Cattle numbers, biomass, productivity and land degradation in the commercial farming sector of Namibia, 1915‐95

Abstract

As part of a natural resource accounting project undertaken in Namibia, livestock accounts have been drawn up and are being used to analyse the relationship between numbers of livestock, rainfall, land degradation, and economic and policy variables. Part of the analysis concerns an investigation into trends in cattle numbers, changes in cattle biomass and the productivity of livestock in commercial areas. Cattle numbers increased from 1914 until 1960, then declined steadily to half that number. This decline was at least partly due to deliberate actions by farmers to improve herd productivity and production efficiency. Although beef production did not decline over this period, productivity is still lower than potential industry standards. Range degradation (bush encroachment) may have contributed to this curtailment. This investigation has implications for an understanding of long‐term carrying capacity, land degradation and rangeland management, and for agricultural development policies in Namibia and similar regions in southern Africa.

Notes

Respectively, Research Associate Professor, Institute for Economic Analysis, New York University; Natural Resource Economist, World Wildlife Fund Life Programme, Directorate of Environmental Affairs, Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Windhoek, Namibia; and Junior Researcher, Namibian Economic Policy Research Unit, Windhoek, Namibia. Lange and Motinga's work was supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), while Barnes’ work was supported by the World Wildlife Fund (US) LIFE Programme funded by USAID. The authors would especially like to thank Roy Benhke, Jacque Els, Martin Fowler, Roger Paskin, Jacque van der Merwe, Stanley van Zyl and Wolfgang Werner. The opinions expressed here are our own and do not necessarily reflect those of our partners or sponsors.