Thesis ( M. Sc.((Agricultural Economics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2017. / Wildlife farming has become an important land use alternative, especially in most
developing countries where there is an abundance of wildlife resources. In South Africa,
integrated wildlife/livestock was mostly practiced by commercial farmers on a privately
owned land but in recent years, potential for income generation in the industry has grown.
Smallholder farmers are increasingly being assisted to explore practicing integrated
wildlife/livestock on communal land after receiving land through restitution programme.
The aim of the study was to examine costs and benefits associated with integrating
livestock with wildlife in a smallholder agricultural context. Structured questionnaires were
used to collect data from 71 respondents situated in Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality selected
using multistage random sampling technique. Cost-benefit approach and weighted
decision matrix were used for economic analysis and also to identify potential trade-offs.
Furthermore, the study used descriptive statistical analysis to identify opportunities and
challenges faced by farmers. Some of the livestock costs identified include feeds, vaccines
and labour costs. Benefits of wildlife include income from trophy hunting and selling meat
from wild animals. Cost-Benefit Ratio (CBR) as a tool of cost benefit analysis techniques,
was used in order get 0.67 in livestock farming, this shows that the project may not be
sustainable whereas that of wildlife farming was 1.13 which indicate that the project will
yield positive outcome for community involved. There are trade-offs that farmers will have
to consider when shifting towards integrated wildlife/livestock such as reduced livestock
benefits and increased wildlife benefits. Livestock diseases, stock theft and others are the
identified challenges associated with integrated wildlife/livestock. Descriptive results
indicated that 40% of livestock farmers mentioned that they are strongly affected by stock
theft and disease transmission. The identified opportunities of integrated wildlife/livestock
were business and job creation for rural households. Given the findings, the study
therefore, recommends that government and private sector should assist farmers with
training in wildlife farming so that they can be competitive in commercial wildlife farming.
Funds should be made available for setting up infrastructure suited for wildlife land uses. / Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ul/oai:ulspace.ul.ac.za:10386/1916 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Cholo, Machuene Sharlyn |
| Contributors | Oluwatayo, I. B., Chaminuka, P. |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ix, 69 leaves |
| Relation |
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