Communities benefit from forestry enterprise

The Umgano Project has already improved the lives of over a hundred families through a successful forestry enterprise. With the introduction of a sustainably grazed commercial Nguni herd just months away, both grasslands and the community could enjoy further benefits. Robyn Joubert reports.

Communities benefit from forestry enterprise
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The Mabandla community lives in the foothills of the Drakensberg, between Coleford and Creighton in south-west KwaZulu-Natal. It is a land of rolling hills and mountain streams, with a wealth of biodiversity found in its grasslands and patches of natural forest. Historically, the 20 000-member Mabandla community does not have much in the way of worldly possessions: they live without electricity or piped water and survive mostly on social grants, with employment options mainly limited to selling their labour in faraway towns.

But what the community does have is cattle, and these animals are prized as a way of life and a sign of wealth. But as the human population has grown, so too have their herds – and uncontrolled grazing has taken its toll on grasslands and livestock. Sixteen years ago, the Mabandla community realised they would have to adapt their priorities in order to uplift their lives.

“The Mabandla community realised they could either carry on in the same old way, or they could adapt. They opted for the latter and elected to go down a sustainable route,” says environmental advisor Dr Bill Bainbridge. In 1998, the Mabandla Traditional Council, then under Inkosi Lenford Sidoi (and now Inkosi Lawrence Baleni), embarked on the Umgano Project, a groundbreaking conservation and development initiative.

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A land-use plan for the Umgano Project Area (UPA) was developed and communal lands were divided into three zones: 4 200ha of grazing for a commercial beef herd; 1 340ha for a commercial forestry plantation; and a 1 300ha conservation zone, including natural forest, wetlands and grasslands. About 6 500ha is state land, leased to the community, while the balance is traditional communal land.

The UPA is administered by the Mabandla Community Trust (MCT). The first project was a commercial afforestation project, with foresters Peter Nixon and Themba Radebe, who initially worked for Mondi and later established their own company, Rural Forest Management. They raised funding and provided technical and managerial expertise and mentoring. The first timber was harvested in 2008. Today, the Forestry Stewardship Council-certified plantation provides employment for more than 100 families.

“The plantation is a long-term investment and has given us the strength and the financing to branch out into other initiatives, such as the Umgano Livestock Initiative,” says Baleni.

Livestock Initiative
The foundation of the Umgano Livestock Iniative (ULI) is a grazing system designed to conserve and improve the condition of the grasslands. “The community recognised that uncontrolled grazing was causing negative impacts on the veld. It also accepted that implementing a sustainable grazing system had the potential to benefit the livestock and the veld,” explains Bainbridge.

In 2008, the department of agriculture, assisted by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (Sanbi) Grasslands Programme, performed veld-condition assessments and developed a scientific grazing system for cattle. At the same time, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife invited the Mabandla community to become members of its Biodiversity Stewardship Programme.

The community accepted, and signed a Biodiversity Agreement. This recognised livestock grazing as a valid land-use, but highlighted the need to implement grazing in a way that would protect the integrity of the indigenous grasslands. “Livestock may only graze within the UPA according to the grazing prescriptions of the Biodiversity Management Plan,” says Bainbridge. “Grazing land is managed with applied burns and limited grazing periods followed by rest. This protects the delicate moist grasslands from overgrazing.”

In 2010, the MCT formed the Umgano Livestock Association (ULA), a profit-orientated commercial livestock entity. Community members receive shares in the ULA, either by putting cash or mixed-breed local stock into the association, and become eligible to share in profits. The ULA will have sole grazing rights within the UPA and will pay the MCT for this privilege.
“I expect a lot from the stock farming initiative,” says Baleni.

“There are many challenges, such as stock theft and unemployment in nearby communities. But we must motivate neighbouring communities and draw in community members who have an interest in cattle farming.”A steering committee, jointly chaired by Inkosi Baleni’s son, Zweli, and Bainbridge, advises the ULA on technical issues relating to the Nguni business.

The committee is made up of representatives from the graziers, ULA chairperson Johannes Gcelu, animal husbandry expert Dr Iona Stewart, local commercial farmer Mike Willment, the state vet, MCT chairperson Mayford Jaca; and representatives from the local department of agriculture, Umzimkhulu Municipality and EKZN Wildlife.

Using donor funding, Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife provided training for field rangers, who are employed by the forestry company to patrol the UPA, protect cattle and encourage policy compliance. A R6 million LandCare grant from the KZN department of agriculture has been used to fund 50km of peripheral and internal fencing, and to clear more than 300ha of wattle and
more than 400ha of bramble. “Peripheral fencing is key to the successful implementation of the project, as it controls access into the UPA, and is a necessary precaution against stock theft,” explains Bainbridge.

Infrastructure
An estimated 16km of fencing still needs to be erected, along with the construction of overnight enclosures and accommodation for the field rangers. “Hopefully, the infrastructure will be completed within three months,” says Bainbridge. Once the project kicks off, the ULA will purchase pure-bred Nguni sires. These will be put to the local females with the objective of turning the herd into a pure-bred Nguni one within four generations. “The ULA could potentially build a
herd of up to 500 to 600 head before it reaches the carrying capacity of the land,” says Bainbridge.

However, a period of grace must be allowed to enable livestock owners to make alternative grazing arrangements and to comply with new policy. “This could take six to nine months. Even though there’s an abundance of grazing outside the UPA, there’s concern that livestock owners from both the Mabandla community and neighbouring communities will demand permission to graze within the UPA,” says Bainbridge.

Should the community implement a sustainable livestock management initiative, it will be one of the first to do so.
“However, the feasibility remains untested, and it remains to be seen whether the community will be able to achieve the relatively strict management criteria laid out in the Biodiversity Management Plan,” says Bainbridge.

Conservation Zone
Although it is estimated that a third of its households are still living below the poverty line, Mabandla is considered better off than some neighbouring communities. The trust hopes to continue this improvement and has more initiatives planned, including finding a partner to train the community in vegetable, peach and apple farming; and to develop the conservation zone into a Nature Reserve.

Should the state agree to release the land, the proclamation of the Umgano Nature Reserve could attract more tourists to the beautiful grasslands. The MCT is already participating in a cultural tourism project with African Insight, which brings young adults to Mabandla to experience life in a rural village. “We’re trying to get rid of the mindset which says we must get jobs in the urban areas. We want to get well-organised and learn how to make money through business planning right here,” says Baleni.

“We sometimes hear people say that black Africans can’t do big things like commercial forestry or livestock farming, but we are proof that we can do such things.”

Phone Dr Bill Bainbridge at 082 653 3086, or email [email protected].
Phone Sanbi Grasslands Programme director Anthea Stephens at 012 843 5000, or email
[email protected].