Abstract
The beef supply sector has not been spared the consequences of climate instability but also remains responsible to partake in the mitigation and adaptation of climate variations. There are numerous methods used to respond to the consequences of changes in climate , however not all of them are applicable to the beef sector. The decision makers in the supply chain , faced with devastation in the form of prolonged dry spells, unprecedented heat waves , floods in destructive scales and unpredictable weather in general are faced with the perplexity of choosing the most appropriate climate crises response actions. There is limited guidance for the farmers , butchers , abattoir operators and meat wholesalers particularly in the South African context on the most efficacious methods of abating changing climate conditions. This research study seeks to establish how the players in the South African beef industry perceive changs of climate patterns , respond to climate variations and how they avert the obstacles to changes in climate patterns in their response actions. The research question of the study is “how do businesses in the South African beef value chain respond to shifts in climate patterns and avert the unintended consequences and obstacles to the common responses to climate variations prevalent in the sector?”
The study uses the multiple case study methodology, and the data collection was done in the Gauteng and Free State provinces of South Africa. Data were collected through the use of semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. This study‘s objectives motivated the researcher to adopt the qualitative research design. The objective which is to gain an understanding of how companies in the beef industry respond to climate disruptions and to develop a climate action response framework justifies the selection of non-probability purposeful sampling as the sampling method for the participating managers of business within the beef sector. The sampling of focus group discussion participants comprising workers in the sector, who were part of the population is determined by multiplicity sampling which is a type of network sampling method developed from snowballing, in which sampling the respondents’ knowledge of their links draws the researcher to subjects that are sought for the research study.
The results of the focus groups as well as the interviews were traced upwards until the research questions were answered and the research objectives achieved. The analysis of data is done piecemeal in line with the prescribes of the data analysis of multiple case studies.
An important finding of the study is that South African government climate policy and climate regulations do not obstruct actions to climate variations in the beef value chain in the South African beef value chain. Other findings of the study are that financial constraints have
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major influence on changes in climate responses and organisations in the sector do not rely on traditional and conventional methods of responding to climate variations but also develop their own adaptation and mitigation means. The findings as well as the literature were used to develop a conceptual framework for climate variation responses in the supply chain. The developed conceptual framework consists of seven steps that are include the determination of risk and cost levels involved.