Grasslands of the World.pdf - Disasters and Conflicts - UNEP

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Grasslands of the world
crop residues . In the northern communal areas, many larger herdowners have
“cattle posts” away from the village and crop lands and maintain most of their
animals there, keeping only the milk and draught animals at the village during
the wet season. Pigs and poultry in the communal areas are generally free
ranging and scavenging, although some owners practise housing and feeding.
The exclusion of fire from the savannah regions under communal
management has encouraged bush encroachment . In the semi -arid regions
of Mpumalanga, the Northern Province and the North West province, fire
has generally been excluded. Cutting large trees for fuel or building material
has resulted in coppice growth (sprouting) and has stimulated shrubbiness.
Consequently, large areas of the medium-rainfall savannahs have become
severely bush infested, to the detriment of the grazing potential for cattle
and sheep . In the subhumid communal areas of Kwa-Zulu Natal and the
Transkei, fire is used to stimulate grass production during the early summer ,
and this maintains a grassland state along the coastal region (Shackleton,
1991).
AUTHORITIES RESPONSIBLE FOR MANAGEMENT
The National Department of Agriculture within the Ministry of Agriculture
and Land Affairs is the key institution dealing with forage resources . The
National Department of Agriculture is divided into five directorates, one of
which deals directly with rangeland and pasture resources. The Land and
Resource Management Directorate is responsible for the implementation
of the Conservation of Agricultural Resources, Act No. 43 of 1984. This
act empowers the head of the Directorate to intervene when the grassland
resources of the country are perceived to be threatened by herbivory, alien
infestation or cultivation . In addition, each of the nine provinces has a division
or directorate that provides research and management advice on rangeland
and pasture resources. These sections provide support to extension services
and planners, establish standards, develop capacity , and conduct research
appropriate to the needs of that province.
Market systems
Marketing of grassland products is conducted through a commodity-based
marketing system. Since 1994, the so-called Control Boards of the singlechannel
marketing system have been disbanded, and a free market system
prevails. Each commodity has had to develop its own competitive marketing
framework. For example, wool is marketed through numerous brokers,
including Cape Mohair & Wool and BKB. Brokers are able to buy direct
from the producer and offer the product for sale at auction. Generally, auction
prices are determined by the international wool price and local markets have
little influence. Negative changes in the exchange rate (Rand against US$)
advantages those farmers who produce export-quality wool. In 2000, the greasy