Browsing by Author "Gbejewoh, Omamuyovwi"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The 3Ps (Profit, Planet, and People) of sustainability amidst climate change : a South African grape and wine perspective
    (MDPI, 2021-03-08) Gbejewoh, Omamuyovwi; Keesstra, Saskia; Blancquaert, Erna
    Conventional agriculture has made the search for sustainability urgent, more so with regards to climate change. This has extended to the grape and wine industry, an important industry in South Africa in terms of labor employment and foreign exchange. This paper aims to review the current state of knowledge with regards to the three pillars of sustainability and with regards to climate change. In order to understand sustainability in South Africa, a historical context is needed, because the welfare of farm workers still retains vestiges of past Apartheid. Ecological responsibility and higher profits are the main reasons for sustainable practices. Additionally, water use, chemical use, and soil erosion are important environmental sustainability concerns. With regards to climate change, in terms of economic sustainability, there will be winners and losers and social sustainability issues will intensify as changes occur in farms. Table grape producers are relatively more profitable than wine grape producers. Furthermore, pest, disease, irrigation pressure will worsen as the climate warms. However, there are long- and short-term adaptation strategies such as changes in viticulture practices and grape cultivars, respectively, to stem the effects of climate change, but this may be stymied by cost and farmers’ perceptions of climate change.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The 3Ps (profit, planet, and people) of sustainability: a South African grape and wine perspective
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-12) Gbejewoh, Omamuyovwi; Blancquaert, Erna; Keesstra, S.; Hoffman, W. H.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of AgriSciences. Dept. of Viticulture and Oenology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Ever since the discovery of the environmental impacts of modern production in agriculture, sustainability and sustainable production has been at the forefront of efforts to reduce the external pressures on the system. The initial focus of the sustainability model was only on the environment and was later expanded to include the economic and social dimensions as evidenced in the millennium and sustainable development goals of the United Nations. Industrial agricultural production produces its fair share of greenhouse gas emissions. However, the grape and wine sectors were traditionally not considered environmentally demanding. Regardless of this increased interest in sustainability and sustainable production, the question remains: What does sustainability mean? How to measure and achieve it? It is still hotly debated which is open to various subjective interpretations. This project was aimed at studying the three pillars of sustainability equally and together in the grape and wine sector in South Africa. The objectives of the project were to: (i) evaluate what sustainability and its three pillars mean and how climate change is affecting these three pillars, (ii) determine context-specific indicators for the three pillars of sustainability and (iii) finally assess the feasibility of balancing the three pillars in a farm. The results of the first objective showed that sustainability is still highly subjective as all the respondents defined it differently and the environmental dimension still dominated their perceptions of sustainability in its importance, but they considered the social dimension the most difficult to achieve. In terms of climate change, extremes like drought, temperature and rainfall variations affected profits and the gains seen in other wine-producing countries are not present in South Africa. With regards to the environment, water demand was severely increasing irrigation pressure followed by increased reliance on chemicals for pest control. Spill-over effects of the economic dimension affected the social dimension in terms of limited work opportunities and stagnant wages for workers. The results of the second objective showed that economic indicators selected as relevant speak to the precarious situation of grape and wine farmers. The environmental indicators considered relevant were interesting given that actual practices were different given various regional environmental contexts. While the social dimension showed that respondents believe in improving the welfare of workers but are limited in what they can do to improve this dimension given the economic situation of many farms. The final objective showed that even though combined improved environmental and social practices reduced the profitability of farms, only improved social practices had the least effect. This showed that even significant improvement in the social dimension did not have to impact the bottom line of farms adversely. However, these results should be interpreted with caution as it involves simulating a complex system. Finally, as this study was exploratory, more research is needed in terms of more diverse participants (foreign retailers and consumers), more rounds of indicator selection and simulating the entire farm and not just the production process.