching and learning), research and innovation, community engagement (including marketing and communication), and staff development.
 
The operational model will consist of task teams for each of the focus areas, consisting of representatives from each member institution. The task teams will report to a steering committee. It is envisaged that HERDIC – SA will be operational by March 2019.


News Archive

UFS teams up with Department of Agriculture and donates latest farming technology to Oppermans
2009-03-09

 
Attending the recent launch of the latest technology that measures the salinity of soil – the EM38 system – during an information day held in Jacobsdal were, from the left, back: Mr Robert Dlomo, a farmer from Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal, Prof. Leon van Rensburg, Department of Soil, Crop and Climate Sciences at the UFS, Mr Sugar Ramakarane, head of the Department of Agriculture in the Free State, Dr Motseki Hlatshwayo, national Department of Agriculture, and Prof. Herman van Schalkwyk, Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS; front: Mr Robert Smith and Mr Fagan Scheepers from Oppermansgronde, who will be working with the EM38 system in the area.
Photo: Landbouweekblad
UFS teams up with Department of Agriculture and donates latest farming technology to Oppermans

Emerging and commercial farmers of the Oppermans Community in the Northern Cape will now be able to monitor the salinity levels on their farms effectively for the first time.

This is as a result of a donation of the latest technology that measures the salinity of soil – the EM38 system – which the University of the Free State (UFS) is donating to the community.

The unique project was launched by the Department of Soil, Crop and Climate Sciences at the UFS and the Department of Agriculture in the Free State during an information day held at Jacobsdal recently.

The day was attended by members of the Oppermans Community and representatives of the UFS as well as the Department of Agriculture. Mr Sugar Ramakarane, Head of the Department of Agriculture in the Free State, did the welcoming and several academics from the UFS held discussions about various topics related to the salinity levels in soil.

Since the establishment of the Oppermans Community emerging farmers are now for the first time able to accurately monitor the salinity levels on their farms as well as that of irrigation schemes of commercial farms in the area.

“In a region such as the Northern Cape it is very important that the salinity level of soil is monitored properly. As water is administered to crops, salts accumulate in the soil because the roots leave most of the salts in the soil when it transpires. When the salinity of soil increases, the osmotic potential thereof can also increase, which can seriously damage the water intake of crops and can create loss in yield and income,” said Prof. Leon van Rensburg from the Department of Soil, Crop and Climate Sciences at the UFS and leader of the Oppermans Project.

To assist the farming community of Oppermans to apply precision farming and to measure the salinity level of soil more accurately the latest technology that measures salinity in soil – the EM38 – will be donated to the community. Although the system is used throughout the world, the UFS is the only tertiary institution in the country that owns the latest version of this system.

“We are also training two persons from the Oppermans Community as technicians that will monitor the use of the system. The advantage of the donation of the system for the university is that we can gather data that can be used for research purposes by our Master’s and Doctoral students. We also want to see if water-table heights can be measured with this system,” said Prof. Van Rensburg.

According to him the system has several advantages for the community’s emerging farmers. “For the first time the salinity level of soil can now be measured accurately, salt maps can be drawn up, we can advise farmers about the corrections that need to be made and salinity management plans can be compiled,” he said.

The system is very accurate as it takes measurements every 200 mm while it is pulled by a four-wheel motorbike. The readings provide the distribution of salts up to a soil depth of 1 500 mm. “In the past the measuring of salinity levels was time-consuming and the cost thereof was R90 for one sample. The new system is more cost-effective,” stated Prof. Van Rensburg.

The instruments will be handed over to the African Spirit Group of the Oppermans Community, who will then become the owners. The service to farmers will then be managed by an operational group consisting of people from the Oppermans Community, a postgraduate student who can compile salinity maps and Prof. Van Rensburg, who will act as project leader and advisor.

The system will also be made available to farmers at the Riet River and Vaalharts Schemes.

Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za  
9 March 2009
 

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