Prof Joseph Baloyi believes that science should not be something limited to a sterile laboratory. It should produce results that can change the lives of ordinary people, and in his field of expertise that means the lives of subsistence farmers.
Prof Baloyi has just returned from a six-and-a-half-month visit to the University of Georgia in the USA. He visited the university on a Fulbright Fellowship, which provided him with the opportunity to not only expand his knowledge, but also build relations and promote interaction between academic institutions thousands of kilometres apart.
At home, at the University of Venda, Baloyi is the Head of Department of Animal Sciences. He is also a former vice-dean of the School of Agriculture. His specialist field is a subject that not many of us know a lot about, namely animal nutrition, specifically ruminants such as cattle, sheep and goats. Prof Baloyi studies the nutrition of animals, with the specific purpose to see how feed can be supplemented or adapted to increase productivity on farms.
One of the challenges that a small cattle farmer has to deal with is the decline in natural pastures during dry or winter seasons. The grazing fields may still be available, but the animal does not get the necessary nutrition from the dry grass. This is where supplementing the grass with other products containing proteins becomes important, but the small-scale farmer cannot always afford this.
Part of the research that Prof Baloyi does, is to see how more readily available fodder, such as the crop residues, can be fed to the animals. His research also touches on the viability of planting different types of grass and legumes on grazing fields, which has a higher nutritional value.
When the opportunity came for Prof Baloyi to travel to the USA, he grabbed it with both hands. The Fulbright scholarship programme is now in its 76th year and has enabled thousands of scholars and academics to broaden their horizons. The research scholarship programme provides grants for post-doctoral research at a US academic or research institution. Prof Baloyi's fellowship was from 1 June 2021 to 31 December 2021.
At the University of Georgia, Prof Baloyi was hosted by the Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences under the stewardship of Dr Todd Riley Callaway. Dr Callaway is a ruminant nutritionist, or in layman's terms, someone who specialises in the digestive systems of large-hooved herbivores, such as cattle, that ferment plant-based foods in a specialised stomach prior to digestion.
Prof Baloyi was especially impressed with the world-class research equipment and laboratories available to the students and academic staff. Dr Callaway mostly works on microbiology in the animal gut as it is affected by feeds. Unlike in South Africa, where it can often take days or weeks to get test results, here they are available almost immediately.
To Prof Baloyi, however, the experience in the US was more than just about finding out what tickles the enzymes in a cow's gut. He had the opportunity to interact with students and assist them with their research projects. He also visited various farms and gained first-hand experience of the work that the researchers are doing.
Possibly one of the most long-lasting effects of his visit to the US is the ties that have been strengthened between Univen and the University of Georgia. A memorandum of understanding was signed, which will hopefully make it possible for more academics and students to exchange ideas and visit each other.
The Fulbright programme currently operates in South Africa and more than 150 other countries worldwide. The programme is currently receiving applications for the 2023-2024 cycle, with a closing date of May 1, 2022. For more information, please visit www.za.usembassy.gov/fulbright.