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New Study On Bush Encroachment Control

26/7/2011

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This is a summary of a new study done by;
Natalia Lukomskaa, Martin F. Quaasb and Stefan Baumgartnerc ,
Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Department of Economics, University of Kiel, Germany,
Department of Sustainability Sciences and Department of Economics,
Leuphana University of Luneburg, Germany
December 13, 2010
View their online page...
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bushencroachmentpaper.pdf
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Bush encroachment is considered to be one of the most extensive forms of degradation in rangelands in arid and semi-arid regions of the Earth (Sweet 1998, de Klerk 2004, Joubert et al. 2009, Schr¨oter et al. 2010). With arid and semi-arid areas covering about one quarter of the land surface of the Earth, between 50 and 80% of these areas being used as rangelands, and more than one billion people earning their livelihood directly from livestock farming in these areas (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005), bush encroachment is a major worldwide problem. In Namibia, for example, where the economic well-being of more than two thirds of the population depends directly or indirectly on agriculture and 65% of the national agricultural output is produced on commercial rangeland (Mendelssohn et al. 2003), bush encroachment severely restricts profitability of cattle farming (Espach 2006); the same goes for South Africa (Stuart-Hill 1987, B¨orner et al. 2007) or Uganda (Mugasi et al. 2000).
From an ecological-economic point of view, rangelands in (semi-)arid regions are savannahs that are characterized by dynamic interaction and coexistence of woody and herbaceous vegetation, i.e. bushes and grass, under the influence of stochastic precipitation and bushfire, and that are managed for the purpose of livestock grazing (Knoop and Walker 1985, Perrings and Walker 1997, Wiegand and Jeltsch 2000, Beukes et al. 2002, Sullivan and Rohde 2002, Janssen et al. 2004, Riginos 2009). The crucial ecosystem service that limits livestock production and shapes farming strategies, is production of green grass biomass, which serves as a forage for livestock and thus generates farm income.
Ill-adapted grazing management strategies, including over-stocking and suppression of bushfires, are the major anthropogenic causes of bush encroachment, i.e. the persisting occurrence of an ecosystem state dominated by woody vegetation (Roques et al. 2001, de Klerk 2004, Joubert et al. 2008).1 Bush encroachment leads to a reduction in the production of green grass biomass and, thus, to a reduction of grazing capacity of the rangeland (Sweet 1998, de Klerk 2004, Espach 2006). As a consequence, farm income is diminished.
While the expectation is that, at bottom line, debushing increases a farmer’s income, the exact effect of debushing on the intertemporal stream of farm income and, in particular, on the variability of income, has not been studied so far. In this paper, we study the role of debushing for a farmer’s income and income risk in a stochastic ecological-economic model of grazing management in semi-arid rangelands. In particular, we study debushing as an instrument of risk management that complements the choice of an adaptive grazing management strategy for that sake.
We show that debushing, while being a good practice for increasing the mean pasture productivity and thus expected income, also  ncreases the farmer’s income risk. The optimal extent of debushing for a risk-averse farmer is thus determined from balancing the positive and negative consequences of debushing on intertemporal and stochastic farm income.
The paper is organized as follows. In Section 2, we present the stochastic and dynamic ecological-economic model, incorporating grazing management and debushing strategies. Section 3 describes the concepts and tools applied in the model evaluation. Section 4 presents the results of the study. Section 5 provides a discussion of these results and draws conclusions.
... Read the full study... (click on the link below to download the full study)
bushencroachmentpaper.pdf
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Bush Encroachment Threatens Communal Farming in Omaheke, Namibia

13/7/2011

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By: Bob Kandetu
The Namibian.... Still telling it as it is.

COMMUNAL grazing in the Omaheke Region is under siege from a tree called Omusaona in Otjiherero and Mongana in Setswana.
A number of other trees and shrubs also appear, such as Omutjete, Otjimbuku and others. But Omusaona is dominant in all constituencies.
Travel through Okamapingo near Okondjatu, Okahungu, Otjinene. Go through Ozombuzovindimba to Eiseb and Gam. From there access Epukiro via Otjimanangombe, Ovinjuru, Omauouozonjanda. Go to Otjombinde via Otjomisaona. Then move to Omongua via Aruams, Orevia, Onderombapa, Omutumbondundu, Otjiungukua, Okomungondo, Okonjoka, Otjeue, Okumu, and Okungasa. Travel the Korridor line, number one through twenty two.
The character of grazing remains the same.  Omusaona has taken over half of the grazing land. Where Omusaona grows all grass dies and this explains why there is drought in most communal constituencies in Omaheke every year. What is even more frustrating to the farmers who at least want to do something is the fact that this is open area for all to use and clean up campaigns get bogged down on who will do what for whom.
Consequently, the farmers take it as it comes and they move from area to area in the hope of getting open and better spaces. They apply for resettlement on the farms that the government has bought and they wait forever. Or, they just keep on farming in anticipation for better rains next time around.
There is much that the farmers and Omaheke dwellers can do to ameliorate their plight. They can team up and declare war on the trees and shrubs that threaten better grazing and they can team up and source the chemicals that commercial farmers are effectively using to control the same threats of bush encroachment. The chemicals for debushing have been available at shops like Agra for years and as of late, the Meat Board of Namibia sells some chemicals that seem to be relatively affordable. But communal farmers seem threatened by a mixed blessing of defiance and ignorance, bordering on complacency. While some very successful farmers have done it in the same Omaheke, some farmers cannot take that they have to continue farming there and must clear the bush for others who do not want to participate. They hold that the land belongs to the government and why can the government not deploy prisoners to clear the areas, or get resettled like others, in better farming places called farms.
In 1991 Prime Minister Hage Geingob convened a land conference, which then proved to be the right thing to do for purposes of brainstorming as government contemplated policies for state governance; after all it was only one year after independence.
During that exercise, Member of Parliament Katuutire Kaura decried the land ownership conundrum and said in defense of communal farmers, that even though they have limited farming space to themselves, they remained the best farmers in the land because they are the main supplies of live stock for export and meat consumption in the country. This assertion holds true today as it was in 1991. While the land question remains a thorny issue that must be resolved, all available farming land, not only commercial farms, must be protected against predators and parasites that encroach on effective farming and to this end, all sectors in agriculture must not be found wanting. Individual Farmers in Omaheke must employ all strategies to curb bush encroachment and so must all farmers unions, the regional and the central governments. Bush encroachment threatens to close down farming in Omaheke’s communal constituencies and no one must escape this challenge.

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