Sustainable Semi-Arid Grazing Management Based on Indigenous Shona Practices Prior to Introduction of Western Ideas in Zimbabwe

Sustainable Semi-Arid Grazing Management Based on Indigenous Shona Practices Prior to Introduction of Western Ideas in Zimbabwe

In the Shona culture the land, i.e. the plants, animals, soil, water, air and others, evolved with herding animals. Hence, the absence of one results in the destruction of the other. It is argued that the conventional grazing management belief that too many animals cause overgrazing is a misconception of the semi-arid savanna environments of Southern Africa where these environments evolved with thousands of herding grazers and mega-faunas such as elephants, wildebeests and buffalo. The objective of the research is to establish that grazing with an adequate recovery period for grazed plants, as a result of domesticated animals being managed effectively rather than staying on the same piece of land too long (continuous grazing) or returning too soon to the grazed area (rapid rotational grazing systems), can reverse the process of land degradation and the low water table of semi-arid rangelands, and can improve biodiversity by engaging in communal herding of livestock.