Bibliography: Land Degradation in South Africa project

Ref ID : 1905

1372. Mason, S.J., Joubert, A.M., Cosijn, C., and Crimp, S.J. Review of the

current state of seasonal forecasting techniques with applicability to southern

Africa. Water SA 22:203-209, 1996.

Reprint : Not in File,

Keywords : FORECASTING; SOUTHERN AFRICA

Ref ID : 1904

1373. Mason, S.J. and Jury, M.R. Climatic variability and change over southern

Africa: a reflection on underlying processes. Progress in Physical Geography

21(1):23-50, 1997.

Reprint : Not in File,

Keywords : SOUTHERN AFRICA

Ref ID : 1017

1374. Mason, S.J., Lindesay, J.A., and Tyson, P.D. Simulating drought in

southern Africa using sea surface temperature variations. Water SA 20(1):15-22,

1994.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : DROUGHT; MODELS; RAINFALL; CLIMATE

Abstract : Changes in atmospheric circulation that produce droughts over SA are

briefly reviewed, as too are the links between regions of homogeneous sea

surface temperature variation in the oceans around Southern Africa and their

correlation with rainfall over SA. Therafter sea surface temperature anomaly

fields known to be linked to the occurrence of droughts are used to initialise

the 4-level CSIRO general circulation climate model to simulate drought over SA.

Model results are compared with previously developed hypotheses concerning

ocean-atmosphere interactions in the region and are shown to be consistent with

observations in many important respects.

Ref ID : 1243

1375. Massaro, R.J. Beyond participation empowerment for enviromental action in

Tanzania's West Usanbara mountains.Anonymous 1998,p. 24-49.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : CONSERVATION; SOIL EROSION; EROSION; AID; RURAL DEVELOPMENT; EROSION

CONTROL

Notes : For much of this century, the West Usambara Mountains in the north-

eastern Tanzania's Tanga Region, Lushoto District, have been known for

environmental crises and failed conservation programs. The Soil Erosion

Control/Agroforestry Project (SECAP), begun in 1981 as part of the Federal

Republic of Germany's aid to the Tanga Integrated Rural Development Program, may

change that reputation. The project is a community-based, integrated,

ecologically sustainable, economically viable effort to increase people's

capacities to meet their livelihood and development needs as well as an effort

to control and reverse the processes of soil erosion and environmental

degradation in the region. This chapter deals with this project. It describes

the history of this region, detailing the Usambara lands, giving an update on

the evolution of human-environment symbiosis, initial challenges and successful

adaptations, effects of Arab trade, German colonial conquest: balance destroyed,

British administration: crisis intensified, and early Tanzanian administration:

stop-gap intervention. It then goes on to deal with Integrated Rural

Development and soil erosion control in the Tanga region, including the project

process; project components in two villages; project progress; project lessons;

challenges to sustainability and a summary.

Ref ID : 526

1376. Mather, C. Beyond the farm: rural and agricultural geography. In:

Geography in a changing South Africa, edited by Rogerson, C. and McCarthy,

J.Cape Town:Oxford University Press, 1992,p. 229-245.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT; COMMUNAL AREA

Ref ID : 2543

1377. Matshaya, P.V. The agricultural problems and basic needs of rural

communities with special reference to the Hopefield location of Victoria East in

the Province of the Eastern Cape. 1998.

Reprint : Not in File,

Keywords : EASTERN CAPE; CISKEI; AID; AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT; GENDER ASPECTS;

ECONOMIC ASPECTS; RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Notes : The purpose of the study was to investigate the factors that hinder

progress in community development with special reference to the former Ciskei.

Several studies were consulted to aid in the design of coded questionnaires to

obtain accurate information from respondents. A simple random sample of

respondents in ten households was surveyed using interview questionnaires. The

findings include: 1. women headed a large number of the households. The

demographic imbalance suggests that most of the families relied heavily on wage

earnings from outside the location. This tended to be a disincentive to

agricultural development; 2. about one third of respondents were found to be

illiterate. There are few social services available for people of the area; 3.

source information by people in the area was through the radio - 90% of

respondents own their own radio sets; and 4. all a priori stated hypotheses were

accepted. This thesis is obtainable from the Document Centre, Agriculture,

University of Fort Hare. See also ID ref. no. 2339.

Ref ID : 1245

1378. Matthee, J.F. Inleiding tot grondbewaring, Suid- Africa:Staatsdrukker,

1984.pp. 1-127.

Reprint : In File,

Notes : See notes in English translation in ID no: 1247.

Ref ID : 1247

1379. Matthee, J.F. A Primer of Soil Conservation, South Africa:Goverment

Printers, 1984.pp. 1-125.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : SOIL CONSERVATION; CONSERVATION; RAINFALL; EROSION; SOIL EROSION;

LAND USE; RUNOFF; FLOODS; CULTIVATION; EROSION CONTROL; IRRIGATION; WIND EROSION

Notes : The basic premise followed is that a healthy nation can only be built up

on the products of healthy soil. This primer includes various chapters dealing

with the following issues: (1) introduction on soil conservation, its history,

research and techniques and knowledge (2) the mechanics of rainfall erosion,

basic principles and factors affecting rainfall erosion (3) rainfall and amount

of erosion, including the erosion process, rainfall characteristics and

erosivity of rainfall in SA; (4) soils and erosion, including factors which

influence erodibility of soils, problem soils, classification of soils according

to erodibility, and suitability of soils for the construction of soil

conservation works; (5) slope and erosion, including influence of slope

steepness, influence of slope length, modification of slopes and slope

limitations; (6) ground cover and erosion including canopy effect, retardation

effect, residual effect, tillage condition of soil and erosivity distribution;

(7) conservation practices, including contour tillage, contour strip cropping,

and terracing systems; (8) permissible soil loss including loss of productive

soil and offsite damage by sediments; (9) forms of erosion and severity grading,

including main forms of soil erosion, erosion severity grading, other forms of

water erosion and extent of erosion in SA; (10) land use planning (LUP),

including land capability classes, soil inventory, criteria for capability

classes, land use mapping and land capability classification for drier areas;

(11) runoff disposal planning, including natural drainageways, application of

runoff disposal planning, defninitions, principles of runoff disposal planning,

and the planning procedure; (12) mechanical control measures, including relation

between mechanical and biological control and design of mechanical protection

works; (13) runoff intensities, including rainfall intensities, how runoff takes

place, flood frequencies, and estimation of runoff intensities; (14) waterways

including location of waterways, grassed waterways, planning and construction of

waterways, design factors for grassed waterways, design of grassed waterways,

construction and establishment of vegetation, management and maintenance, lined

waterways and piped waterways; (15) stormwater drains, including uses of

stormwater drains, precautions, location, design factors for stormwater drains,

design procedure, and layout, construction and maintenance; (16) terracing

including the functions of terraces, limitations, terrace systems, design of

terrace systems, secondary uses of terraces, planning and layout of terraces,

construction of terraces, maintenance, ploughing and cultivation of terraced

lands and farmabiliity of terraced lands; (17) erosion control on steep lands,

orchards, vineyards, pineries, sugar cane fields including grain crops on steep

lands, orchards and vineyards, pineries and sugar cane fields; (18) erosion

control on irrigation lands, including runoff disposal planning, control of

runoff originating above the irrigation lands, control of runoff from irrigation

lands and flood damage to alluvial lands; (19) reclamation of eroded flood

plans, including description, forms of erosion on flood plains, and remedial

measures; (20) prevention and control of gullies, including causes of gullies,

possible effects of gullying, prevention of gullies, gully control measures,

gully stabilization and reclamation structures for gully beds and sides, and

maintenance of gully control structures; (21) streambank protection, including

causes of streambank erosion, damage caused by streambank erosion, and control

measures; (22) veld improvement including infiltration improvement and water

spreading; (23) wind erosion, including soil movements by wind, damage caused by

wind erosion, factors causing wind erosion, control of wind erosion on arable

lands, control of drifting sands and sand dunes, and synthetic material to

control drifting sands; (24) auxiliary structures and facilities, including

fencing and stock watering installations.

Ref ID : 320

1380. Matthews, E.D. Tukulu - the rebirth of a South African farm,

Lovedale:Lovedale Press, 1956.-178.

Reprint : Not in File,

Keywords : VELD MANAGEMENT; EASTERN CAPE; VEGETATION CHANGE; DESERTIFICATION

CONTROL; SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT; AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT; CONSERVATION;

COMMUNAL AREA; CISKEI

Ref ID : 1371

1381. May, J. Poverty and inequality in South Africa. May, J.Unpublished Report.

:1-60, 1998.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : POVERTY; ECONOMIC ASPECTS; POLICY; INSTITUTIONAL ASPECTS; ENERGY;

MONITORING

Notes : In per capita terms SA is an upper-middle-income country, but despite

this relative wealth, the experience of most South African households is of

outright poverty or of continuing vulernability to being poor. In addition, the

distribution of income and wealth in SA is among the most unequal in the world,

and many households still have unsatisfactory access to education, health care,

energy and clean water. This situation is likely to affect not only the

country's social and political stability, but also the development path it

follows: countries with less equal distributions of income and wealth tend not

to grow as rapidly as those with more equitable distributions. This Poverty and

Inequality Report (PIR) reviews the extent and nature of poverty and inequality

in SA, and assesses the current policy farmework for the reduction of both. It

attempts to provide clear conceptual and practical guidelines concerning the

issues which need to be taken into consideration in the formulation of policy,

its implementation, and when monitoring its impact.

Ref ID : 2389

1382. Mayekiso, Z.V. Perception of farmers towards new technologies used in the

production of maize in the Sidubi Poort area. 1989.

Reprint : Not in File,

Keywords : TRANSKEI; LABOUR; AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT; AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION;

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION; SOCIOECONOMIC ASPECTS; POLICY

Notes : The main purpose of the study was to determine the perception of farmers

towards new technologies used in the production of maize in the Sidubi-Poort

area of the Transkei. Both primary and secondary sources were used in generating

the data for this study. A questionnaire was designed to establish the extent

of improved production practices in the area. Other information was gathered

from existing sources in the area of study. A large number of the farmers were

found to be females and a large number of male active and able bodied home

holders were found to be away working elsewhere. Many of the farmers were found

to be relatively advanced in age. Many of the farmers indicated that they had

no contact with extension agents. Other findings relate to informal leadership,

decision-making, labour and income. This thesis is obtainable from the Document

Centre, Faculty of Agriculture (UFH). See ref. I.D. No: 2339.

Ref ID : 2390

1383. Mbangata, M.M. The economic, social and technological viability of

alternative cash crop production by black farmer sin the Peddie South region,

with special reference to pineapples. 1989.

Reprint : Not in File,

Keywords : CISKEI; ECONOMIC ASPECTS; SOCIOECONOMIC ASPECTS; AGRICULTURAL

DEVELOPMENT; RURAL DEVELOPMENT; AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION

Notes : The purposes of this study were: to assess the feasibility of pineapple

farming by Black small farmers; to identify the constraining factors which did

not tend to motivate the farmers and which ultimately retard their progress; and

to find out the technical knowledge that they have so far adopted. The study

essentially generated its data through personal communication and literature

from the Peddie Agricultural Office. Other information was also collected from

the project and section managers. However, information was also collected

through questionnaire surveys. The majority of farmers felt that the present

number of hectares of land on which they work is not sufficient and therefore

wished that it could be increased. The farmers also felt that increasing the

present lands would enable them to rest some sections of the farms. All the

farmers expressed their view that there are no local organisations within the

pineapple farming community. All the farmers were satisfied with the main

marketing source of the pineapples, farmers (70% of them) were found to aspire

to have bigger farms. On the perceptions about pineapple farming, the farmers

perceived pineapple farming as a business and that it was a profitable venture.

Farmers were unhappy about the tractors used on the farms and perceived the

tractor drivers as unco-operative. This thesis is obtainable from the Document

Centre, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Fort Hare. See ref. I.D. no: 2339.

Ref ID : 975

1384. Mbelu, M.M. Past and future options for veld management in the developing

areas of South Africa.Anonymous Alice, Ciskei:Department of Livestock & Pasture

Science. P7043:i-17, 1995.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : VELD MANAGEMENT; COMMUNAL AREA; CISKEI; AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT;

LEGISLATION; SOIL EROSION; EROSION; BUSH ENCROACHMENT; VELD CONDITION;

POPULATION

Notes : It is felt that politicians have contributed to most of the problems

experienced by people in developing areas and they must also be involved in

trying to solve some or most of these problems. Some solutions may even need

legislation as most of these problems were introduced by legislation. It is

important to realise that most people residing in Developing Areas are not

recessarily farmers but are there because they were prevented by legislation

from residing in urban areas. It is also true that there are people in these

areas who are genuinely interested in farming. These farmers should be

identified and trained in various aspects of agriculture in which their

interests lie (e.g. crop farming, livestock farming, etc.). The government must

then make the land available to these farmers for leasing or purchasing. The

community in general must be discouraged from thinking about farming as the only

way of life. Rural areas in general must be provided with essential services

such as electricity, water, primary health care, roads, etc. Job opportunities

should also be created in rural areas in line with the RDP and most if not all

of these areas should be treated as residential areas rather than "farms".

Communal grazing is often associated with degradation of natural resources (soil

erosion, bush encroachment, change in species composition, low productivity,

etc.) and because most of these areas are continuously grazed this management

practice is said to result in veld deterioration. Communal grazing is also

associated with overstocking and resultant overgrazing. However, these

hypotheses have not been proved as yet. For example, it has not been shown

conclusively that continuous grazing results in a change in botanical

composition comparted to rotational grazing. Overstocking has been cited as the

major factor responsible for poor veld condition. This may be true but some

people have a different perception of the cause of poor condition in these

areas. The problem is not just overstocking but it is a general imbalance

between resources and population. There is too much population pressure on the

land in communal areas. One of the recommendations put forward in the text is

that of translocation resettlement so as to relieve pressure on the land and to

allow a more equitable access to grazing. The problem in communal grazing can,

therefore, not be simply blamed on continuous grazing or overstocking. Besides

a sizeable number of people in developing areas do not have livestock and of

those who do very few have enough.

Ref ID : 782

1385. McAllister, P.A. Resistance to 'betterment' in the Transkei: a case study

from Willowvale district. Journal of Southern African Studies 15(2):346-368,

1989.

Reprint : In File,

Keywords : BETTERMENT PLANNING; TRANSKEI; COMMUNAL AREA; POLICY; LABOUR; CISKEI

Notes : Rural people and particularly Red Xhosa resist betterment schemes.

Betterment means a change in the settlement pattern, an assault on the

established political and territorial units, the disappearance of generations-

old neighbourhood groups, economic hardship and an undermining of the ability to

provide a proportion of subsistence needs, increased dependence on migrant

labour earnings and further exposure to urban-industrial lifestyles and values.

In both the Transkei and Ciskei, betterment schemes "played a major part in

finally destroying the Red folk culture as a coherent way of life. Only in the

few locations that have managed to fend off 'rehabilitation' is ubuqaba

lingering on." In Shixini, the maintance of 'traditional' attitudes and values

is closely tied to people's attempts to cope with their precarious economic and

political situation. In a real sense, they are not traditionalists at all, but

innovative countrymen making good use of the cultural resources at their

disposal to maintain a degree of independence from the wider system. Their

resistance to incorporation has been made possible by a particular social

organization, and especially by the network of social and economic relationships

which rely heavily on what appear to be 'traditional' principles - kinship,

neighbourhood and territory. In the light of this, resistance to betterment

makes sense. Betterment undermines the system. It neutralises the forces which

have enabled people to combat further impoverishment and fuller incorporation.

The threat to the Red Xhosa lifestyle posed by betterment is not merely a threat

to what some may regard as an antiquated and outmoded adherence to tradition.

On the contrary, it is a threat to what Beinart and Bundy call 'defensive

traditionalism'. In Shixini tradition has been used to construct a relatively

successful adaptation to a rural situation in which the overwhelming trend has

been towards greater and greater impoverishment of the people though both

drawing them into the wider economy and preventing them from fully sharing in

the fruits of that economy. Seemingly aware of this trap, Red Xhosa have tried

to actively defend their way of life by not allowing themselves to be drawn into

the wider socio-economic system any more than is absolutely necessary, by

consciously rejecting consumerism, by antipathy towards churches and other 'ways

of white people', and by clinging to what they regard as 'proper Xhosa' life.

The Red ideology, in Mayer's words, is a 'passive or active opposition to the

status quo'. That Reds achieve this in some areas, against great odds, is

attributable at least in part to the fact that they have some means of

subsistence in the country and to their relatively undisturbed pattern of

settlement. It is particularly worth emphasising this point in the present

conjuncture because Transkeian officials are showing some flexibility on the

issue of betterment. Funds are short and there is a recognition that previous

schemes have not been successful even when judged within their own terms of

reference. There is a possibility that betterment in Shixini may, in fact, be

scrapped, and replaced with an alternative development project which is

currently being researched and planned by a multidisciplinary team from Rhodes

University with the approval of all parties concerned.

Ref ID : 2422

1386. McAllister, P.A. Development planning and land use in rural Transkei: an

assessment of selected aspects of the Transkei Agricultural Development

study.Anonymous Anonymous Rhodes University, Grahamstown:ISER. , 1991.

Reprint : Not in File,

Keywords : TRANSKEI; AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT; METHODOLOGIES; BETTERMENT

PLANNING; LAND USE; EROSION; RURAL DEVELOPMENT; SETTLEMENT IMPACTS; POLICY;

POLITICAL ASPECTS; POVERTY; LAND TENURE; GRAZING EFFECTS

Notes : The purpose of the paper was to outline some important aspects of the

Transkei Agricultural Development study, consider some recommendations made and

evaluate these against the background of previous attempts at land use planning

and rural developments in the Transkei. The study methodology consisted of a

review of the Transkei Agricultural Development Study document. The report

contains information on betterment planning in the Transkei, residential

relocation, spatial re-organisation, agriculture, ecology, and an assessment of

the study's recommendations. The report reveals the planners' and decison-

makers' lack of knowledge about how rural people live and survive, about how

they use their land and livestock, how they relate to each other and to the

natural environment. The report further reveals the problem of hardship and