Livestock
http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/1014
2024-03-29T07:41:46ZLIVELIHOOD STRATEGIES OF LIVESTOCK FARMERS IN THE FOOT & MOUTH DISEASE RED LINE ZONES:A CASE OF LIVESTOCK FARMERS IN VHEMBE DISTRICT
http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/1027
LIVELIHOOD STRATEGIES OF LIVESTOCK FARMERS IN THE FOOT & MOUTH DISEASE RED LINE ZONES:A CASE OF LIVESTOCK FARMERS IN VHEMBE DISTRICT
Limpopo Department of Agriculture
This report is a product of the ARD diagnostic study undertaken by a team comprised of six members from the
University of Venda (UNIVEN), University of Limpopo (UL), Limpopo Department of Agriculture (LDA) and the
Agricultural Research Council (ARC). The study was conducted in Matiyani and Josefa sections of Mhinga Tribal
Authority area in the Vhembe District.
The objective of the study was to identify the survival strategies of livestock farmers in the red line zone in
sustaining their livelihood given the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) as a main challenge in livestock farming as
perceived by the LDA. Checklist questions were used to collect information on perceptions of livestock farmers
and professionals on FMD. Participatory tools such as; stakeholder analysis, transect walks and resource mappings
were used by the research team to engage with livestock farmers and other stakeholders.
The analysis of the study revealed that livestock farmers are aware of the FMD and the government policies
that restrict the movement of livestock during an outbreak. The study also indicated that livestock farmers do
not regard FMD as a problem, but as the disease that they can control and prevent. The study also revealed that
livestock farmers depend largely on livestock keeping as their main source of income despite the vulnerability of
their livestock to FMD. Other income generating activities include; crop farming, fire wood and fencing poles sales.
However, the study also observed several challenges faced by livestock farmers in the two sections. Water scarcity
is a major challenge followed by FMD, market access, wild animals from Kruger National Park (KNP), veld fires and
deforestation. The study highlighted different roles and conflicting responsibilities of various stakeholders in the
two sections.
2014-05-06T00:00:00ZTHE DYNAMICS OF THE POULTRY VALUE CHAIN:A REVIEW OF THE BROILER SECTOR IN THE GREATER TZANEEN MUNICIPALITY
http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/1021
THE DYNAMICS OF THE POULTRY VALUE CHAIN:A REVIEW OF THE BROILER SECTOR IN THE GREATER TZANEEN MUNICIPALITY
Limpopo Department of Agriculture
The purpose of the study was to analyse the poultry value chain in the Mopani district in order to identify factors,
challenges/constraints and opportunities required for its efficiency. The Greater Tzaneen Municipality was chosen
as a research area, as it was a good representative of the Mopani District. The stakeholders in the Greater Tzaneen
Municipality that had an effect and/or were affected by the poultry value chain were identified. The Agricultural
Research for Development tools, such as semi-structured interviews, were used to collect the information from
identified stakeholders.
The study reported four categories of farmers, i.e. the contract growers, the small-scale farmers with assured
market, the infrastructure subsidized farmers and the resource poor farmers. The challenges and opportunities
vary according to the categories of these farmers. The major challenge, with the contract growers, was to operate
under a closed system with uncertain profits, however had assured markets, paid their loans and had opportunities
to increase their production for better profits. Amongst other challenges the contract-farmers faced were theft,
lack of technical and marketing skills.
Small-scale and resource-poor farmers were identified to be operating under an open system; however, they
have poor infrastructure, uncertain quality of outputs, and lack of market and production inconsistency.
The advantage for these groups is that they own the live poultry market, and the opportunity arises for the
farmers to be placed under mentorship and be organized for better input prices and formal market accessibility.
It was concluded that the poultry value chain in the Greater Tzaneen municipality has challenges, and if addressed
properly the value chain could be efficient. The study further concludes that the mentorship programme that was
introduced for the farmers seem perfect for the purpose intended for (i.e. repayment of the loans), however it
recommend that the contract the farmers are contracted to, should be thoroughly screened, and distributed
equitably to mentors in order to ensure competitiveness and profitability for the farming business and to prevent
monopoly of the sector within the district.
2014-05-06T00:00:00ZLIVELIHOODS IN THE RURAL AREAS OFBLOUBERG MUNICIPALITY (GEMARKE & EARLY DAWN VILLAGES) LIMPOPO PROVINCE SOUTH AFRICA
http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/1020
LIVELIHOODS IN THE RURAL AREAS OFBLOUBERG MUNICIPALITY (GEMARKE & EARLY DAWN VILLAGES) LIMPOPO PROVINCE SOUTH AFRICA
The possibilities for livestock commercialization by smallholder farmers in communal
land use systems of Blouberg Local Municipality (BLM) were evaluated using
Agricultural Research for Development (ARD), a holistic approach to collective rural
innovation and development. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) tools such as meetings,
semi-structured interviews, focus groups discussions and workshops provided a platform
for an inter- institutional and inter-disciplinary team of researchers to explore possibilities
for commercialization under the communal land use system, and to gather different
perspectives of the key stakeholders involved in the challenge.
The aim of this study was to contribute to the development of an efficient and effective
approach to better deal with the commercialization aspects of livestock production in
communal land use systems. The findings of the study indicate that smallholder farmers
are keeping livestock mainly to reach their subsistence objectives, and commercialization
is not an eminent issue for these farmers. This is in contrast to the initial view of the
Limpopo Department of Agriculture (LDA) that farmers are ready to commercialize.
The main challenge facing the commercialisation of livestock in communal grazing areas
is organisation of farmers. The management of the veld, establishment of water points
within the veld and building capacity on general livestock management strategies are the
most important developmental strategies, which all require communal action.
Furthermore, the farmers vary little with regards to their farming objectives (subsistence)
and grouping farmers into clusters/typologies may not be necessary for the short-term
future interventions.
2014-05-06T00:00:00ZGOAT PRODUCTION AND LIVELIHOOD SYSTEMS IN SEKHUKHUNE DISTRICT OF LIMPOPO PROVINCE IN SOUTH AFRICA
http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/1018
GOAT PRODUCTION AND LIVELIHOOD SYSTEMS IN SEKHUKHUNE DISTRICT OF LIMPOPO PROVINCE IN SOUTH AFRICA
Limpopo Department of Agriculture
A brief look at the local resources of the study area, Sekhukhune District of Limpopo
Province, reveals that goats are the most common livestock of the communal farmers and yet
they do not make a significant contribution to the economy of the place, let alone to incomes
of the households keeping goats. Goats are not sold through any formal market channel and
goat meat is not found in any butchery or shelves of the super markets. The purpose of this
study therefore, was to find ways to transform the current subsistence system of producing
indigenous goats by communal households in Sekhukhune District in the Limpopo Province
of South Africa into a viable system of producing, processing and marketing goats and their
by-products through formal markets.
An exploration of the problem situation was done through the Agricultural Research for
Development (ARD) method developed by the International Centre for development oriented
Research in Agriculture (ICRA), an organisation based in The Netherlands. The field study
phase was characterised by village participatory approaches in the form of village meetings,
focus group meetings, interviews with key informants, exploration of the area’s natural
resources through maps and transect walks, activity calendars, and several stakeholder
workshops. In order to verify secondary data, information on livelihood options was collected
through questionnaires at the household level. Current production and marketing systems
were analysed. Stakeholder perceptions on problems and solutions were documented. Finally,
future plans were proposed.
Results show that less than 25% of the households in Sekhukhune do own goats. Goat
numbers range from 1 to over 200 per household. Goats are more common than other
livestock (twice as many as sheep and almost three times as many as cattle). Farmers are not
commercialising because the set-up of the goat industry does not promote commercialisation.
The potential for farmers to commercialise lies in value addition. This can only happen,
however, if niche markets are identified, when farmers are organised, and when the cooperative
infrastructure such as butcheries and tanneries are set up to be owned by the farmers
at a later stage.
The study concludes that a two-phased action plan needs to be implemented in order to
commercialise goats and their by-products:
· Phase I: Establishing the market linkage by formation of a co-operative of the communal
goat farmers;
· Phase II: Improving the productivity of goats by targeted group approaches to address the
needs of specific groups, taking into account their current socio-economic conditions.
2014-05-06T00:00:00Z