A survey on livestock production in some traditional areas of Northern Kwazulu Natal in South Africa

N W Kunene and A Fossey^*

Department of Agriculture, University of Zululand, Private bag X1001, Kwadlangezwa 3886, South Africa
nkunene@pan.uzulu.ac.za
^*School of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X01, Scottsville 3209

Abstract

A survey on livestock production was conducted through questionnaires among 76 rural farmers in the three wards of Enseleni district in Northen Kwazulu, Natal.

The study showed that the livestock owned comprised chickens, cattle, sheep and ducks. Cattle and goats were the main livestock used for cultural purposes. Livestock were sold for cash to get other household needs and contributed 20.2% to farmers' total income. Production was extensive, groundnuts were used as a traditional supplement to increase production and some medicinal plants were used to increase reproductive rates. Dosing, vaccination and injections were used to control health. No breeding season or system was reported. Farmers kept indigenous Nguni cattle, sheep, goats and chickens. Sickly and deformed animals were castrated or culled. Main constraints included lack of extension, theft and parasites.

Keywords: cattle, goats, traditional farming

Introduction

Livestock and crop farming are the major source of food production and income in rural farming. Livestock are also kept as a source of investment, insurance against disaster and also for cultural purposes (Sibisi 1981). The South African government has, through extension programs, supported rural livestock farming by introducing modern farming practices. However, it seems more effort is required to improve livestock production for food security in these areas. The indigenous knowledge, socio-economic situation and attitudes of the rural farmers should be taken into consideration when planning strategies for rural livestock improvement. The purpose of this study was to investigate the traditional livestock farming methods practiced by rural farmers, the impact of livestock on the cash economy of the farmers, the nature of problems encountered and the solutions farmers preferred.

Materials and methods

The investigation was undertaken in three wards (Somopho, Mhlana, Yanguye) in the Enseleni district, situated South of the Umfolozi Game Reserve, North of Empangeni, in northern Kwa-Zulu Natal. These areas are located at 28⁰ 30'S - 28⁰ 43' S, 31⁰ 33'E - 31⁰ 50' E, the altitude range is from 80 to 1900 m above sea level, with an annual rainfall that ranges from 600 mm in the drier valley to over 1 400 mm near the coast. All the farms in the three communities were visited. 76 farmers were available for questioning. Data were obtained by interviewing these farmers at their homesteads using structured questionnaires. Traditionally, the agricultural practices of the people in these wards consist of planting field crops, vegetables and raising livestock (Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry 1997). Observations of the daily management practices of the livestock and the grazing areas were also recorded. The community income data were analysed using Statistica (1999).

The collected data were grouped as follows:

• Farm and farmer information included, age of the farmer, sex of the head of the family, level of education of the farmer, sources of income and the size of the farmer's land.
• Number and type of livestock owned, slaughtered, sold, other uses.
• Management practices (grazing pattern, supplements and general husbandry).
• Breeding practices (selection, breeding systems and traits).
• Problems

Summary statistics were calculated to obtain a better understanding of the types of farms, farming methods and economical status of these rural communities.

Results and discussion

The characteristics of the farmers are provided in Table 1.

Most heads of households were male. Of women that headed households 75% were widowed and the rest had husbands that were migrant workers. There were few households headed by females in northern KwaZulu-Natal compared to the 60% households headed by widows or wives of migrant workers, reported by Bembridge (1984), for Transkei. A larger component of farmers (38%) were between the ages 41 and 50, 26% were between the ages 51 and 60 and 4 % were less than 30 years old, only one farmer was above 70 years old. More than half of the respondents (52.6%) did not go to school. Of the 47.4 % farmers, that had acquired some level of education, 21.1% had a high school qualification, 13.2% had higher primary education and 11.8% went as far as lower primary and only one farmer had a tertiary qualification. The level of the academic standard in this region was substantially lower than that of the Transkei, where 67.8% of the farmers had done some level in the lower primary and 4.3% had vocational qualifications (Bembridge 1984).

Land ownership in these areas was reported by the livestock extension officer to be under tribal authority (Mbatha, personal communication). The majority of the farmers estimated their land to be between four and five ha in size.

The main source of income was a combination of sales (agricultural produce and cold drinks) and work (Table 1). Types of work reported were temporal jobs of cutting timber trees for Mondi, working for Richards Bay Minerals and Alusaf (Aluminum Company at Richards Bay). A pension was the sole income of 11.8 % of the farmers.

The livestock types kept in the community were cattle, goats, sheep, chickens and ducks (Table 2).

The majority of the cattle owners had between 11 and 20 heads, similarly the common range in goat ownership was between 11 and 20. Most chicken owners had between 1 and 20 chickens. The results presented in Table 3 reflected that chickens were the most popular of the livestock in the community, followed by cattle and goats; however, the sheep were only 2 % of the total livestock.

All the farmers were livestock owners. The composition of livestock types owned by farmers varied, the most common was that of cattle, goats and chickens owned by 34.2% of the farmers followed by that of cattle and goats owned by 22.4% of the farmers (Table 3). The combination of livestock owned in these rural farms was similar to other investigations conducted in other rural areas of southern Africa; Swaziland (Sibisi 1979) and Transkei (Bembridge 1984).

The data gathered about the utilisation of livestock in 1998 and 1999 is provided in (Table 4).

Cattle and goats were reported to be used for similar functions (consumption, sale and cultural use); the sheep were not reported to be used for any cultural purpose. More cattle (101) and goats (119) were slaughtered and consumed during cultural ceremonies than for paying dues. The rural farmers in Transkei and in Swaziland were also reported to use cattle and goats for similar purposes (Sibisi 1979; Bembridge 1984). The chickens were more regularly slaughtered than the other livestock. These results support those of Ogle (1990) that versatile use of chickens to provide meat and eggs for households could be an attractive option. Though most of the animals were used for home consumption, a considerable number were sold (22.1%). Goats and cattle seemed to have been sold equally.

Figure 1 shows the income distribution for the years 1998 and 1999.

Of the total households that sold livestock, 76.3% earned less than R3999 and 3.9% earned over R16000. The majority (96.1%) of the farmers that sold crops, vegetables or cold drinks (other sales) got less or up to R3999. Fixed amounts were those obtained from work and pension, and 39.5% earned over R16000. The grand totals reflect that most of the income earners (47.4%) got over R16000 and the least (6.6%) got between R12000 and R15999.

Figure 2 shows that the largest contributor to the income of the homesteads was obtained through employment (55.9 %);  however, the income from livestock showed a substantial contribution (20.2%) of the total income.

These results support those of Moorosi (1999) who reported that livestock are major sources of income for South African small-scale farmers. It was reported by 79% of the farmers, that livestock were sold when there was a need for cash like school fees (Figure 3). A few farmers sold cattle when numbers were over 25 to avoid losses from lack of grazing land and because of occasional drought spells.

All the farmers reported an extensive rearing system. The livestock were reported to graze on communal grazing areas during the daytime and were brought back into kraals, which are within the homesteads at night. Similarly, all chicken farmers reported a free-range system.

The data collected from this investigation indicated that the farmers used various traditional supplements to enhance reproductive and productive performances. Medicinal plants such as Sarcostemma viminale (igotsha), Crinum macowanii (umduze), Rhoicissus tredentata (isinwazi) and Tetradenia riparia (ibozane) were reported to be given to livestock anytime during the year to increase the milk production by stimulating the letdown process. Potassium permanganate dissolved in the drinking water was used to increase reproductive rate by increasing fertility and twinning. Ground peanuts and Crinum macowanni were given to cattle at anytime during the year to improve the reproductive rate (Table 5).

Table 6 presents various methods of disease control thst were used.

Most of the cattle were taken to a communal dip facility for control of ticks.  None of the farmers were reported to dip sheep and goats. Dosing, vaccination and injections were reported by 85.5% of all the farmers to be main methods of improving health condition of livestock. Tail docking of sheep was done by 30% of sheep owners to prevent attacks by parasites as well as to improve growth rate and meat production.

There were three types of cattle breeds owned in these areas (Table 7). Most of the cattle farmers kept the Nguni breed because they are well adapted to the local environment and were resistant to many diseases. Other farmers owned Brahman for increased meat production due to its large body size. Only a few farmers kept the Jersey breed for higher milk yields and tolerance of the local environment. The small stock owners kept indigenous sheep and/or goats. The farmers reported that they preferred the indigenous breeds to exotics because they were better adapted to the local hot climate, had reasonable meat production and were resistant to various diseases .

No particular breeding system could be identified. Mating occurred amongst animals of neighbouring homesteads; thus, all the animals of the farmers within an area could be considered as a single breeding population.

It seems that some of the farmers believed that castration had an effect on the weight gain of an animal. The selection procedures practiced were that of castration, slaughtering of animals and sales. Some farmers castrated cattle that were too thin, had presence of abnormalities such as small testicles and cryptorchids, but often some male calves were castrated for weight gain purposes. However, 1.3% castrated all the male calves, while others (3.9 %) castrated all male calves of cows calving for the first time, mainly to increase weight. A number of the farmers (14.5 %) castrated their goats at the age of six months, in order to gain weight and decrease the smell of the goat meat. Cattle, goats and sheep that suffered severe injuries, were sterile, had reproductive disorders or were sick with contagious diseases were slaughtered for home consumption. About 17 % of the farmers mentioned that fit, usually castrated, calm and over two years old cattle were chosen for draught purposes (Table 8).

The farmers' observations of season effects on their livestock are presented on Table 9.

Their observations were that growth rates for livestock born in winter were slow and that good weaning weights were realised from livestock born in summer. However, animals born in spring or summer were more prone to get diseases. The lambs born in summer months experienced stress and too much rain during the lambing season resulted in a high incidence of diseases and reduced production. This was reported by 80 % of the sheep owners, however, 34% of the goat owners noted good weaning weights of goats when kidding took place in summer. Similarly, good weaning weights in calves born in summer and high growth rates in spring and summer-born calves were observed by 31.3 % and 43.8% of the cattle owners, respectively. Diarrhea or death of calves was reported to occur after spring calving. Some of these reports confirm the findings of Carles (1983) in Zimbabwe, when he reported fast growth and higher weaning weights of lambs born in summer because of the abundance of browse and forage. Although sheep lambing during the winter produced lambs with good birth weights, because the ewes were well fed during the previous summer pregnancy, the slower growth rate of these lambs resulted in high mortalities.

The farmers reported that they used some physical traits as indicators of traits of economic importance (Table 10).

Some of these relationships were similar to some of the relationships written by Dalton (1980) who found that traditional breeders believed that:

• A flat bone denotes good meat potential.
• Thin skin (when pinched between finger and thumb) denoted good milk potential in a dairy cow.
• A kind eye (friendly look) in most stock denotes good temperament and hence good performance.

The farmers encountered various problems, ranging from low fertility and disease, to theft and a lack of extension services (Table 11).

Conclusions

• The farms in the rural communities investigated were approximately five ha, in most cases, under the control of male farmers, of which more than half had no education. Farming was mixed in nature with a variety of livestock. Livestock farming consisted of communal grazing during the day, and kraaling at night at individual homesteads. Livestock on most of the farms were cattle, goats, chickens, ducks and a few sheep. Most farmers had cattle, but chickens occurred in greater numbers. More than 50% of the farms' yearly income was between R12 000 - R16 000 generated mostly from non agricultural resources such as employment and pensions. However, 21% of farmers had income of about R4 000, generated on these farms mostly from agricultural practices.

• From these results it can be concluded that interventions could contribute to more effective farming and increased income. However, assistance to these farmers could contribute positively to their household and food security, if prior knowledge is obtained through collaboration with the farmers and suitable assistance is provided according to the needs of the different communities.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the University of Zululand research department for providing funding to conduct this survey.

References

Bembridge T J 1984 A systems approach study of agricultural development problems in Transkei. PhD Thesis, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.

Carles A B 1983 Sheep production in the tropics. Oxford University Press, New York. Central Statistical Service, 2001 Country data file, South Africa.

Dalton D C 1980 Introduction to Practical Animal Breeding.Granada, London.

Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry 1997 Strategic plan for Agriculture & Forestry in Kwazulu.Province of Kwazulu, Natal.

Moorosi L E 1999 Characterisation of small-scale cattle farming in Botshabelo and Thaba nchu districts of the free state. M.Sc. thesis. University of the Orange Free State, South Africa.

Mbatha N 2000 Livestock extension officer. Northern Kwazulu Natal. (Personal communication)

Ogle B 1990 Suggestions for intensive livestock-based smallholder systems in semi - arid areas of Tanzania. Livestock Research for Rural Development. Volume 2, Article # 1 Retrieved February 2004 from http://www.cipav.org.co/lrrd/lrrd2/1/ogle.htm

Sibisi H 1979 Cattle ownership and control sociological observations on some aspects of Rural development in Swaziland. Paper No. 1. Minisrty of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Mbabane.

Sibisi H 1981 Keen farmers on Swazi Nation Land: Economic and Analysis Section. Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Mbabane.

Statistica 1999 Kernel release S.S A. Statsoft, Inc. Tulsa, USA.

Received 24 May 2006; Accepted 26 June 2006; Published 6 September 2006

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