Agriculture land abandonment and rural development in South Africa
- Authors: Mgushelo, Aphiwe
- Date: 2019
- Subjects: Abandoned farms , Rural development -- South Africa Agriculture and state -- South Africa South Africa -- Rural conditions
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPhil
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/44257 , vital:37143
- Description: Vast amounts of agriculture lands have been abandoned over the last decades, worldwide – phenomenally in rural areas (Filho et al., 2016). In South Africa, Agriculture Land Abandonment (ALA) is apparent even to the human eye, but little or nothing is known about it, especially regarding its causes and implications for rural socio-economic development. Agriculture Land Abandonment is critical and highly topical given the ongoing debate on the land issue in South Africa (Friedman, 2018; Maromo, 2018). Moreover, the National Development Plan (NDP) identifies agriculture as the main economic activity in rural areas, with the potential to create nearly 1 million new jobs and as a primary means to achieve rural development by 2030 (National Planning Commission (NPC), 2011). To this end, the land must be cultivated to provide work and to banish poverty. This research focuses on Julukuqu, a rural village in the former Transkei homeland, within the O.R. Tambo District in the Eastern Cape province. This research intends to indent and propose a solution for rural development by understanding the causes and consequences of Agriculture Land Abandonment and identifying measures to address this issue. By analysing satellite imagery of the study area over a 15-year period, we are able to establish the extent of Agriculture Land Abandonment. Individual interviews and a focus group discussion were conducted and analysed to provide an understanding of the official positions and grassroots lived experiences. Altogether, the data that was collected yielded 17 usable interviews, which were subjected to thematic analyses. The findings of this research are that: the croplands of Julukuqu were once totally cultivated, but they are now almost (all) totally abandoned with only one person still cultivating their now reduced cropland. The causes of ALA in Julukuqu are socio-economic, environmental and political in nature. Due to schooling, children are no longer herding the livestock and it is free-ranging and grazing within the people’s croplands – in season and out of season. Coupled with an irrigation system, because of drought, fencing has thus become a principal determinant of cultivation of the croplands. The abandonment of the croplands has left the households insecure and depending mainly on social grants for income and food, including the very maize they once produced and sold a surplus. Hunger has become a rural denominator – striking both the people and their livestock, and crime has risen with unemployment. Moreover, child schooling and youth reluctance, threaten the succession and sustainability of agriculture as a rural livelihood and business. Despite the abandonment of the croplands, agriculture is still seen as a key to poverty alleviation and socio-economic development in Julukuqu. Given the experienced consequences of ALA, there exists a strong desire and will among the people of Julukuqu to cultivate their abandoned croplands once again. Fundamentally, for the people to meet their common socio-economic needs and challenges, they need to address ALA in Julukuqu through the development of an agricultural co-operative, which needs financial and non-financial support to develop and succeed.
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- Date Issued: 2019
Determining productivity, residual damage and cost of two alternative harvesting systems in pinus elliottii thinning
- Authors: Dembure, Tigere Pasca , Spinelli, Raffaele , Ramantswana, Muedanyi
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Pinus caribaea , Forests and forestry Logging Harvesting -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MSc
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/22016 , vital:29813
- Description: Pinus elliottii is the second most dominant softwood grown in the South African plantation forestry industry. It possesses desirable timber characteristics and is useful for production of solid wood products. In the silviculture of softwoods (grown for solid wood products), thinning is an important tending operation. It is necessary for stand hygiene and volume increment of residual trees through the creation of growing space. The selection of a suitable harvesting system for thinning is vital. The system of choice has to attain higher productivity, cause the least damage to residual trees and must be cost effective. From as early as 2000 the South African forestry industry witnessed a general shift towards the use of fully mechanised cut-to-length harvesting systems. This has been a result of high labour turnover, increased labour costs, increased timber demand and the effects of HIV and AIDS on forestry workers. With this recent introduction of mechanised systems, they have not been benchmarked against conventional harvesting systems. In this regard, two harvesting systems were studied side-by-side for productivity, residual damage and cost in a seventh row second thinning operation in P. elliottii stands. First thinnings generate poor financial returns since small trees are harvested and they have a relatively low financial value but have a relatively high operational cost per unit harvested. The second thinning operation is usually the thinning operation that is most likely to result in an intermediate financial return for the organisation, hence the need to benchmark these harvesting systems during the second thinning. These systems were a fully mechanised cut-to-length (CTL) and a semi-mechanised tree length (TL) system. The fully mechanised system comprised of a harvester (felling) and a forwarder (extracting) and the semi-system consisted of felling by chainsaw, tractor extraction, roadside processing by chainsaw and stacking by three-wheeled logger. Two uniform compartments planted with P. elliottii were selected for the study. A total number of 32 plots (16 plots per compartment) were marked and randomly assigned between the two treatments, each plot comprised of seven rows, with the middle row clear-cut and three rows on either side, where marked trees were selectively removed. Within each plot, the number of removal trees ranged from 80 to 105. The diameter, height and form of each removal tree were measured to determine tree volume and ultimately determine productivity. Before analysis, plot characteristics were compared to determine if conditions were equal for both treatments using the Mann-Whitney test at alpha level ˂ 0.05. There was a statistically significant difference in total operator efficiency between the two systems (p ˂ 0.0001). The fully mechanised system attained higher levels of productivity than the semi-mechanised system (15.58 m3/SMH versus 5.26 m3/SMH, for felling and 15.56 m3/SMH versus 5.29 m3/SMH, for the extraction operation). Operator productivity comparisons were restricted to the two harvester operators, and one operator achieved 16.9 m3/SMH while the other operator achieved 14.3 m3/SMH. Different operator working technique contributed to the productivity differences with one operator spending (on average) four seconds less per tree on the fell-process work element. Residual tree damage was assessed immediately after all felling and extraction had taken place. Damage size was measured as ellipse surface area. For each record of residual damage, the damage type was noted, damage position along the stem, and tree position from extraction trail. The most predominant damage type was bark peel. The motor-manual system caused five per cent damage and the fully mechanised system inflicted only three per cent damage to the residual trees. Residual tree damage from the semi-mechanised system mainly occurred at the root zone, and occurred more frequently on edge trees. The mechanised CTL system was characterised by high investment and operational costs. The mechanised system incurred 3037.75 R/SMH while the semi-mechanised system incurred 1667.10 R/SMH. The difference in total costs per year between both systems was 56.29 per cent, with the fully mechanised system being more expensive. The high capacity and the superior technology of mechanised harvesting systems may not be fully exploited in thinnings, therefore harvesting systems with lower capital costs and reasonable productivity can be competitive.
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- Date Issued: 2018