The assessment of abandoned cultivated lands: a case study of Lower Tsitsana and Hlankomo villages in the Tsitsa River catchment, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Dakie, Regina Nokufa
- Date: 2024-10-11
- Subjects: Agricultural land , Grasslands South Africa Eastern Cape , Abandoned land , Social ecology , Aerial photography
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/464787 , vital:76545
- Description: Globally, agriculture is an essential part of people’s livelihoods, contributing to rural economies and food security. However, cultivated land abandonment, the intentional or unintentional cessation of agricultural activities for takeover by other land uses, is becoming increasingly common. Although widely studied, the outcomes of cultivated land abandonment are highly context-dependent and varied. Understanding this phenomenon would thus benefit from placed-based social-ecological case study perspectives, particularly in more understudied contexts. This study represents such a perspective, taking a social-ecological approach to understand how land abandonment has emerged and what its consequences are for the desired future outcomes in the Hlankomo and Lower Tsitsana villages in the Tsitsa River catchment. Drawing on McGinnis & Ostrom’s (2009) framework, I framed cultivated land abandonment in my study area as a “focal action situation” informed by the interaction of natural resource systems, governance systems, actors, and resource units. To better understand the current state of the natural resource system and important ecological (resource) units (grass), I used two measures of ecological condition: a rapid assessment test that provided a broad, if superficial, understanding of degradation and land condition, and a veld condition assessment that provided an understanding of grassland composition and quality in abandoned fields. I also used aerial photographs to assess the extent of changes in abandoned cultivation in the catchment. To understand actors, governance systems, how they interacted with natural resource systems and units for land abandonment to emerge, and what implications these interactions may have for the future of these lands, I used semi-structured interviews. The Rapid Assessment Test tool showed that the abandoned cultivated fields were dominated by grasses (58.3%), while shrubs (11%) and succulents (11%) were the least prevalent. The veld assessment identified sixteen grass species in both villages, with Aristida junciformis (23%) and Eragrostis plana (22.2 %) being the most dominant. The grazing statuses of the grasses showed that there were more Increaser II species, followed by Increaser III, Exotic, Increaser I and Decreaser species, respectively. There were more grass species with low grazing and average grazing values than grass species with high grazing values. The Rapid Assessment tool and the Veld assessment showed that the fields were dominated by poor grass species that grow on degraded lands. The results thus showed that the abandoned cultivated lands are degraded and in poor condition, as they are covered mainly by poor grass species that are dominant in over-utilised and overgrazed areas. The aerial photographs showed a decline in cultivated lands from 1966 to 2015, with a significant decline between 1966 and 2003. The land under cultivation between 1966 and 2003 decreased by 95 %, resulting in an annual decline of 2.56 %. The land under cultivation from 2003 and 2015 decreased by 60 %, resulting in a decline of 4 % per year. Local people corroborated the increase in cultivated land abandonment in the interviews, and this is why I attempt to understand why abandoned cultivated land happened (how the resource system and governance systems/actors interacted to shape cultivated land abandonment). As in other South African rural contexts, reasons people gave for land cultivation abandonment revealed the strongly intertwined nature of ecological and social systems, including no fence, livestock eating crops, no cattle, lack of labour, migration, lack of resources (money and equipment), parents passing on, expensive fertilizers, rainfall variability, dependency on grants, lack of interest and laziness. People had different views about the future of the abandoned cultivated lands, suggesting building homes, recreational parks, poultry farms, and recultivating and livestock protection camps, while others indicated that they didn’t care what happens to the abandoned fields. Many people still value abandoned lands and would prefer for the land to be recultivated, but they are held back by factors beyond their control, such as no fencing and a lack of governmental support in the form of fertilisers and machinery for ploughing. Additionally, our ecological results suggest that, due to the degraded states of these lands, significant rehabilitation would be required to realize these desired outcomes. Overall, this study shows the social-ecological complexity that drives cultivated land abandonment in the Tsitsa River catchment, providing a context-specific understanding of the drivers and consequences of abandoned cultivated land, future options more specific to these villages, and the broader Tsitsa catchment. At the same time, my study also corroborates similar studies in rural African and other global South contexts, thus supporting generalizable knowledge that can be used in the development of agrarian, social and environmental policies in these regions. , Thesis (MSc) -- Faculty of Science, Environmental Science, 2024
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- Date Issued: 2024-10-11
Woody plant encroachment in arid and mesic South African savanna-grasslands: same picture, different story?
- Authors: Skowno, Andrew Luke
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Savanna ecology South Africa Eastern Cape , Remote sensing , Woody plants South Africa Eastern Cape , Grasslands South Africa Eastern Cape , Plant invasions South Africa Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: text , Thesis , Doctoral , PhD
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/62603 , vital:28212
- Description: Woody plant encroachment in South Africa’s savanna-grasslands has been considered a rangeland management problem since the early 1900s. This phenomenon, which has been observed globally, is particularly important in Africa given the extent of tropical grassy biomes on the continent and their importance for rural livelihoods. In this study, local and regional scale approaches were used to investigate woody cover change in South Africa across the important savanna-grassland rainfall threshold of 650 mm mean annual precipitation (MAP). The aim was to test this threshold using remote sensing and demographic surveys in order to better understand the patterns, mechanisms and drivers of encroachment. Rates of encroachment and population demographics of Vachelia karroo were compared at arid and mesic savanna sites in the Eastern Cape, using time-series analysis of historical aerial photographs in conjunction with field surveys. Changes in the extent of woodland vs. grassland were then quantified at a national scale (1990-2013) by combining optical and synthetic aperture radar remote sensing data. This produced the first map of woodland- grassland shifts for South Africa and provided the basis for a spatially explicit investigation of the key drivers of change. The local studies revealed higher rates of encroachment at mesic sites than at arid sites, with a correlation between drought and rate of encroachment at the arid site. Vachelia karroo seedlings and stunted saplings were more prevalent at mesic sites than at arid sites and the growth form of adult trees differed significantly between sites. The national remote sensing investigation showed that woodland replaced grassland in over 5% of South Africa’s savanna- grasslands between 1990 and 2014, at rates consistent with other global and regional studies. Spatially explicit models showed a pattern of incremental expansion of woodland along a ‘tree front’ and complex relationships between woodland increase and fire, rainfall, terrain ruggedness and temperature. Overall, the local and regional scale findings of this work highlight the importance of the savanna rainfall threshold (~650 mm MAP) and the presence / absence of fire in understanding savanna dynamics and woody cover change in the context of global drivers such as elevated atmospheric CO2.
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- Date Issued: 2018