Feed Gaps Among Cattle Keepers in Semiarid and Arid Southern African Regions: A Case Study in the Limpopo Province, South Africa

Abstract

Rural livestock farmers in the semiarid and arid areas of Southern Africa face large uncertainties due to a high intraseasonal and year-to-year variability in rainfall patterns which affect forage resources. Creating resilient communal livestock farming systems will require the understanding of feed gaps as perceived by livestock farmers as well as an assessment of available feed resources. In this chapter, we estimated the annual feed balance (i.e., forage supply minus forage demand) based on statistical data and described the perception of feed gaps across 122 livestock farmers in Limpopo province, South Africa. In addition, we analyzed available feed and soil resources during the dry season across land use types. We found a negative feed balance, an indication of feed gaps for livestock farms, mainly during the winter and spring seasons. Farmers perceived a combination of factors such as drought, infrastructure, capital, and access to land as the major causes of feed gaps. Furthermore, our analyses of feed and soil resources point to low crude protein (e.g., ~5% in rangeland biomass) and poor soil nutrient contents (e.g., %N < 0.1). To support rural policies and improve the performance of communal livestock systems, there is a need to combine the most appropriate site-specific options in optimizing the feed supply.