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UFS and DSTI host the 2025 G20 research working group and bioeconomy meetings

23 February 2025 | Story André Damons | Photo Supplied

UFS Main Building — The University of the Free State in partnership with the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), will form the backdrop for the G20 Research and Innovation Working Group (RIWG) and G20 Initiative on Biochemistry (GIB) meetings in February.

The University of the Free State (UFS) will form the backdrop for the G20 Research and Innovation Working Group (RIWG) and G20 Initiative on Bioeconomy (GIB) meetings on 23 and 24 February 2024.

UFS has, over the years, distinguished itself as a leader in the research and development, particularly in the biodiversity space through its African Medicines, Innovations and Technologies Development (AMITD) platform, which was established in collaboration with the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI) and its entity, the Technology Innovation Agency. It was therefore an obvious choice for the institution to again partner with the DSTI to host the G20 meetings.

The G20 is an international forum comprising many of the world's largest developing and developed economies, established to tackle pressing global economic and financial issues.

South Africa holds the G20 Presidency this year – only five years before the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development deadline. This is the first time the G20 is being hosted on African soil.

South Africa's presidency takes place when the world is facing a series of overlapping and mutually reinforcing crises, including climate change, underdevelopment, inequality, poverty, hunger, unemployment, technological changes, and geopolitical instability.

The G20 RIWG provides a platform for addressing global challenges through research, technology and innovation. The DSTI will lead the RIWG under the leadership of Minister Blade Nzimande and explore this year's theme, "Equity in science and innovation-based approaches to sustainable development".

Prof Nzimande, along with Prof Hester Klopper, Vice-Chancellor and Principal of UFS, will both deliver opening remarks at the meeting.

The session on 23 February will be the first to include G20 officials engaging with indigenous knowledge holders, students and researchers in the bioeconomy.

Prof Motlalepula Matsabisa, Director of the Department of Pharmacology and AMITD at UFS, says the university was an excellent choice to host the sessions because of its trusted relationships with indigenous communities and focus on inclusive research and development.

The G20 dialogues aim to be inclusive and provide a space for members of the public to voice their aspirations and to capture their needs around the indigenous knowledge and biodiversity in which they play an integral role.

"I am honoured to be part of this global event. I am so happy that AMITD is now globally recognised. We will exhibit our research conducted with communities on the internationalisation of South African science research in traditional medicines and biodiversity, and its formal commercialisation," said Prof Matsabisa.

"We are the leader in traditional medicines research and development.

"South Africa always leads in global debates and sets the stage for African views to be heard. We will contribute to policies on global biodiversity and bioeconomy and commercialisation of our natural resources through equity, sustainability and solidarity.

Prof Matsabisa believes this event will also highlight the goals of the DSTI's 2019 White Paper on Science, Technology and Innovation and the implementation of its 2022-2032 Decadal Plan.

He hopes to see tangible and meaningful outcomes from the G20 discussions that will be implemented by the USA when it takes over the G20 Presidency for 2026.

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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