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Consumption and Direct-Use Values of Savanna Bio-Resources Used by Rural Households in Mametja, a Semi-Arid Area of Limpopo Prov

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Consumption and Direct-Use Values of Savanna Bio-Resources Used by Rural Households in Mametja, a Semi-Arid Area of Limpopo Prov Research Letters South African Journal of Science 99, September/October 2003 467 because of unpredictable rainfall, and are often remote and Consumption and direct-use poorly serviced. Indigenous natural resources therefore play a vital role in the livelihoods of local communities.9,20 These values of savanna resources, however, are coming under increasing pressure for bio-resources used by rural reasons such as poverty, high human population densities, and the weakening of traditional authorities that have historically households in Mametja, a been responsible for the control of access to natural resources in these parts of the country. semi-arid area of Limpopo Implementation of informed policies needs to address issues of equitable access and sustainable use of resources in semi-arid province, South Africa rural areas. This is hampered in South Africa, however, because policy-makers do not know the value of natural resources, nor the potential loss of value through unsustainable harvesting. W. Twine , D. Moshe , T. Netshiluvhi and The economic and social worth of land-based strategies (includ- V. Siphugu ing natural-resource harvesting) with regard to rural livelihoods in South Africa have not been fully appreciated, especially in terms of ‘direct provisioning’ and as part of the ‘rural safety net.’9 Household consumption and direct-use values of a range of Our purpose was to ascertain the value of the natural savanna bio-resources were quantified for 110 households across resources harvested by local communities. This study attempted three villages in the Mametja Traditional Authority, Limpopo to determine the consumption and direct-use worth of savanna province, South Africa. The relationship between household wealth resources used in a typical semi-arid rural area of South Africa, status and use of natural resources was also assessed. We found and the relationship between the level of household wealth and that the use of natural resources was extensive, the most common the use of these resources. being wooden utensils, grass handbrooms, twig handbrooms, Method fuelwood, wild herbs, wild fruit and edible insects. Households in the poorest of the three villages consumed the most wooden Study site utensils, wild herbs, wild fruit and thatching grass. Fuelwood was The study was conducted in the Mametja Traditional Author- widely used, even though two of the three villages had electricity, ity in Limpopo province (24°23’S, 30°33’E). The local inhabitants, and consumption was highest in the largest, most developed the Bakoni ba Mametja, speak a dialect of SePedi in the Sotho village. The mean annual direct-use value of indigenous bio-re- language group. Under the apartheid government the area sources, averaged across all households, was R3959 per house- formed part of the black homeland of Lebowa. The six, relatively hold or R564 per person. The value was highest in the poorest of the poor rural villages comprising Mametja are typical in the region. three villages. Poor households relied most heavily on ‘essential’ Three villages were selected for this study: Finale A, Mabins B natural resources such as wild foods, whereas comparatively and The Willows. Referred to in this article as Finale, Mabins and wealthy households used a wider range of resources and utilized Willows, they represent a range of rural settlements, from a greater amounts of ‘luxury’ items, such as wooden utensils small, remote and poorly serviced example (Finale) to a large, and poles. These findings are discussed in the context of poverty better serviced one on a major secondary route (Willows). Mabins is intermediate between the two. Willows and Mabins and sustainable rural development, and should be of value to were electrified in the mid-1990s. Finale has no electricity. scientists, community developers, and policy-makers. Mametja, at the base of the Transvaal Drakensberg escarpment, has an undulating topography with rocky outcrops. The under- lying geology consists of Harmony granite with largely sandy Introduction eutrophic soils, although the bottomlands are characterized by According to a growing body of literature, rural communities more fertile, clay-rich soils. The climate is semi-arid, with a mean across the developing world depend greatly on indigenous annual rainfall of 488 mm.21 The vegetation is predominantly natural resources,1–9 which act as a buffer against poverty.1,9 Arid Lowveld savanna,22 characterized by tree species such as These resources are used for domestic purposes and to gener- Sclerocarya birrea, Combretum apiculatum and Acacia nigrescens. ate income. Some studies have attempted to value natural 10–13 resources by calculating the total value traded, the worth of Data collection standing biomass, or the direct-use value (that is, the financial Data were collected during July 2000 using household inter- value of resources used domestically). Most surveys of this kind views, participatory rural appraisals (PRA), and key informant have been conducted in the tropical forest ecosystems of South interviews. Household socio-economic information and natural America and Asia. Only recently has attention been paid to resource use data were collected using an in-depth structured deriving direct-use values of resources in semi-arid savannas in questionnaire after Shackleton et al.14 For the household inter- southern Africa.2,14–17 views, 110 households were randomly sampled across the three Savanna woodlands, covering more than one-third of South study villages (38 in Finale, 36 in Willows, and 36 in Mabins), Africa’s surface area,18 are home to 9.2 million rural people.19 providing a coverage of 5% of all households across the three These regions are marginal for agricultural activities, largely villages. Each village was divided into four sections in which aCentre for African Ecology, School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, Uni- each of four field workers randomly selected households, versity of the Witwatersrand, c/o Wits Rural Facility, Private Bag X420, Acornhoek 1360, ensuring an even spread over their section. South Africa. b Environmentek, CSIR, P.O. Box 395, Pretoria 0001, South Africa. The resource use part of the questionnaire included a checklist cDepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Venda, Private Bag X5050, Thohoyan- of all uses of local indigenous resources utilized by the house- dou 0950, South Africa. *Author for correspondence. E-mail: [email protected] hold, followed by a section for details of each (excluding aquatic 468 South African Journal of Science 99, September/October 2003 Research Letters and abiotic resources). Details of resource use were recorded, • Bushmeat — because availability was assumed to be the same including frequency of use (weekly/monthly/annually), the throughout the year, monthly consumption was multiplied by amount of the resource consumed, and its availability.Questions 12. In many cases, households reported consuming bushmeat were included relating to the buying and selling of the resource only a few times a year. of interest as well as local prices, so that direct-use values could • Edible insects — volumes of grasshoppers, termites and flying be calculated. ants were calculated separately and then summed. Monthly The dimensions of containers used for estimating amounts of consumption was multiplied by six for the months of availabil- fruit, wild herbs, and edible insects consumed were measured ity. The amount of insects consumed was expressed in litres, as and expressed in litres. It was difficult to calculate the amounts of few were available to weigh at that time of year, and no data wild fruit consumed annually, because fruit is sometimes eaten were found on which to convert volume to mass. straight off the tree and availability varies between years. Never- • Fencing and housing-poles — a replacement rate of 5% was theless, households estimated the amount of fruit consumed assumed15 and applied to numbers of poles per household. daily or weekly during the fruiting season by indicating the • Fuelwood — an increase in utilization by 35% during the number and size of containers that would be filled with produce. winter months (91 days) due to the use of wood for heating As this study was conducted in July, insects were not plentiful, so was assumed, based on findings by another study in the the amount of insects consumed was not easy to measure. region.23 Because data were collected in winter, daily fuelwood Households were therefore asked to estimate the volume of consumption figures were discounted by 35% for 274 days of insects eaten daily during the six-month period of availability. the year in calculating annual consumption. The amount of wood used in a day by a household was weighed • Grass and twig handbrooms — the number owned was on a spring-balance. multiplied by life-span (less than a year). Data on resource consumption had often to be expressed in • Reed mats — the number owned was divided by their mean dimensions of local units such as ‘donkey cart load’, ‘4 kg atchar reported life-span (1.7 years). The mean size of a mat was bucket’ or ‘cups’, which were then converted to conventional 1.7 m2. units of measurement. The volume of a cup was taken to be that • Thatching grass — consumption of thatch was expressed in of the commonly used enamel mug, which is 0.40 l. A bakkie-load bundles. The roof of a thatched dwelling consisted of a mean of of wood was determined to be 532 kg (n = 4), almost the same 641 bundles, each with a mean diameter of 15 cm. Annual con- figure calculated by Shackleton et al.14 The mass of a cart-load sumption was discounted over an assumed life-span of 25 was not determined, but was assumed to be the same as that of a years.15 bakkie-load (donkey carts are often made from the carry bin of a • Wild fruit — monthly volume consumed was multiplied by a bakkie, or pickup).
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