Theme 6-2: Pastoralism, Social, Gender and Policy Issues--Poster Sessions
Description
Sound rangeland management is one of the key factors for a successful and viable commercial livestock production in grass fed production systems. However, such knowledge is perceived to be lacking in small-scale livestock farmers, who farm on degraded and overgrazed communal rangelands despite being regarded as prime beneficiaries of the land redistribution programme in the stalling South African land reform. Largely, it is also not known in details how much the potential future commercial farmers know about their rangelands. This study analyses perception of the prime land redistribution beneficiaries—potential emerging farmers, who were surveyed randomly in three South African provinces. Descriptive statistics of potential emerging farmers show that they perceive their communal rangeland as “poor”, concurring with scientific literature. However, their reasons of the “poor” status deviates from the reasoning of scientific literature, highlighting the potential emerging farmers’ knowledge gap of rangeland science. Ordinal Logistic Regression shows that farmers’ age and education level are significant predictors of the perceived rangeland status among potential emerging farmers. This underscores the importance of personal experience and education in rangeland assessment. Indeed rangeland management training is necessary for land redistribution beneficiaries prior taking over commercial livestock farms. These trainings should focus on more on younger and less educated beneficiaries.
Citation
Zantsi, S., "Analysis of Rangeland Perceptions among Potential Land Redistribution Beneficiaries in South Africa: How Well Do Potential Emerging Farmers Know Their Rangelands?" (2022). IGC Proceedings (1993-2023). 3.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/24/6-2/3
Included in
Analysis of Rangeland Perceptions among Potential Land Redistribution Beneficiaries in South Africa: How Well Do Potential Emerging Farmers Know Their Rangelands?
Sound rangeland management is one of the key factors for a successful and viable commercial livestock production in grass fed production systems. However, such knowledge is perceived to be lacking in small-scale livestock farmers, who farm on degraded and overgrazed communal rangelands despite being regarded as prime beneficiaries of the land redistribution programme in the stalling South African land reform. Largely, it is also not known in details how much the potential future commercial farmers know about their rangelands. This study analyses perception of the prime land redistribution beneficiaries—potential emerging farmers, who were surveyed randomly in three South African provinces. Descriptive statistics of potential emerging farmers show that they perceive their communal rangeland as “poor”, concurring with scientific literature. However, their reasons of the “poor” status deviates from the reasoning of scientific literature, highlighting the potential emerging farmers’ knowledge gap of rangeland science. Ordinal Logistic Regression shows that farmers’ age and education level are significant predictors of the perceived rangeland status among potential emerging farmers. This underscores the importance of personal experience and education in rangeland assessment. Indeed rangeland management training is necessary for land redistribution beneficiaries prior taking over commercial livestock farms. These trainings should focus on more on younger and less educated beneficiaries.
