Small-scale livestock production systems are an inherent part of communal livestock
farming in the Southern African region and require certain interventions and welldeveloped
management systems to ensure long-term sustainability. To this end a
better understanding of the biophysical and socio-economic features of communal
farming communities can contribute to the planning and implementation of better
focused agricultural development programmes in these areas.
The present study presented a unique opportunity to study and compare two
adjacent areas where mainly livestock farming has been practised for generations by,
on the one hand, communal farmers who apply limited pasture management, and on
the other, the Mara, which uses proven pasture management and rotational grazing,
practices. This research presented an opportunity not only to compare livestock
production systems but also to determine the impact of communal farming on plant
composition and edible plant material production.
The study elicited excitement and enthusiasm among local animal and pasture
scientists, as well as social scientists, as the outcome of this study could impact
directly on future small-scale livestock farming development.
The objective of this study was twofold. The first objective was to evaluate the socioeconomic
complexities of small-scale ruminant livestock production under communal
farming conditions. To this end, fifty farmer households that share a communal
grazing area were surveyed. Data analysis was performed using Statistical Package
for Social Sciences (SPSS). Most pertinent results of this study are the following:
female animals make up the largest proportion of a herd; the majority of farmers
sustain their livelihood from off-farm activity and farm for status not for profit; and
farmers farm mainly with the Nguni breed owing to its adaptability to the environment.
Given the socio-economic scenario, the second objective was to investigate the way
socio-economic conditions impact on the natural feed resource base. Twelve
fistulated Bonsmara steers were used. Rumen fistulated steers were used to determine the dry matter disappearance and ammonia concentration using nylon bag
technique and the Oesophageal fistulated steers were used to determine the
chemical composition. Data were analysed with the SAS Statistical package (2002-
2003) and the results indicated that there was no significant difference measured
between the two sites in terms of ingested dry matter (DM) disappearance from the
rumen and chemical composition of ingested material and ammonia production in the
rumen and vegetational measurements were all significantly different between the
two sites.
The study concludes that differences in the grazing material available in terms of the
two systems are a result of the quantity of the dry material available and not the
quality. Moreover, livestock farming on its own is declining and is unable to provide
sufficient financial returns for the survival of households. Households are
consequently compelled to become involved in off-farm activities in order to generate
enough income to sustain their livelihoods.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufs/oai:etd.uovs.ac.za:etd-08152012-144724 |
| Date | 15 August 2012 |
| Creators | Munyai, Fhumulani Rachel |
| Contributors | Prof P Wilke, Prof L Ndlovu, Prof F Swanepoel |
| Publisher | University of the Free State |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | en-uk |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.uovs.ac.za//theses/available/etd-08152012-144724/restricted/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University Free State or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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