Land degradation in South Africa: Conventional views, changing paradigms and a tradition of soil conservation

Abstract

Land degradation is currently a major concern in South Africa. However, awareness of the problem and attitudes towards it have changed little over the past century. Soil erosion and veld degradation are continually being depicted as acute problems, and overpopulation, overstocking and poor agricultural practices are viewed as the major causal factors. Internationally, however, a new paradigm is emerging, which takes a somewhat more optimistic view of the situation in Africa. One of the basic tenets of this changing perception is that there exists an untapped wealth of indigenous knowledge about the environment and associated human potential. Within this context, this study examines and describes the local tradition of stone terracing on cropland within the former Venda in the Northern Province of South Africa. This living tradition has deep historic roots and local farmers have a remarkably well‐developed understanding of the causes and effects of erosion. While the research location is unique in many ways, this study indicates that farmer tradition and innovation in the former homelands may be more common than has been supposed, and should not be ignored but actively sought out and built upon.

Notes

This research was jointly conducted by the University of the North (UNIN) and the Northern Province's Department of Agriculture. It was funded and coordinated by UNIN's Land Management and Rural Development Programme (LMRDP), whose mandate is to conduct applied research on rural development topics in the Northern Province. The research was presented at a seminar during August 1997 held by the LMRDP and the said department It has been published, with permission of DBSA, in the proceedings of that seminar: ‘Sustainable land use: some signposts for South Africa’.

Respectively, Senior Staff Member, Centre for Development Cooperation Services, University of the North; Conservation Officer, Directorate of Agriculture and Rural Development, Department of Agriculture, Pietersburg. The authors would like to thank Solomon Ramakhumisa for his enthusiastic assistance in data collection, and three anonymous referees for their useful and constructive comments.