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Purpose: This paper aims to examine whether the audit committee moderates the relationship between audit quality and market reactions. Design/methodology/approach: Using fixed effects and the GMM model for robustness, the study used 472 publicly listed firms on South Africa's Johannesburg stock exchange spanning a period of six years from 2014 to 2019. Findings: Results obtained show that audit quality impacts market reactions through share price and adjusted market returns. And, that the audit committee moderates the relationship between audit quality and market reactions in South Africa's publicly listed firms. An effective audit committee is expected to play a crucial role in overseeing the audit process, ensuring the independence of auditors and promoting transparency and accountability which in turn impacts asset prices. Research limitations/implications: The study implies that governments and regulatory bodies in other developing economies could strengthen regulations about companies' Acts, how firms regulate themselves and more so audit committees. Firms can also strive to make sure that audit committees are staffed with experts to promote higher audit quality and investor attention to get access to the much-alluded capital. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, the study adds value by being the first to explore the subject matter of the importance of audit committees in defining audit quality and market reactions in publicly listed firms. The research adds to the body of knowledge on corporate governance and audit quality. It provides a case study specific to the South African context, contributing to the global literature on these topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use practices face significant pressure due to increased demand and conflicting needs. Several factors contribute to this trend, such as the ever-increasing human population, the increased demand for food production, and the expansion of industrial and agricultural areas. This paper, focused on the cultivation patterns and investigating changes in land use of maize and soybean over time (i.e., both genetically modified and non-genetically modified) in two South African provinces. The objective was to determine whether there was a net increase or decrease in land cover age for these two crops between 2006 and 2017 in the selected study areas. Hence, the study utilized ArcGIS (10.8.1) software to quantify and map the land used for the cultivation of maize and soybean from 2006 to 2017 in Free State and North West provinces. The results show both provinces to have minimal expansion or change in cultivation areas for both maize and soybean between 2006 and 2017. We concluded that both maize and soybean cultivation areas in these provinces, did not expand beyond the current agricultural areas (space), and did not encroach onto new land areas. As a result, both maize and soybean do not currently pose a threat to the surrounding landscape (i.e., natural vegetation) and are not in direct competition with other neighboring land use practices. We recommend that data on the annual planting or cultivation area be consistently gathered, analyzed, and mapped to monitor any alterations that could influence the current findings. This will also assist with any land use planning and management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella L.) is the most destructive insect pest on cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata L.). Infestation by this pest usually results in the indiscriminate use of insecticides by farmers due to a lack of sampling plans for this pest. Sampling plans for P. xylostella management decisions on winter–spring cabbage in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa were developed, through population monitoring that comprised weekly counts of immature stages of P. xylostella on 60 plants for 11 wk each during the winter and spring seasons. The mean density–variance relationship was used to describe the distribution of the pest, and number of infested plants was used to develop a fixed-precision sampling plan. All plant growth stages preceding maturation were vulnerable to P. xylostella damage resulting in yield losses. A high aggregation of P. xylostella on cabbage was observed in spring than in winter. The average sample number to estimate P. xylostella density within a 15% standard error of the mean was 35 plants. Furthermore, the estimated plant proportion action threshold (AT) was 51% with density action thresholds of 0.50 and 0.80 for spring and winter, respectively. Fitting P. xylostella cumulative counts in the winter and spring sampling plans resulted in 100% and 45% reduction in insecticide treatments. The similarity of sample size and ATs between both seasons provides evidence that a single sampling plan is practical for all cabbage growing seasons. The similarity of the estimated ATs to those acceptable in established integrated pest management programs indicates reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wild raw honey hunting and consumption is very popular among rural communities in South Africa as a source of income and food for households. Although men traditionally dominate wild honey hunting, in recent years participation of women has increased. However, evidence of the participation of rural women in wild honey hunting is often lacking. This study focused on assessing the status of wild honey hunting by women, factors that influence their decision to participate and associated income, dietary diversity, and food insecurity implications. A cross-sectional survey of 200 rural women purposively selected from Ncera communal area in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa was conducted. The study revealed that an emerging number of rural women were actively involved in wild honey hunting and participation is triggered by age, access to extension services and livelihood diversification, while access to formal honey markets discouraged wild honey hunting. Results further revealed a positive income, dietary diversity, and a significant reduction in food insecurity among participants compared to non-participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maize plays a significant role among rural farming households in South Africa. The study therefore estimated the drivers of maize cultivars' selection choices among rural farming households focusing on the commonly grown cultivars from the study area (Landrace and genetically modifies [GM] maize). A cross-sectional survey of 650 respondents randomly selected from Port St Johns and King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipalities of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa were used. Descriptive results revealed that a significant number of the respondents from the study area (65%) were growing Landrace maize cultivars, followed by GM maize (31%), improved OPVs (3%) and conventional hybrids (1%). Multivariate Probit regression estimates show that GM maize cultivars' selection is positively influenced by the amount of rainfall (1% level), household size (5% level), education (1% level), size of arable land (10% level) and access to cell phones (5% level), whilst negatively influenced by the employment status (5%). Conversely, the selection of Landrace maize cultivars is negatively influenced by the of amount rainfall (1% level), education (1% level), income (10% level), access to cell phone (10% level) and radio (10% level) whilst positively influenced by the number of livestock (5% level). The study therefore argues that GM maize cultivars may be meaningfully promoted in high rainfall areas, focusing on arable land sizes and targeted awareness campaigns. The promotion of Landrace maize cultivars may be targeted in low rainfall areas in a mixed farming setting to enhance the complementarity of maize and livestock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Existing research recognises that entrepreneurship orientation (EO) is essential for success. However, the mediating role of EO in driving entrepreneurial intention (EI) amongst young adults, especially in the context of the digital revolution, remains largely underexplored. Aim: Accordingly, this study aimed to investigate the mediated effect of risk taking, innovativeness, and proactiveness on EI in an emerging economy. Setting: The sample for this study was drawn from the young adult population in South Africa who understands the concept of entrepreneurship. Method: In the study, a quantitative method to collect the data is used, while structural equation modelling is used to test the extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Results: Findings indicate that risk taking mediates the effects of attitude, entrepreneurial capability, and the perceived benefits of digital technology on EI. The results did not support the mediating function of proactiveness and innovativeness. In fact, this result challenges the TPB's simplistic structure and reveals the prominent role of risk taking in determining TPB predictors. Conclusion: Given the significance of risk taking, governments and entrepreneurship centres are urged to promote risk taking in all their entrepreneurship development programmes. Contribution: Considering the significance of the global digital transformation, this study extends the TPB by incorporating the perceived benefits of digital technology among the predictors of entrepreneurial intent. It also emphasises the role of risk taking in mediating the effects of these predictors on the entrepreneurial intention of young adults in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aims to analyse trust and distrust as specific board processes between the board chair and chief executive officer (CEO) aimed at reducing corporate governance (CG) risk partially mitigated by regnant CG mechanisms. This study incorporates the nascent literature that posits trust and distrust as two separate constructs that co-exist simultaneously to recasts them in the CG domain. Design/methodology/approach: This paper analysed data from 20 in-depth interviews conducted with board representatives at four financial services firms in The Netherlands, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Findings: This paper found that the foundational bases of the chair–CEO relationship determine how trust and distrust are apportioned between them, which impacts board dynamics. This paper also confirmed that the constructs of trust and distrust are separate thus do not sit at opposite ends of a single continuum. Finally, this paper found that high levels of task-based distrust (as opposed to mistrust) are necessary during periods of organisational distress and more effective if there are also high levels of relational trust between the parties. Originality/value: This paper empirically examines the relationship between trust and distrust in CEO–chair dyadic relationships in multiple companies across multiple countries. This paper also introduces the concept of tempered trust, which is defined as interpersonal trust tempered by task-based distrust, recasting the traditional characterisation of trust and distrust in the CG domain, thereby making a useful contribution to the literature on board dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The significance of rangelands to the welfare of the rural poor has been acknowledged. The study explores perceptions and determinants of rural households' rangeland harvesting. A cross-sectional survey of 159 rural households harvesting communal rangeland products was utilized, as well as 64 non-harvesting households. The sample was purposively selected. Dyamala community in Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality, Eastern Cape Province was the study area, and was also purposively selected. Questionnaires were the data collection tool utilized, aiming at data on demographics, perceptions and participation in rangeland harvesting. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were utilized to analyze the data. The study found that among the rangeland harvesters there was a high positive perception of rangelands in terms of recreation and tourism, storm protection, nutrient retention as well as provision of wild fruit. However, the rangeland harvesters also exhibited negative perceptions towards factors such as the hosting of predators and deity. The decision to participate in rangeland product harvesting was influenced by the age of household head as well as perceptions pertaining to rangelands as a source of medicinal plants, recreation and ecotourism, deep-water wells, storm protection, micro-climate stabilization, income and wild fruit. The study recommends the provision of extension-based training in sustainably utilizing rangelands as a source of income, food and nutrition. Ecotourism can also be promoted as this dualistically and sustainably incorporates rangeland harvesting and income generation from wildlife. Promotion of indigenous knowledge, especially in medicinal plants, may dualistically improve income and health from harvesting such flora as well as enhancing conservation of these vital plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature suggests that there are high levels of commercialisation by even the poorest and smallest landholders within the horticulture subsector in most rural Africa. Thus, the notion of poor commercialisation among smallholder farmers is now being challenged. Against this background, this paper estimated factors that influence commercialisation by smallholder cabbage farmers in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The study used a cross-sectional survey of 120 smallholder cabbage farmers obtained through a multistage sampling procedure. A Cragg double-hurdle model was applied to analyse the factors that influence the commercialisation decision and intensity of commercialisation. In the first stage, the result of the probit regression model revealed that gender, age, access to informal credit and area planted were significant factors towards influencing smallholder cabbage farmers' commercialisation decisions. In the second stage, the results of the truncated regression model revealed that family size and area planted were the key factors determining the intensity of commercialisation. Hence, the attempts to improve smallholder farmers' cabbage commercialisation should be guided by these significant explanatory variables in the study area, given the low commercialisation index revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigenous Knowledge (IK) based technologies and skills have been central to rural livelihoods for ages. Women apply these techniques in a wide range of livelihood activities both on-farm and off-farm. Despite, growing scholarly work on adoption of technologies in rural areas, howbeit studies which focused on adoption of retro technologies and off-farm livelihood activities are very few. Given how central both IK based technologies and handicrafts are in the rural development nexus, studying determinants of adoption of such technologies among rural women assumes importance. This study used a cross-sectional survey of 170 rural women (88 adopters and 82 non-adopters) in Amathole District Municipality. Adoption of IK based technology was specified as a two-step decision process with awareness as a precondition for adoption. Thus, the study employed the Heckman two-stage model to analyze factors affecting awareness and adoption of IK based technologies among rural women. Age, employment status, social networks, access to material, access to the tourism market and workshop attendance influenced awareness. Employment status, number of employed household members, workshops attendance and crafter experience influenced adoption. The study urges the development of a comprehensive policy framework to promote awareness and adoption of IK based technologies in handicrafts as a rural poverty alleviation and employment creation strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although African indigenous chickens (ICs) are commonly kept by households in rural areas for consumption and sale, their contribution to rural livelihoods is generally overlooked. Literature suggests that IC production plays a vital role in rural communities of South Africa as a source of household income and cheap animal protein. Despite these claimed benefits, the production of indigenous chickens in Alice and other parts of South Africa's rural areas is very low. This study utilised a purposive random sampling method to select 120 households, focusing on villages known to keep IC in Alice Communal Area, South Africa. A multivariate probit model was used to analyse factors that influence the choice of indigenous chicken owned by rural households. Results revealed that gender (p-value < 0.10), age (p-value < 0.10), household size (p-value < 0.10), association membership size (p-value < 0.05), access to formal markets (p-value < 0.10), access to veterinary services (p-value < 0.05), access to informal credit (p-value < 0.05), access to formal credit (p-value < 0.01) and diversity score (p-value < 0.01) drive ownership of different indigenous chickens at the household level. Therefore, this paper argues that the promotion of indigenous chicken ownership at the household level calls for strategic institutional alignment and a clear understanding of social-demographic characteristics of the targeted community, which should be supported by several awareness campaigns and client-based selection of indigenous chicken breeds of socio-economic importance to the households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This empirical study examines the extent to which risk aversion and entrepreneurial ability influence an individual's decision to enter into entrepreneurship. Precisely, it delineates the gender gap in self-employment, nascent and high growth entrepreneurship. In doing so, it utilizes the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor South Africa databases containing 19,469 usable cases sampled between 2009 and 2014. The study adopts a quantitative approach and it applies an estimator in the form of a probit model and a non-linear decomposition technique to test established hypotheses. The results indicate that lower levels of knowledge and skills among women explain a substantial part of the gender gap. Thus, the gender gap in nascent and high growth entrepreneurship would be reduced if women had similar characteristics as men. Also, their entry rates into self-employment would be high and there would be no gender difference. This shifts the emphasis from the significance of risk aversion for local entrepreneurship to accentuate the importance of entrepreneurial-specific skills required to successfully engage in entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tropical deforestation through logging activities poses a direct threat to biodiversity. However, the detection of logging has remained a challenge. Based on study sites in Zimbabwe and Zambia, we tested whether the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Coefficient of Variation in NDVI (CVNDVI) derived from high and medium spatial resolution satellite data could be used to detect logging in dry and wet miombo woodlands. Separately, we integrated NDVI and CVNDVI in logistic regression to test whether each can be used to successfully predict logging in the study sites. We tested whether the spatial resolution of satellite data has an effect in detection of logging using NDVI and CVNDVI derived from Landsat 8 and Worldview-2. Based on the ROC curves, we concluded that remotely sensed data could provide an effective predictive tool for detecting logging. However, in wet miombo woodlands the predictive power of remotely sensed data is weak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Net primary productivity (NPP) is an important indicator of ecosystem health and its estimation and understanding of factors determining its spatial and temporal variations is critical. It is important to note that biophysical factors and human induced factors are interlinked in determining NPP patterns. Nevertheless, it is difficult to consider some aspects of human management systems in relation to NPP variations on a global scale analysis than on a local scale analysis. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that, at the local scale, particularly in highly intensive systems, land-use/land tenure types influence NPP variations by altering the biophysical conditions of the land. We estimated NPP between 2000 and 2009 using MODIS data and used ANOVA to test the abovementioned hypotheses. Results showed that NPP significantly (p < 0.05) varied by land-use/land tenure type. We also found that biophysical factors remained essential in explaining NPP variations even at local scales. These results exhibit the intricacies that exist between the biophysical and human-induced factors in explaining NPP variations within ecological landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Palliative care and the provision of pain relief medicine are essential components of health care, yet little research has been conducted on access to pain medicine in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa. The objective of this study was to examine patient experiences and health care provider attitudes towards chronic pain and palliative care in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The study used a mixed-methods approach to evaluate experience of chronic pain in a district hospital and associated clinics. Questionnaires and in-depth interviews were conducted with 45 current and former patients receiving care and 26 health care providers. Forty-six percent ( n = 19) of patients rated their pain in the last month as severe. Thirty-nine percent ( n = 17) of individuals stated that they had never been provided with an explanation for the cause of their pain. Multiple regression analysis found that being female, not having received a social welfare grant, and not having received an explanation for the cause of pain were associated with higher ratings of pain ( P < .10 for each variable). Factors inhibiting the provision of palliative care included insufficient access and availability of pain medication and providers' association of palliative care with end-of-life care. Adequate pain relief is often deprioritized in a busy health care setting. Ensuring patients receive sufficient relief for their pain requires interventions at clinical and policy levels, including the provision of needed pain medication and training in palliative care for all providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we test whether and in what way tree species diversity in three savanna woodland sites is related to Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) satellite imagery-derived indices. We test the use of standard deviation of near-infrared (stdev NIR) radiance and tree canopy cover estimated through the soil-adjusted vegetation index (SAVI) in estimating diversity. We use linear regression analysis to test the existence as well as determine the nature of the relationship between tree species diversity estimated from fieldwork data and stdev NIR radiance and SAVI. Our results show that tree species diversity has a significant (p < 0.05) hump-shaped response to variations in stdev NIR radiance and SAVI. Furthermore, results show that the combination of stdev NIR and SAVI explains between 60% and 64% of the variations in tree species diversity, an improvement of between 30% and 54% explained by the indices individually. We conclude that ASTER remotely sensed data can successfully be used to estimate tree species diversity in savanna woodlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we test whether we can significantly (p < 0.05) distinguish cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) fields from maize (Zea mays L.) and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) fields in smallholder agricultural landscapes of the Mid-Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe, using a temporal series of 16-day Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer – normalized difference vegetation index (MODIS NDVI) data. We test this hypothesis at different phenological stages over the growing season, that is, early green-up onset, late green-up onset, green-peak, early senescence and late senescence. We also statistically compare the rate of change in the greenness of the three crops at the three phenological stages. Results show that we can significantly (p < 0.05) distinguish cotton fields from maize and sorghum fields using 16-day MODIS NDVI data during the late green-up onset as well as during the green-peak stage of the three crops. Our results indicate that cotton can successfully be distinguished from maize and sorghum in spatially heterogeneous smallholder agricultural landscapes using temporal MODIS NDVI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We estimated home range (HR) and core areas of cattle herds in a semi-arid rangeland in southern Africa using the fixed kernel and the local convex hull (LoCoH) methods. We also compared the HR values of the two methods with the aid of high spatial resolution IKONOS imagery. We also compared area estimates determined by the two methods at different probability contours of the utilization distribution (UD). Results showed that the LoCoH performed better than the kernel method in estimating UD. We found significant (p < 0.05) differences concerning the area estimated at each probability contour of the UD between the fixed kernel and LoCoH methods. However, both methods produced similar land cover preferences within the HR and core areas. Based on IKONOS-imagery-aided evaluation, our results imply that LoCoH determines core areas in HR analysis better than the kernel method, while both methods can be used in preference analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beginning in March 2020, to reduce COVID-19 transmission, the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief supporting voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) services was delayed in 15 sub-Saharan African countries. We reviewed performance indicators to compare the number of VMMCs performed in 2020 with those performed in previous years. In all countries, the annual number of VMMCs performed decreased 32.5% (from 3,898,960 in 2019 to 2,631,951 in 2020). That reduction is largely attributed to national and local COVID-19 mitigation measures instituted by ministries of health. Overall, 66.7% of the VMMC global annual target was met in 2020, compared with 102.0% in 2019. Countries were not uniformly affected; South Africa achieved only 30.7% of its annual target in 2020, but Rwanda achieved 123.0%. Continued disruption to the VMMC program may lead to reduced circumcision coverage and potentially increased HIV-susceptible populations. Strategies for modifying VMMC services provide lessons for adapting healthcare systems during a global pandemic.

The objective of the study was to establish the factors that have significant correlation with the increase in adoption and intensity of adoption of genetically modified (GM) maize varieties. The study utilized a cross-sectional, descriptive and quantitative survey of smallholder dry maize producers. Multiple purposive sampling was utilized in the selection of 704 respondents and semi-structured interviews and pre-coded questionnaires were adopted as data collection instruments. The study sites were Mqanduli, Port St Johns and Flagstaff in King Sabatha Dalindyebo, Port St Johns and Ingquza Hill Local Municipalities in OR Tambo District Municipality. Through a Cragg's double hurdle model, the study revealed that level of education (1% level), membership to a farmer group (5% level), access to extension services and farm size (5% level) had significant positive influence on the decision to adopt GM maize. Intensity of use of GM maize was positively influenced by membership to a farmers group (5% level), access to extension services (5% level) and farm size (1% level). The study concluded that being part of a farmer organization, education, access to extension services and farm size were the most significant determinants in the dual decision to adopt GM maize and the intensity of utilization of GM maize. The study recommends awareness in line with the implemented policies and GM information dissemination toward farmer groups be promoted. The study also recommends that a balance be struck between optimization of land size devoted to GM maize and its subsequent adoption and extensive use thereof.