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03 March 2025 | Story Andre Damons and Adele Louw | Photo Tania Allen
Agriculture Risk Financing research chair
Prof Johan van Niekerk, Vice-Dean for Agriculture for the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences; Prof Liezel Massyn, UFS Business School; Prof Nicolene Barkhuizen, Director of the UFS Business School; and Prof Cobus Oberholster, from the Agriculture Risk Financing research chair.

A newly established multi-stakeholder research chair at the University of the Free State (UFS) Business School will focus on holistic and interdisciplinary research that will create new knowledge, contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation in the food and agricultural sector.

The Agriculture Risk Financing research chair, led by Prof Cobus Oberholster from the Business School, will also support sector specific policy development and implementation, and steer the societal discourse on climate financing and sustainable agriculture. The chair forms part of the UFS, Agricultural Research Council (ARC), and the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) research chairs. Prof Oberholster joined the university on 1 February 2025 in this prestigious position which is a collaboration between the Business School and the UFS Department of Agricultural Economics.

Prof Oberholster, who spent a big portion of his corporate career in the banking environment, brings extensive expertise in climate finance, resource mobilisation, and sustainable economic practices. His appointment marks a significant milestone in advancing research at the intersection of finance, sustainability, and agriculture, ensuring that innovative financial solutions contribute to environmental resilience and responsible resource management. Prof Oberholster also gained extensive management experience over the past 15 years regarding the agribusiness environment (non-Bank) in South Africa with a specific focus on value-chain financing.

Focus of research chair

Says Prof Oberholster: “The research chair will strategically focus on the mainstreaming of climate-smart financing solutions within the food and agricultural sector. To achieve this, the research will focus on three strategic and interrelated pillars (Regulatory and policy, Entrepreneurial market exchanges and Digital financial innovations), which aim to provide a governance framework within which innovative financing and market mechanisms can be developed and commercialised.

“The chair will reside at the UFS Business School, but form part of a group of research chairs being hosted within the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Science. These chairs cover the full food and agricultural value chain, which allow for leveraging the output of the chair within very specific components of the value agrifood value chain.”

The ARC-DALLRD-UFS research chairs were established last year in an effort to address the challenges and impact of climate change in Southern Africa and fall under the umbrella of climate change.

Prof Oberholster, who completed two doctoral degrees focusing on agriculture, agricultural development, and agricultural financing, says he is excited to be part of this joint initiative, and the opportunity to share his business and financing experience. “Climate change, and the corresponding need to find innovative financing solutions, is currently one of the biggest global challenges. It requires an accelerated and responsible approach to research and innovation which, together with the university’s trusted reputation, must be used to build social licence for disruptive technological solutions.”

Contributing to food security

According to Prof Oberholster, both the UFS Business School and the faculty, are ideally suited to find complementary commercial solutions for accessing and mobilising climate finance in South Africa and the wider African continent. The chair, through the UFS Business School, will also focus on capacity building which will be done through selected training and educational interventions, with the aim of addressing existing constraints in mobilising and accessing climate finance.

“The chair will focus on the integration of social, ethical and environmental parameters into climate-financing decisions. By focusing on these key sustainability aspects, access to climate finance will not only contribute to specific development objectives but also significantly contribute to food security,” Prof Oberholster says.

“Climate change, and the corresponding need to find innovative financing solutions, is currently one of the biggest global challenges. As such I’m looking forward to guide the creation of new knowledge in this specialised field, and especially to find complementary commercial solutions for accessing and mobilising climate finance in South Africa and the bigger African continent. What is standing out for me is the level of expertise available within the UFS, and the willingness of academics to work together on grand challenges such as climate finance. This is a winning recipe.”

News Archive

Africa's Black Rhino conservation strategy must change
2017-07-10

 Description: Black Rhino Tags: conservation strategy, black rhino, Nature Scientific Reports, National Zoological Gardens of South Africa, extinction, decline in genetic diversity, Prof Antoinette Kotze, Research and Scientific Services, Dr Desire Dalton 

The black rhino is on the brink of extinction. The study that was 
published in the Nature Scientific Reports reveals that the
species has lost an astonishing 69% of its genetic variation. 
Photo: iStock

The conservation strategy of the black rhino in Africa needs to change in order to protect the species from extinction, a group of international researchers has found. The study that was published in the Nature Scientific Reports reveals that the species has lost an astonishing 69% of its genetic variation. 

South African researchers took part 
The researchers, which included local researchers from the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa (NZG), have highlighted the fact that this means the black rhino is on the brink of extinction. "We have found that there is a decline in genetic diversity, with 44 of 64 genetic lineages no longer existing," said Prof Antoinette Kotze, the Manager of Research and Scientific Services at the Zoo in Pretoria. She is also affiliate Professor in the Department of Genetics at the University of the Free State and has been involved in rhino research in South Africa since the early 2000s.  

DNA from museums and the wild 
The study compared DNA from specimens in museums around the world, which originated in the different regions of Africa, to the DNA of live wild animals. The DNA was extracted from the skin of museum specimen and from tissue and faecal samples from animals in the wild. The research used the mitochondrial genome.

"The rhino poaching ‘pandemic’
needs to be defeated, because
it puts further strain on the genetic
diversity of the black rhino.”


Ability to adapt 
Dr Desire Dalton, one of the collaborators in the paper and a senior researcher at the NZG, said the loss of genetic diversity may compromise the rhinos’ ability to adapt to climate change. The study further underlined that two distinct populations now exists on either side of the Zambezi River. Dr Dalton said these definite populations need to be managed separately in order to conserve their genetic diversity. The study found that although the data suggests that the future is bleak for the black rhinoceros, the researchers did identify populations of priority for conservation, which might offer a better chance of preventing the species from total extinction. However, it stressed that the rhino poaching ‘pandemic’ needs to be defeated, because it puts further strain on the genetic diversity of the black rhino. 

Extinct in many African countries 
The research report further said that black rhino had been hunted and poached to extinction in many parts of Africa, such as Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Sudan, and Ethiopia. These rhino are now only found in five African countries. They are Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Namibia, and South Africa, where the majority of the animals can be found. 

 

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