Agriculture

Agriculture, ECONOMIC GROWTH/ANTI-GROWTH FACTORS, Export-led growth, Municipal efficiency

From idiom to disaster: the radical transformation of “daar’s ‘n drol in die drinkwater”

The incapacity of Government to fulfil its basic task to effectively protect the rights and property of all persons (natural and juridical) thereby ruining economic growth, is matched by its dedicated neglect of scarce natural resources. In a water-scarce country like South Africa this amounts to much more than an ecological disaster: it borders on economic suicide.

Like people, no single enterprise can thrive without access to reliable water. The situation in South Africa remains far better than in most African countries. However, not every middle-income country can boast its Government has systematically:

Daar's 'n drol in die drinkwater

undermined its own water resources by extending (within a mere 12 years from 1999 – 2011) the poor ecological condition of its main rivers by an astounding 500% with some rivers pushed beyond the point of recovery (March 2018 Draft National Water and Sanitation Master Plan);

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Agriculture, CITIES, TOWNS AND SETTLEMENTS, Demographic-entrepreneurial relationships, Eastern Cape, Enterprise richness, Small towns, Tourism & hospitality services, Town resilience

The resilience of some small towns in the Karoo

A new article in the Journal of Arid Environments (see reference below) examines the ‘Small Town Paradox’ in eight small towns in the Eastern Cape Karoo. Normalised data (enterprise numbers per thousand residents) and estimates of enterprise richness were used in the comparisons. Willowmore, Steytlerville and Jansenville outperformed Aberdeen, Hofmeyr, Steynsburg, Venterstad and Pearston in terms of total enterprises per 1000 residents as well as enterprises per 1000 residents in the tourism & hospitality services and agricultural products and services sectors. In fact, in some measures these towns even outperformed the larger towns of Graaff-Reinet, Cradock, Somerset East and Middelburg. Over some seven decades, the enterprise richness of Willowmore, Steytlerville and Jansenville increased (like those of the larger towns) whereas the enterprise richness of the other five small towns decreased. Hausmann et al. (2017) postulated that productive knowledge is a main determinant of the wealth/poverty of nations. I think this is also true for towns and used enterprise richness as a proxy for the levels of productive knowledge in the towns.

The resilience of towns is now a hot scientific topic. It refers to the ability of towns to respond successfully to adverse changes. Some do it well and some not; hence the ‘Small Town Paradox’. The decline of agriculture, particularly wool farming, in the Karoo stressed many Karoo towns. The study was done to determine if resilience was present in the Eastern Cape Karoo. It was.

The article demonstrates two important issues: 1. There are useful measures whereby the strengths/weaknesses of the entrepreneurial development of South African towns can be compared. 2. Productive knowledge is probably an important component of the resilience of South African towns.

References

Toerien, DF (2018) The ‘Small Town Paradox’ and towns of the Eastern Cape Karoo, South Africa. Journal of Arid Environments. Available free of charge for a limited period at:
https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1WwV0Vu7-m4sz

Hausmann, R, Hidalgo, CA, Bustos, S, Coscia, M, Chung, S, Jiminez, J, Simoes, A & Yildirim, MA. (2017) The Atlas of Economic Complexity: Mapping Paths to Prosperity. Center for International Development, Harvard University.

Agriculture, ECONOMIC POLICY AND STRATEGY, Free State, Job creation and unemployment, Medium sized enterprises

The ‘cigarettes and whisky conundrum’ and the advice of the Red Queen

The Red Queen said to Alice: “Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!” ¹ This advice also seems to hold for the cigarettes and whisky conundrum of South African communities.

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