‘Undercultivation’ and intensification in the Transkei: a case study of historical changes in the use of arable land in Nompa, Shixini

Figures & data

Summary of GIS data on households, gardens and fields for Shixini, 1942–82

Frequency	1942	1962	1982	Percentage change, 1942–62	Percentage change, 1962–82
No. of huts	1 269	1 301	1 888	2,5	45,1
No. of households	501	585	836	16,8	42,9
Mean no. of huts/households	2,5	2,2	2,3
No. of households with gardens	131	359	699	174	95
No. of households without gardens	370	226	137	−39	−39
Percentage of households with gardens	26%	61%	84%
Mean garden size	0,2088	0,1948	0,4191	−6,7	115,1
Area of gardens	30	68	327	127	383
Area of fields	1 327	1 281	650	−3,4	−49,2

Demographic and land‐use changes in Nompa, 1942–96

Trends in population growth and livestock enclosures in Nompa, 1942–96

Changes in the area of land under cultivation in Shixini, 1942–82

Relationship between household size, garden size and livestock enclosure size in Nompa, 1942–96

Stock enclosure size class	Mean garden size (hectares)
	1942	1962	1982
0	0,15	0,01	0,292
1	0,08	0,16	0,337
2	0,12	0,17	0,34
3	0,16	0,25	0,342
4	0,2	0,19	0,432
5	0,31	0,26	0,495

Life and land‐use histories of six elderly informants from Nompa

Time scale	Informant 1 (female)	Informant 2 (male)	Informant 3 (female)	Informant 4 (female)	Informant 5 (female)	Informant 6 (male)
Born	1923	1929	1926	1933	1919	1922
1930s					37: Married, cultivated field, had no livestock	37: Father died
						39: Started work as a seasonal migrant
1940s	43: Married, and cultivated field; husband a migrant worker; had nine cattle and 17 goats	47: Started work as a migrant	41: Married, and cultivated field (second wife) 41‐5: Bore three children 45: Husband died and wives shared garden		45: Established own homestead 47: Established small garden	45: Married, cultivated inherited field, had three cattle and 12 sheep
1950s	53: Established own homestead 56: Established a very large garden because field was too old	57: Married, and inherited field from parents; had seven cattle and ten goats	50: Established own homestead 52: Established own garden with help of first wife's son 57: Abandoned field cultivation as she and kin had no oxen for ploughing; returned to her parents' home until the son had grown up	51: Married, and cultivated parents' old field and small garden 55: Expanded garden onto site of old livestock enclosure 59: Abandoned parents' field and made new one next to it and closer to homestead		55: Established own homestead and garden
1960s	61: Peak in livestock holdings: 21 cattle and 100 sheep 65: Husband stopped migrant work and returned home	65: Stopped work as a migrant; established a garden due to poor yields from field	67: Returned to Nompa and re‐established garden 69: Left for East London where she earned a living from brewing and selling beer	60: Mother died and she inherited land and homestead, plus 1 800 sheep, 60 cattle and 60 goats 67: Moved homestead to betterment site but continued to cultivate field and garden	Injured son returned home and husband sick with tuberculosis 68: Expanded garden
1970s	72: Husband died 73: Stopped cultivating field; children away at school		77: Returned to Nompa with five goats that increased to ten through natural reproduction; re‐established garden		72: Husband died; abandoned field and extended garden; had 11 cattle 75: Lost all cattle to disease	70: Changed from seasonal work to permanent job 75: Increased size of garden and abandoned field due to erosion; did not seek new field due to risk of damage and other people abandoning fields
1980s		85: Got a job on a local road construction project (for seven years)			80: Daughter married; got five cattle via lebola	84: Retired from job with pension; increased garden
1990s		93: Lost construction job 97: Expanded garden and abandoned field due to damage from livestock	94: Accessed state pension	92: Husband died; had seven cattle, 160 sheep and 10 goats 95: Moved back to old homestead site
2000s	Cultivated one third of the large garden and had eight cattle and three goats	Cultivated garden and had eight cattle and four sheep	Cultivated garden and had pigs; living with sister and grandson	Cultivated fenced field and garden; had 11 cattle, 25 goats and four sheep	Cultivated garden only; had nine cattle, 11 goats and eight sheep	Cultivated garden only; had 28 cattle, 20 sheep and seven goats

Summary of land‐use changes from six life histories of Nompa residents

	Nompa informants
Characteristic	1	2	3	4	5	6
Year field was abandoned	1973	1995	1957	Not yet	1972	1975
Abandoned field due to declining yields and high risks		x				x
Abandoned field due to old soils and erosion						x
Abandoned field due to shortages in labour and resources	x		x		x
Year garden was established	1956	1965	1945	1951	1947	1955
Established garden because field was not producing enough	x	x	x		x	x
Expanded garden when field was abandoned		x			x	x
Expanded garden because field was not producing enough					x

De Wet & McAllister's (1983b) comparison of gardens and fields

Gardens	Fields
Close to the homestead – easier to protect, cultivate and fertilise	Distant from homestead – require more labour and time
Fenced – protected from livestock	Unfenced – vulnerable to damage from livestock
Intercropping of maize, beans and other vegetables helps to maintain soil moisture and fertility levels	Maize monoculture
More fertile due to intercropping and manuring (soil‐testing results); many are also created on sites of old livestock enclosures	Less fertile due to long periods of monoculture with insufficient fallow periods and/or application of fertiliser or manure
Flexible size – the location and size of gardens change	Fixed size and location

DE WET CJ MCALLISTER PA 1983b Rural communities in transition: a study of the socio‐economic and agricultural implications of agricultural betterment anddevelopment Working Paper No. 16, Development Studies Unit, Institute for Social and Economic Research. Grahamstown: Rhodes University

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