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Dr. Lindumusa Myeni
Agricultural Research Council - Natural Resources and Engineering, Private Bag X79, Pretoria 0001, South Africa

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Research Keywords & Expertise

0 Agrometeorology
0 Agrometeorological modelling
0 Sustainability agricultural
0 Soil water balances (measuring, modelling) and plant response on soil drought
0 Climate change adaptation and mitigation in agriculture

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Journal article
Published: 16 September 2020 in Agriculture
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This study was undertaken to understand the smallholder farmer’s perception of the effects of climate variability, their adaptation strategies to cope with climate variability and factors determining the adoption of their adaptation strategies in the eastern Free State Province of South Africa. Adaptation strategies were grouped into two categories, i.e., traditional adaptation strategies and scientific adaptation strategies. Traditional adaptation strategies consisted of practices that require minimal technical expertise and less external inputs such as changing from crops to livestock, crop diversification, increasing land under production, changing crop type and water harvesting. Scientific adaptation strategies consisted of practices that require additional external inputs, labour, and some level of technical expertise such as changing crop variety, improving soil fertility and soil conservation. Data were collected from 391 smallholder farmers using a structured household questionnaire and were verified through focus group discussion meetings with key informants. Data were analysed using the descriptive statistics, frequency analysis and a binary logistic model. Results indicated that the majority of smallholder farmers perceived that climate change had triggered food-related impacts in the study area and had adopted at least one adaptation strategy. This study showed that awareness and knowledge were the key factors that determined the adoption of traditional adaptation strategies in the study area. The adoption of scientific adaptation strategies was additionally determined by the availability of external financial investments. It is recommended that the promotion of traditional practices should focus on raising awareness of climate change and adaptation strategies while the promotion of scientific practices additionally requires the provision and accessibility of financial institutional support and incentives.

ACS Style

Lindumusa Myeni; Mokhele Edmond Moeletsi. Factors Determining the Adoption of Strategies Used by Smallholder Farmers to Cope with Climate Variability in the Eastern Free State, South Africa. Agriculture 2020, 10, 410 .

AMA Style

Lindumusa Myeni, Mokhele Edmond Moeletsi. Factors Determining the Adoption of Strategies Used by Smallholder Farmers to Cope with Climate Variability in the Eastern Free State, South Africa. Agriculture. 2020; 10 (9):410.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Lindumusa Myeni; Mokhele Edmond Moeletsi. 2020. "Factors Determining the Adoption of Strategies Used by Smallholder Farmers to Cope with Climate Variability in the Eastern Free State, South Africa." Agriculture 10, no. 9: 410.

Journal article
Published: 10 December 2019 in Agricultural Water Management
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Accurate quantification of net radiation flux (Rn) is of paramount importance for the estimation of reference evapotranspiration (ET0) rate, which is used to estimate crop water use. A widely recommended Penman-Monteith procedure outlined in the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Irrigation and Drainage Paper No. 56 for estimation of Rn (FAO56- Rn) is often used to estimate Rn. However, the FAO56- Rn model is data-intensive and also requires site-specific calibrations of coefficients to attain a high level of accuracy of Rn estimates. These coefficients are often used without site-specific calibrations as a result of' the lack of large and representative radiative flux measurements in data-scarce regions such as southern Africa and Rn estimates are therefore considered questionable. Assessment of different models in-situ measurements of Rn is critical to identify an alternative approach that could be used for accurate estimation of Rn with minimal data input and without any site-specific calibrations in this region. In this study, two new Rn models, which differ only in the procedures used to compute atmospheric emissivity were proposed. The first model requires measurements of solar irradiance (Rs) maximum and minimum air temperatures (Tairmin and Tairmax) while the second model requires additional measurements of relative humidity (RHmin and RHmax) for estimation of the actual vapour pressure (eair). Two new Rn models and a widely recommended FAO56- Rn model were evaluated using daily Rn measurements acquired from five sites which represent different climatic and land cover conditions of southern Africa. The results showed that the first model performed better than all the evaluated models at four sites, with regression coefficient (r2) values greater than 0.90 and index of agreement (d) values greater than 0.97. These findings suggest that the first model presented here is the most promising and suitable to estimate Rn with minimum input data in southern Africa without any site-specific calibrations. The findings of this study can be used to inform the decision on selecting a model to be used for reliable estimates of Rn for improved estimation of crop water requirement in climatic conditions similar to this region.

ACS Style

L. Myeni; M.E. Moeletsi; A.D. Clulow. Assessment of three models for estimating daily net radiation in southern Africa. Agricultural Water Management 2019, 229, 105951 .

AMA Style

L. Myeni, M.E. Moeletsi, A.D. Clulow. Assessment of three models for estimating daily net radiation in southern Africa. Agricultural Water Management. 2019; 229 ():105951.

Chicago/Turabian Style

L. Myeni; M.E. Moeletsi; A.D. Clulow. 2019. "Assessment of three models for estimating daily net radiation in southern Africa." Agricultural Water Management 229, no. : 105951.

Journal article
Published: 28 May 2019 in Sustainability
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Sustainable Agricultural Practices (SAPs) are the most promising pathways to enhance the productivity and resilience of agricultural production of smallholder farming systems while conserving the natural resources. This study was undertaken to identify the barriers affecting sustainable agricultural productivity of smallholder farmers in the eastern Free State, South Africa. Data were collected from 359 smallholder farmers using questionnaires and the validity of the collected data was confirmed through focus group discussions with key informants. Descriptive statistics and a binary logistic regression model were used to analyze data. Results indicated that traditional SAPs such as intercropping, mulching and crop rotation were more likely to be adopted by farmers with access to land yet without access to credit (and had low levels of education, although this finding was not significant). In contrast, new SAPs such as cover cropping, minimum-tillage, tied ridging and planting pits were more knowledge (education), capital and labor intensive. Therefore, extension strategies should take these differences into consideration when promoting both the adoption of traditional SAPs and new SAPs. Targeting resource-constrained farmers (in terms of access to credit and education) through raising awareness and building capacity is essential to ensure the adoption of traditional SAPs. In turn, promoting the adoption of new SAPs not only needs awareness raising and capacity building but also must fundamentally address resource constraints of South African smallholder farmers such as knowledge, capital and labor. It is recommended that government should provide resources and infrastructure to improve the quality and outreach of extension services through field demonstration trials and training.

ACS Style

Lindumusa Myeni; Mokhele Moeletsi; Mulalo Thavhana; Mulalo Randela; Lebohang Mokoena. Barriers Affecting Sustainable Agricultural Productivity of Smallholder Farmers in the Eastern Free State of South Africa. Sustainability 2019, 11, 3003 .

AMA Style

Lindumusa Myeni, Mokhele Moeletsi, Mulalo Thavhana, Mulalo Randela, Lebohang Mokoena. Barriers Affecting Sustainable Agricultural Productivity of Smallholder Farmers in the Eastern Free State of South Africa. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (11):3003.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Lindumusa Myeni; Mokhele Moeletsi; Mulalo Thavhana; Mulalo Randela; Lebohang Mokoena. 2019. "Barriers Affecting Sustainable Agricultural Productivity of Smallholder Farmers in the Eastern Free State of South Africa." Sustainability 11, no. 11: 3003.

Review article
Published: 07 December 2018 in Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies
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Soil moisture is the key parameter that governs the partitioning of the mass and energy fluxes between land and atmosphere through its influence on surface evaporation, runoff, albedo and emissivity. Therefore, accurate quantification of soil moisture is critical in the study of the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum as well as in hydrology and climate change studies. However, soil moisture remains a challenging hydrometeorological variable to monitor and interpret over high temporal and spatial resolution. The cost of setting up, operating and maintaining dense soil moisture networks across different agro-climatic zones of the African regions is currently financially unattainable due to high competition for resources. Consequently, soil moisture is often estimated indirectly, using both remote sensing and hydrological models, which provide periodic updates and valuable estimates at lower cost over African continent thus far. In recent years, huge efforts have been undertaken to install in situ soil moisture monitoring networks to support the satellite retrievals, satellite product improvement and modelling in Africa. However, the lack of large and representative in situ soil moisture monitoring networks across different agro-climatic zones of the African regions still hinders evaluation and verification of the most promising remote sensing products and hydrological models to estimate soil moisture. Consequently, the need for accurate and continuous real-time in situ soil moisture measurements covering a wide range of agro-climatic zones of the African continent is indisputable.

ACS Style

L. Myeni; M.E. Moeletsi; Alistair Clulow. Present status of soil moisture estimation over the African continent. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies 2018, 21, 14 -24.

AMA Style

L. Myeni, M.E. Moeletsi, Alistair Clulow. Present status of soil moisture estimation over the African continent. Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies. 2018; 21 ():14-24.

Chicago/Turabian Style

L. Myeni; M.E. Moeletsi; Alistair Clulow. 2018. "Present status of soil moisture estimation over the African continent." Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies 21, no. : 14-24.