Effect of drought on communal livestock farmers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Vetter, Susanne; Goodall, Victoria; Alcock, Rauri

doi:10.2989/10220119.2020.1738552

Cited by 34 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…We expected that pastoralists will perceive reduced lengths of rainfall seasons and more frequent droughts as the main indicators of rainfall variability [23]. Furthermore, drought incidents will be reflected by massive cattle die off, but will be less visible for sheep and goats, similar to what has been recorded in Ethiopia [24] and South Africa [25]. We also expected that the mean livestock mortality rates will decrease with intervention measures (supplemental food and mobility) [26] and demographic variables (herd and household size) [13].…”

Section: Supplementary Informationmentioning

confidence: 74%

Rainfall variability and socio-economic constraints on livestock production in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania

2021

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Rainfall variability is of great importance in East Africa, where small-scale farmers and pastoralists dominate. Their livestock production activities are heavily dependent on rainfall. We assessed pastoralist perceptions on climate change, particularly rainfall variability, its impact on livestock production, and the adaptive capacity of pastoralists in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), Tanzania. We combined 241 household interviews and information from 52 participants of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) with archived data from the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority (NCAA). We found that most (71%) pastoralists were aware of general climate change impacts, rainfall variability, and impacts of extreme events on their livestock. Most (> 75%) respondents perceived erratic and reduced amounts of rainfall, prolonged and frequent periods of drought as the main climate change challenges. Mean annual rainfall accounted for only 46% (R2), (p = 0.076) and 32% (R2), (p = 0.22) of cattle, and sheep and goat population variability, respectively. Unexpectedly, cattle losses intensified by 10% when herd size increased (p < 0.001) and by 98% (p = 0.049) when mobility increased, implying that increasing herd sizes and mobility do not cushion households against climate change shocks. Our study highlights the need to enhance adaptive capacity of the pastoralist communities through interventions that proactively reduce vulnerability. We recommend that future research should address the profitability of pastoral cattle production under changing environmental conditions.

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Section: Supplementary Informationmentioning

confidence: 74%

Rainfall variability and socio-economic constraints on livestock production in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania

2021

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“…Increased poverty levels and migration from rural to urban areas in search of better-paying jobs were linked to unemployment and economic stress caused by drought. Only two studies reported that drought affected livestock health due to increased temperatures and deteriorating animal drinking water quality [35,45] (Table 1). The social impacts of drought on smallholder farmers are well documented globally [19], with food security being regarded as the main social impact in Africa, given the continent's dependence on the agricultural sector [46].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is likely to have an adverse impact on ordinary people across the country as bread prices continue to increase. Similarly, livestock farming plays a key livelihood role for most smallholder farmers; however, the loss of grazing lands, drinking water, and heat stress has contributed to economic losses for most farmers [45]. These income losses further push smallholder farmers into poverty as they struggle to sustain livelihoods and buy basic food during drought years.…”

Section: Economic Impactsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Research Progress and Conceptual Insights on Drought Impacts and Responses among Smallholder Farmers in South Africa: A Review

Ruwanza

Thondhlana

Falayi

2022

Land

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Drought is a natural phenomenon which can cause widespread socio-economic and environmental impacts. Recent predictions suggest that drought frequency and intensity will increase in Southern Africa; therefore, there is a need for more scientific information on drought impacts and responses by vulnerable groups such as smallholder farmers. This scoping review examines the current state of research and conceptual insights on the impacts of drought on and responses by smallholder farmers in rural and urban settings in South Africa. We used three bibliographic databases (Scopus, Web of Science, and EBSCOHost) to search for peer-reviewed literature published on South Africa. In total, 18 articles were reviewed, and information on drought impacts and responses among smallholder farmers was analysed and synthesised. Although most of the reviewed papers identified several socio-economic (e.g., loss of livestock, income, and employment) and environmental (e.g., loss of grazing land and vegetation) impacts of drought, the identified impacts were rarely quantified, and there is a lack of analytical depth of these impacts. Smallholder farmers in South Africa implement several drought responses, and these were categorised based on (i) changes in local practices and lifestyles e.g., practising conservation agriculture, (ii) structural measures e.g., government relief programmes, and (iii) technical interventions e.g., rain harvesting. None of the reviewed papers reported on the impacts of and responses to drought on smallholder farmers in urban settings. Overall, the review noted that the literature on drought in South Africa lacks detailed quantification and analysis of drought impacts and responses, the urban drought context is poorly understood, and there is a lack of clarity on the distinction between adaptation and mitigation strategies. Improving our understanding of drought impacts across a rural-urban gradient is important if responses are to effectively reduce smallholder farmer drought vulnerability.

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“…With climate change variability, comes extreme changes in ecological functions at the local level such as through prolonged droughts and unprecedented bushfires. Thus, climate change brings on-going psycho-social and financial challenges to farmers [ 62 ] in regional and rural areas through increased costs and losses associated with feeding stock, diseases and finding new ways for mitigating immediate effects of factors such as heat stress [ 63 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Retrospective Literature Evaluation of the Integration of Stress Physiology Indices, Animal Welfare and Climate Change Assessment of Livestock

Narayan

Barreto

Hantzopoulou

et al. 2021

Animals

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In this retrospective study, we conducted a desktop-based analysis of published literature using the ScienceDirect™ search engine to determine the proportion of livestock research within the last 7 years (2015–2021) that have applied animal welfare assessment combining objective measures of physiological stress and evaluation of climate change factors in order to provide an account of livestock productivity. From the search results, 563 published articles were reviewed. We found that the majority of the literature had discussed animal production outcomes (n = 491) and animal welfare (n = 453) either individually or in conjunction with another topic. The most popular occurrence was the combination of animal welfare assessment, objective measures of stress physiology and production outcomes discussed collectively (n = 218). We found that only 125 articles had discussed the impact of climate change (22.20%) on livestock production and/or vice versa. Furthermore, only 9.4% (n = 53) of articles had discussed all four factors and published research was skewed towards the dairy sector. Overall, this retrospective paper highlights that although research into animal welfare assessment, objective measures of stress and climate change has been applied across livestock production systems (monogastrics and ruminants), there remains a shortfall of investigation on how these key factors interact to influence livestock production. Furthermore, emerging technologies that can boost the quantitative evaluation of animal welfare are needed for both intensive and extensive production systems.

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Effect of drought on communal livestock farmers in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Cited by 34 publications

References 23 publications

Rainfall variability and socio-economic constraints on livestock production in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania

Rainfall variability and socio-economic constraints on livestock production in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania

Research Progress and Conceptual Insights on Drought Impacts and Responses among Smallholder Farmers in South Africa: A Review

A Retrospective Literature Evaluation of the Integration of Stress Physiology Indices, Animal Welfare and Climate Change Assessment of Livestock

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