Survival mode guidelines for communal farmers

Dr Axel Rothauge, Agri Consult Namibia - The 2017-2018 rain season is turning out differently from what was expected. In many parts of Namibia, especially in communal areas, it is dry to very dry. We have not received significant rainfall in February and are likely to experience a drought. This means farmers should switch from production to survival mode. In this article I want to help farmers to prepare for the looming drought. Who manages the grazing land? How much a farmer can do to prepare for and survive a drought depends on how much management control he has over his land, the source of production. Unfortunately, over 95% of Namibian livestock farmers have no exclusive management control over their grazing resources. These are communal farmers and farmers that were resettled under the group resettlement scheme.It does not make sense for communal farmers to save some of their grazing resource or to defer grazing in certain areas to protect the forage for a later day, e.g. a drought, because other farmers can simply come along with their animals and graze the saved grass. There is currently no way such “grazing repositioning” can be prevented legally and thus, communal farmers cannot control access to their grazing resource. As a result, farmers in these areas tend to deplete their grazing resource as quickly as possible before someone else depletes it for them. It's a completely rational, short-term farming decision even if it leads to widespread suffering, environmental degradation and perpetuates rural poverty. If we don't like this outcome, we can adjust some of the policies that regulate this behaviour. The decisions will be unpopular because they temporarily deprive some farming communities of what little grazing resource is left, to benefit them in the medium- and long-term, i.e. they inflict short-term pain for long-term gain. This would require a courageous government secured by a huge mandate from the electorate to do what it takes to develop the country, including pulling communal farming into the mainstream agricultural economy.Imagine you had a factory that makes toilet paper. Imagine too that every other toilet paper manufacturer in the country had the right to take your toilet rolls to replenish their own stock. You would soon be out of business and if your survival depended on it, destitute. No amount of technical advice by a toilet paper expert on how many plies to use, whether to shift perforations between sheets up or down or to print cute little pink or blue designs on the sheets, would save your business. Similarly, with communal and group resettlement farmers, no amount of agricultural technical advice can improve their drought resilience as long as the managerial control over your sources of production is inadequate (tenure insecurity). Communal farmers first need political decisions to secure their land tenure, followed by expert agricultural advice. Dry-land cultivated grass pastures There is, however, one small window of tenure opportunity for communal farmers. Traditionally, crop fields and gardens are seen as “private property”, exclusively managed by the owner. Expand your crop fields and start growing fodder on parts of them. Establish cultivated pastures of perennial grasses on expanded crop fields and in the ekove. Graze these pastures until March and close them thereafter to grow and make hay, which is stored for dry times such as now. Rotate the grass and the grain parts of your fields regularly, because grass pastures improve soil fertility and enhance subsequent grain yield. It is even better if forage legumes are included in this scenario, but we don't seem to have any that are properly adapted to semi-arid conditions. There has been no research on this topic so it is possible that we might not see an opportunity even if it is staring us in the face. Turn animals loose to fend for themselvesTraditionally, the response of communal farmers to adverse conditions has been to accumulate livestock and build big herds. If you own 100 cattle and a drought comes and kills 60%, you will be left with 40 cattle after the drought. This is still a sizeable herd and you will be able to re-build your wealth quickly. If in contrast you only had 10 cattle at the start of the drought and lose 60%, you are left with four and very little chance to re-gain lost wealth. Another typical communal drought response is to turn livestock loose to search for scraps over a huge area. This worked well in days gone by when the human population density was low and grazing resources were plentiful. Advances in health and nutrition increased human population density and grazing resources became limited. Turning livestock loose now will only delay their inevitable death by starvation far from home. During the Millennium Challenge Account intervention in Namibia, we had the opportunity to weigh cattle in all northern communal areas monthly.Kaokoveld cattle are the heaviest and largest because their grazing is sweetest. However, grazing is also scarce in Kaokoveld. When the 2012-2013 drought struck, Kaoko cattle lost weight rapidly and soon weighed less than their contemporaries in other areas. Hundreds of thousands died. The same might happen now because the forage deficit has only become worse since then.To avoid this scenario, communal farmers should sell some of their livestock for slaughter while still in good condition and attracting reasonable prices. Sell surplus males and old unproductive females now. Don't wait until the condition of animals has deteriorated to the point of starvation or the meat price has dropped to N$800 per cow as in the drought of 2012-2013 before deciding to sell. Sell now while the animals still look reasonable. Convert livestock wealth into monetary wealth, temporarily. Save that money. Once it starts raining again, re-convert the money into livestock wealth. This is a modern, rational decision adapted to current reality and a better option than to allow the drought to whittle your livestock wealth away.It would help communal farmers much if the authorities would reduce the impact of the veterinary cordon fence on livestock marketing in the northern communal areas. In conclusion Only improved tenure security will reduce the vulnerability of communal and group-resettled farmers to adverse conditions, whether drought, global warming, locusts or others. Namibian ranchers have to grow extra forage on pastures as soon as possible so that areas that produce a surplus of forage and hay can subsidise those that suffer a deficit. If livestock farmers see a drought coming, they should convert at least half of their herd into money as quickly as possible to avoid the drought taking more of their wealth. Be warned and act now!(Source: Meatco Industry Newsletter)

Survival mode guidelines for communal farmers

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