Government needs to take an active role in controlling stock rates
ONE of the issues that are very difficult to manage or control especially in communal areas is the carrying capacity.
The carrying capacity in terms of both the number of homesteads in a given area and also in terms of the number of livestock units that are being supported by the available grazing area.
Every year new homesteads sprout in the already overstretched land as new families are established when youths come of age. However, the reality is that land is a finite resource which means it can only support a certain number of homesteads and livestock units before it gets overgrazed and degraded.
The wanton disregard of carrying capacity and stocking densities is observed in both purely communal areas and the planned resettlement areas, be they recent resettlement or old resettlement. It is important to note that the enforcement of carrying capacities and stocking densities is a Government responsibility through its relevant ministries and extension agencies.
This important issue has been negated and the results are there for all to see. We now have worn out and severely degraded rangelands which are now home to largely unpalatable grass species. As a result of this overstocking, we now experience livestock mortalities due to starvation almost every year especially in drier areas of the country.
These poverty deaths cannot be singularly attributed to low or poor rains that are received, because it is a well-documented fact that these areas have always received lower rainfall amounts in comparison to other regions of the country but livestock poverty deaths were not a common occurrence.
This is because the numbers of cattle supported by the rangelands then, were within acceptable carrying capacity.
The brutal colonial government then, made sure the stocking densities were correct. This they did through brutal enforcement methods which are neither supported nor celebrated but the positive outcome with regards to principles of rangeland management cannot be disputed.
It is about time we relook at management of rangelands seriously and this must be done by enforcing correct stocking rates and carrying capacity in communal areas. It has to take an active corrective action and this should begin by making rangeland management go beyond being just an agriculture course or some research area in research stations, to being a practical solution providing role of Government extension. As sure as the sun will set today, some livestock farmers will either lose animals to poverty death or their animals will barely scratch through the season this year, a year of plenty!
This can only be explained by the fact that most if not all communal areas are overstocked in terms of livestock units supported by their rangelands and hence it does not matter whether the amount of rainfall received was more than adequate because the veld will simply not have enough herbage to support the available livestock units throughout the year.
What will vary from one year to another depending on the rainfall amount received is the month during which to begin supplementary feeding but they will require that feeding regardless of the amount of rainfall received. Let the Government take an active role in correcting and maintaining appropriate stocking rates because this blank cheque approach to stocking rates in communal lands is not sustainable.
Why should a piece of land whose size is known and therefore whose carrying capacity can be calculated and known, be left to have an open-ended stocking rate? If it is known that this particular area can only viably carry so many animals, why are we not enforcing that? It is very easy for Government to know if farmers are keeping animals within the recommended stocking rates or not because a simple check of the stock card and ground verification by the extension officer can ascertain that.
I know I will invite a backlash from some readers but let us think about the principle behind. That’s what we ought to adopt. -Uyabonga umntakaMaKhumalo.
-sundaynews
