Charlie M. Shackleton

The role of land-based strategies in rural livelihoods: The contribution of arable production, animal husbandry and natural resource harvesting in communal areas in South Africa

The majority of South Africas rural population resides in the former homelands. Although cash from urban and government sources is the mainstay of the rural economy in many areas, the multiple and diverse livelihood base of rural households is not widely recognised. This diversity includes the land-based strategies of arable farming, livestock husbandry and consumption and trade in natural resources. This article examines recent and emerging literature from a livelihood perspective in terms of the role and value of each of these three land-based livelihood sectors. We conclude that the contribution of land-based activities to rural livelihoods is important in both financial and social terms, and is probably greater than previously appreciated within the whole gamut of livelihood strategies adopted by rural households, including transfers from formal employment and state pensions. We examine the policy implications of this for land and agrarian reform in South Africa.

Agroforestry Tree Products (AFTPs): Targeting Poverty Reduction and Enhanced Livelihoods

Agroforestry tree domestication emerged as a farmer-driven, market-led process in the early 1990s and became an international initiative. A participatory approach now supplements the more traditional aspects of tree improvement, and is seen as an important strategy towards the Millennium Development Goals of eradicating poverty and hunger, promoting social equity and environmental sustainability. Considerable progress has been made towards the domestication of indigenous fruits and nuts in many villages in Cameroon and Nigeria. Vegetatively-propagated cultivars based on a sound knowledge of ‘ideotypes’ derived from an understanding of the tree-to-tree variation in many commercially important traits are being developed by farmers. These are being integrated into polycultural farming systems, especially the cocoa agroforests. Markets for Agroforestry Tree Products (AFTPs) are crucial for the adoption of agroforestry on a scale to have meaningful economic, social and environmental impacts. Important lessons have been learned in southern Africa from detailed studies of the commercialization of AFTPs. These provide support for the wider acceptance of the role of domesticating indigenous trees in the promotion of enhanced livelihoods for poor farmers in the tropics. Policy guidelines have been developed in support of this sustainable rural development as an alternative strategy to those proposed in many other major development and conservation fora.

Charcoal Analysis and the « Principle of Least Effort »―A Conceptual Model

The applicability of the Principle of Least Effort (PLE) to interpretations of palaeoclimatic data is considered, and found lacking in some instances. A conceptual model is presented to determine situations in which the PLE may, or may not, apply. This helps identify when the PLE may be a useful model for interpretation of appropriate data sets.

Use patterns and value of Savanna resources in three Rural villages in South Africa

Rural communities in South Africa harvest a diversity of wild resources from communal woodlands for home consumption and sale. The contribution these resources make to the rural economy has been little recognized, and few studies have attempted to place a monetary value on this use. This paper describes three case studies which aimed to determine the value of savanna resources for the livelihoods of rural households.Use patterns and values of resources in three villages of differing socioeconomic status were determined using household interviews, PRA techniques and key informant interviews. Questions were designed to establish the types of products used, frequency of use, quantities used, seasonality of use, longevity of durable resources, local prices, and the extent of trade.All households were procuring at least some woodland resources, with the most frequently used being fuel wood, wood for implements, edible herbs and fruits, grass for brushes, and insects. Patterns of resource use varied across villages. The most “rural” village used the greatest diversity of resources and had the highest number of users for most resources. Gross value of resources consumed per household per year ranged from R28I9 to R7238. Total value was highest in the less obviously resource dependent village, primarily the result of higher local prices due to greater extraction costs and a larger market for traded goods. Values are comparable to those contributed by other land-based livelihood activities such as subsistence cultivation and livestock production.ResumenLes communautés rurales en Afrique du Sud récoltent une variété de ressources naturelles provenant de régions boisées qui appartiennent á la communauté pour la consommation personnelle et pour la vente. La contribution que ces resources apportent á l’ économie rurale a été peu reconnue, et peu d’études ont tenté d’assigner une valeur monétaire à ces usages. Cet article décrit trois cas d’étude qui ont pour but de déterminer la valeur des ressources de la savane dans la vie des families rurales.Les motifs d’utilisation et les valeurs des ressources furent estimées dans trois villages de statuts socio-économiques différents, en combinant entretiens avec les families, techniques de PRA et entretiens de sources dés. Les questions furent concues afin d’établir les types de produits utilisés dans chaque maisonnée, la fréquence d’utilisation, les quantités utilisées, le degré d’utilisation par saison, la longévité de ressources durables, les prix locaux et l’étendue du marché.Chaque famille se procure au moins quelques unes des ressources provenant de régions boisées; les plus utilisées sont le bois de chauffage, le bois pour les outils, les herbes et fruits comestibles, l’herbe pour les brosses et les insectes. Les motifs d’utilisation ont varié selon les villages. Les villages les plus “ruraux” utilisaient la plus grande variété de ressources et possédaient une nombres d’usagers plus important dans le cas de la plupart des ressources. La valeur totale brute des ressources consommées par maisonnée par année variait entre R28I9 et R7238. La valeur totale s’est avérée être plus élevée dans les villages qui semblaient dé-pendre le moins sur les ressources: ceci étant le résultat de prix locaux plus élevés basés sur des coûts d’extraction plus importants et un marché pour les biens échangés (non-vendus). Les valeurs obtenues sont comparables à celles contribuées par d’autres activités qui servent de moyens d’existence et qui proviennent de la terre; par exemple, la culture comme moyen de subsistence et l’élevage de bétail.

The comparative value of wild and domestic plants in home gardens of a South African rural village

Rural inhabitants make considerable use of wild resources from communal areas around their settlements, as well as from arable and residential plots. These wild resources compete with the main crops planted in arable plots and home gardens, but play a significant economic and nutritional role in rural livelihoods. This paper reports upon a conservative financial evaluation of the wild plant resources harvested from home gardens and arable plots by inhabitants of rural village in the Bushbuckridge lowveld (South Africa), and examines their importance relative to other domesticated crops. On average, each household made use of four to five species of wild plants growing on their residential plot, whereas the mean number of crop plants was 3.4. The total value of all plants was R1694 (US

Fuelwood harvesting and sustainable utilisation in a communal grazing land and protected area of the eastern transvaal lowveld

269) per household per year, or approximately R4200 (US

Comparison of plant diversity in protected and communal lands in the Bushbuckridge lowveld savanna, South Africa

667) per hectare of home garden per year. Wild plants represented 31% of the value of all plants grown on residential plots, relative to the 69% for domesticated crops (including fruit trees). Approximately 72% of the total value of all plant products was consumed by the household, and the remaining 28% was sold.

Direct-use values of woodland resources consumed and traded in a South African village

Abstract The species composition and woody standing crop was determined for two adjacent sites of contrasting management history in the eastern Transvaal Lowveld—a communal land that has been subject to wood harvesting for several decades and an adjacent unharvested site. Results indicated a significant loss of species richness in the harvested site. Total woody standing crop was little altered despite the long history of harvesting pressure. However, the amount of dead wood was significantly reduced in the harvested site. No adverse effects of such biomass removal were detected. Harvesters actively selected or avoided particular species and size classes.

The impact of commercial harvesting on Warburgia salutaris (‘pepper-bark tree’) in Mpumalanga, South Africa

Patterns of higher plant species richness and beta diversity were assessed using standard Modified-Whittaker plots in relation to landuse, slope position and mean annual rainfall across a rainfall gradient in the savanna areas of the Bushbuckridge lowveld, South Africa. In particular, comparison of communal areas with adjacent protected areas was important in showing the impacts of potential changes in landuse within an overarching catchment management plan. Although most of the protected areas considered preservation of biodiversity as their primary goal, they were characterised by significantly fewer plant species than the adjacent, highly utilised, communal lands, at both the plot and point scale. Slope position also had a significant effect on plant species richness, with eutrophic bottomlands having c. 30% more species than the dystrophic toplands. This adds weight to the need for greater public awareness for the judicious use and management of the sensitive bottomlands, which fringe the primary drainage lines that are vital for sustained supplies of good quality surface water in this semi-arid environment. The total number of species increased with increasing mean annual rainfall across the rainfall gradient. This suggests that, if the catchment management plan aims to identify additional areas for conservation, the higher rainfall areas should be the first to be assessed. Species turnover was greater along the rainfall gradient than the catenal gradient between toplands and bottomlands.

Market profiles and trade in medicinal plants in the Lowveld, South Africa

SUMMARY This paper examines the contribution of secondary resources harvested from a savanna ecosystem to household income in Thorndale village, South Africa. The valuation of these resources provides a key tool for adopting sustainable development practices. The study shows the relevance of the dependence of rural people on secondary resources and implications for social and economic equity. Fuelwood, edible herbs and thatch grass contributed 80.6% (