AGRICULTURAL AND AGRIBUSINESS STATUS QUO ASSESSMENT: UTHUKELA DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY: KWAZULU-NATAL : 2012. FIRST DRAFT Prepared For : Nemai Consulting, P O Box 1673, Sunninghill, 2157 Prepared By : J S Phipson Agribusiness and Environmental Consultant Cell: 082 944 8462 Tel: 035 340 1940 Email: [email protected] P.O. Box 465 Mtunzini KZN 3867 September 2012 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Pg. 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4 2. STATUS QUO ASSESSMENT : 10 2.1 STATUS QUO ASSESSMENT : Water Resources 10 2.2 STATUS QUO ASSESSMENT : Soils 13 2.3 STATUS QUO ASSESSMENT : Climate 17 2.4 STATUS QUO ASSESSMENT : Livestock and Veld 25 2.5 STATUS QUO ASSESSMENT : Crops 29 3.0 STATUS QUO ASSESSMENT : Agri-Industries 31 4.0 STATUS QUO ASSESSMENT : Commercial Forestry and Woodlots 35 5.0 STATUS QUO ASSESSMENT : Indigenous Bush and Forests 36 6.0 STATUS QUO ASSESSMENT : Institutional Support 38 7.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 41 8.0 ANNEXURES 42 Annexure 1 : Soils and Parent Materials 43 Annexure 2 : Water 49 Annexure 3 : Livestock and Grazing 51 Annexure 4 : The Weenen Model 54 Annexure 5 : Agri-Industries 56 Annexure 6 : Forestry and Woodlots 59 Annexure 7 : Indigenous Bush and Forests 61 2 UTHUKELA DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY : IN A NUTSHELL The prime crop and milk production area lies in the southwestern and western portions of the District, centred around Winterton and Bergville. The central and northeastern portions are suited to extensive beef production The south area is heavily bushed with rough terrain. Game farming is probably a better option than beef. Opportunities for real wealth by the development of a vibrant community of new farmers are presented by fertile lands along the broad and gently sloping river valleys. These could be put under irrigation in a series of new farming hubs based on the Weenen Model. 3 1.EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 Background The one million one hundred and thirty three thousand ha making up the Uthukela District Municipality (TDM) are distributed as follows: Table 1. Land ownership across TDM. Land Ownership Area (ha) % Commercial Farms 634588 56 Land Reform Area 87854 8 Land Restitution Area 115558 10 Traditional Authority Area 207800 18 Conservation Area 87400 8 Total 1133200 100 The biodiversity experienced over this vast area presents many agricultural challenges and many agricultural and agribusiness opportunities. Amongst the elements of biodiversity that have influenced past and present farming practices are the following. Altitude : Elevation above sea level ranges from 500 m above sea level in some of the wooded valley bottoms to above 2 000 m in the montane foothills of the ‘Little Berg’. Vegetation : The bushland thicket, bushland and wooded grassland found in the southeastern and northern portions of the TDM lend themselves to beef and game farming. The grasslands of the western portion have in many places given way to arable annual crop farming and irrigated pastures. The distinctive TDM signature tree, the Acacia Sieberiana (Paperbark Acacia, umKhamba, Papierbasdoring) is easily and quickly identifiable. Climate Capability : Limitations range from slight to severe, the most severe being in the south east. Rainfall: This ranges from a meager 500 mm per annum in the south east to a lush 1 200 mm in the mountain foothills and adjoining areas in the west. The frequency and incidence of precipitation by thunderstorms emphasizes the need for controlling and reversing the process of soil erosion, particularly in areas where weak soil profiles make erosion risks a grim reality. 4 Frost Severity: Severe frost days per year range from 5 in some of the valley bottoms to 60 in some of the high lying western areas. The number of frost days per year is one of the determinants for the shut off date for summer planting and start dates for spring planting. Frost severity is also a determinant in crop selection as many high value fruit and berry crops require high Chill Units to force budding and thus good crops. Fruit and berry farming and processing is currently under exploited in the cooler areas. Soils Distribution : The geological history of the area has resulted in poor quality, shallow, steep, rocky and highly erodible soils in the south and east. Soils in the central and northern areas are less susceptible, partly because the topography tends to be undulating rather than broken or steep. A large portion of soils in the Winterton and Bergville areas of the Okahlamba Local Municipality (LM), together with similar soils at Jozini, make up most of the Land Capability Class I soils that constitute only two percent of KZN soils. Good quality arable soils are also found along the level or gently sloping valley bottoms adjoining the major rivers and their tributaries. These areas are underutilized. Farming Practices : There is little doubt that arable crop, pastures and dairy livestock will continue to be the backbone of farming in the Okahlamba LM. The most important activity in the rest of the TDM is beef farming. Sterling work being carried out by KZNDAEA&RD Veterinary Services towards establishing herd turnover on the basis of 24 to 30 month veld fed steers is most encouraging. The importance of livestock management as a prime source of real wealth creation is ignored or glossed over in most EMF studies. Some community farmers have up to 300 head of cattle, the value of which herds can be developed up to R 1.5 million if properly managed. This status quo report is based on the five pillars of agriculture : • The Water • The Land • The Climate • The Livestock • The People For the sake of interest and readability this assessment attempts to create visual images and refer to items of interest rather than merely present a dry statistical and technical report. Agriculture is not only an important contributor to our wellbeing, but also an exciting and interesting part of our daily lives. 5 1.2 The Water This is the most important of the five pillars. Without soil moisture a plant cannot breathe, it cannot drink and it cannot feed. The topography and rainfall along the western boundary of the TDM and its neighbours have led to a multitude of springs and vast areas of deep, spongy wetlands that give rise to a myriad of ephemeral and perennial streams that combine to form tributaries to the strongly flowing Thukela, Little Thukela, Injisuthi, UMtshezi(Bushman’s) , Klip and Indaka (Sundays) Rivers. This availability of irrigation water is fully exploited by commercial farmers using water directly from the Thukela, Little Thukela and UMtshezi Rivers or the canals running therefrom. The opportunity to irrigate prime quality soils with water from the Injisuti and Thukela Rivers, as well as from the Woodstock Dam is not being exploited for the benefit of smallholders nor potential commercial scale community farmers. Plots along the Klip and Umtshezi Rivers are being partly used by smallholders at Pieters and Weenen respectively. The design and implementation of the Weenen Irrigation Scheme and produce distribution centre is a model that could be replicated on hundreds of sites throughout the eastern half of RSA. No sign of irrigation was seen along several thousand ha of the broad and gently sloping valley of the Sundays River in the Indaka LM. Areas of limited rainfall usually coincide with shallow soils of poor permeability. This provides opportunities for storage of run off storm water by means of weirs and dams. Three major storage dams occur in the TDM. It is surprising that no dam of any consequence has been built on the Sundays River. 1.3 The Land As in many other natural characteristics there is a sharp dichotomy between the soils of the western portion of the TDM and the rest. The broadly spread soil parentage of the western portion has given birth to large swaths of level or gently undulating land which is easily managed, has good rooting depths, has good moisture intake, excellent retention and drainage qualities, in short ; prime arable agricultural land. The rest of the TDM’s soils tend to be shallow, have poor drainage, are rocky and often steep. Even where soils are gently undulating soil profiles prohibit effective annual crop cultivation as many of these soils have shallow topsoils with subsoils that are hostile to root penetration and moisture retention. These areas are suitable for extensive large animal livestock farming in the central, northern and eastern areas. The southeastern portion of the TDM is more suited to game and small livestock, preferably game. 6 One feature that deserves mention in this summary is the disturbingly high incidence of abandoned fields in the relatively productive rural areas, a feature that is commonplace throughout the eastern half of RSA. Soil parentage, soil profiles and soil potentials are illustrated in detail in annexure 1. 1.4 The Climate With the exception of a few selected crops this is most definitely a summer production area for arable annual crops. The exceptions are winter wheat, irrigated pastures and cabbages. Rainfall and irrigation water availability limit these activities mainly to the western portion centred around Winterton, Bergville and a few km east of Estcourt. The climate in this area is also highly conducive to deciduous fruit production, an opportunity that is under exploited. In the western portion veld condition is typically good for only 250 days per year. Supplementary feeding is thus required for maintaining livestock condition during the cold winter months when the veld has dried off. Rainfed pastures are usually Kikuyu or Weeping Lovegrass ( Eragrostis curvula ), the latter making excellent hay for winter feeding. High rainfall along the ‘Little Berg’ foothills has afforded the opportunity for good quality commercial pine plantations. In the drier areas the warmer climate permits a far longer arable crop growing season provided soils are suitable and irrigation water available.