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13 October 2020 | Story Ruan Bruwer | Photo BackpagePix
Khanyisa Chawane, a Protea player, should be one of the stars for the Free State Crinums in the Telkom Netball League. She was the Player of the League in 2018.

Having to play 11 matches in so many days before the knockout stage will be a daunting task, but their fitness levels are up to standard, says the coach of the Free State netball team. Burta de Kock of KovsieSport will again guide the Free State Crinums in the Telkom Netball League, which will be taking place between 14 and 27 October in Bloemfontein.

All but one of the 12 members of the team are studying at the University of the Free State (UFS).

“Planning will be of the utmost importance to manage the load on the players. We also have four players (Rolene Streutker, Chanel Vrey, Boitumelo Mahloko, and Refiloe Nketsa) who will participate in the South African U21 team that will play five invitational matches during the competition,” said De Kock.

In previous years, the competition took place over four to six weeks, but now it had to be fitted into two weeks due to COVID-19.

“So, it will be a tall order to play so many matches, but an exciting challenge. I believe the hard work the players had put in during the lockdown period will bear fruit. They were exceptional and very determined to stay in shape.”

The Crinums won the first three years of the competition, but couldn’t reach the final in the following three years. Apart from the 11 Kovsies in the Crinums team, there are 9 current or former UFS students in other teams participating in the league. 

They are Zandré Smit, Bianca Pienaar, Dané Klopper, Arné Fourie, Bethenie du Raan (all Northern Cape Diamonds), Maryke Coetzee, Danelle van der Heever (both Mpumalanga Sunbirds), Rieze Straeuli (Western Cape Tornados), and Alicia Puren (KZN Kingdom Stars).

The Crinums team: Boitumelo Mahloko, Ané Retief, Jana Scholtz, Khanyisa Chawane, Lefébre Rademan (captain), Sikholiwe Mdletshe, Claudia van den Berg, Bianca de Wee, Rolene Streutker, Chanel Vrey, Lerato Chabwe, and Refiloe Nketsa.

News Archive

Producers to save thousands with routine marketing strategies, says UFS researcher
2014-09-01

 

Photo: en.wikipedia.org

Using derivative markets as a marketing strategy can be complicated for farmers. The producers tend to use high risk strategies which include the selling of the crop on the cash market after harvest; whilst the high market risks require innovative strategies including the use of futures and options as traded on the South African Futures Exchange (SAFEX).

Using these innovative strategies are mostly due to a lack of interest and knowledge of the market. The purpose of the research conducted by Dr Dirk Strydom and Manfred Venter from the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of the Free State (UFS) is to examine whether the adoption of a basic routine strategy is better than adopting no strategy at all.

The research illustrates that by using a Stochastic Efficiency with Respect to a Function (SERF) and Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) that the use of five basic routine marketing strategies can be more rewarding. These basic strategies are:
• Put (plant time)
• Twelve-segment pricing
• Three-segment pricing
• Put (pollination)(Critical Moment in production/marketing process), and
• Pricing during pollination phase.

These strategies can be adopted by farmers without an in-depth understanding of the market and market-signals. Farmers can save as much as R1.6 million per year on a 2000ha farm with an average yield.

The results obtained from the research illustrate that each strategy is different for each crop. Very important is that the hedging strategies are better than no hedging strategy at all.

This research can also be applicable to the procurement side of the supply chain.

Maize milling firms use complex procurement strategies to procure their raw materials, or sometimes no strategy at all. In this research, basic routine price hedging strategies were analysed as part of the procurement of white maize over a ten-year period ranging from 2002–2012. Part of the pricing strategies used to procure white maize over the period of ten years were a call and min/max strategy. These strategies were compared to the baseline spot market. The data was obtained from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s Agricultural Products Division better known as SAFEX.

The results obtained from the research prove that by using basic routine price-hedging strategies to procure white maize, it is more beneficial to do so than by procuring from the spot market (a difference of more than R100 mil).

Thus, it can be concluded that it is not always necessary to use a complex method of sourcing white maize through SAFEX, to be efficient. By implementing a basic routine price hedging strategy year on year it can be better than procuring from the spot market.

Understanding the Maize Maze by Dr Dirk Strydom and Manfred Venter (pdf) - The Dairy Mail


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