A project aimed at restoring South Africa’s communal grazing lands is gaining momentum, combining environmental conservation with improved livelihoods for local farmers.
Source: WWF Nedbank Green Trust
Meat Naturally Africa (MNA) leads the initiative, supported by the WWF Nedbank Green Trust.
The project works with over 150 communal farmers' associations to implement regenerative grazing and fire management activities on more than 420,000 hectares — from Ngcobo in the Eastern Cape to Ulundi in KwaZulu-Natal and the buffer zone of the Kruger National Park.
Sarah Frazee, CEO of MNA, explains: "MNA’s business approach uses incentives, notably increasing livelihoods through training, vaccinations, breed improvement and market access, to reward communal farmer associations that are committed to environmental outcomes, including the restoration of degraded grazing lands, water conservation, wildfire prevention and managing the spread of invasive alien plants."
An estimated 90% of South Africa’s rangelands are degraded. In many communally managed rangelands, poor land and livestock management is threatening livelihoods and biodiversity and degrading strategic water catchments, which contribute to the area’s overall vulnerability to climate change.
The three-year project promotes 4 distinct innovations. The WWF Nedbank Green Trust has funded the design and development while the MNA Team and its partners are responsible for implementation.
Source: WWF Nedbank Green Trust
Business training
This innovation involves the development of MNA business training materials to equip MNA and NGO partner extension staff for rolling out the pilot training programme with communal farmers' associations.
The aim is to empower communal farmers to participate in and benefit from MNA’s social enterprise value chains, especially its mobile livestock auctions, wool-shearing, and abattoir for sustainable meat distribution.
"In May, we trained more than 20 extension officers who will now facilitate the business training with farmer associations," Frazee explains.
"To improve the state of rangelands, it is crucial that farmers follow well-managed communal regenerative grazing programmes that boost livestock and rangeland health, ultimately increasing income from improved livestock.
"The business training supported by the project will help farmers in expanding their businesses within the MNA social enterprise network."
Well-managed grazing keeps grasslands and wetlands healthy and the soil mantle intact, producing fat and healthy livestock. Unmanaged grazing leads to grassland degradation, livestock of poor quality, and severe soil erosion, which undermines the water catchment system.
MNA brings mobile auctions to the areas of participating communal farmers where they can sell their cattle and sheep at competitive prices. Without these mobile auctions, farmers have to walk their livestock to the nearest auction, often taking several days.
The turnovers of these mobile auctions reach between R600,000 and R2m per auction, and MNA will host ±22 auctions a year.
Source: WWF Nedbank Green Trust
Women in wool and wildfire prevention
With finances from the WWF Nedbank Green Trust Project, MNA and its partners, including WWF-SA, will incentivise female farmers who become active champions against wildfires in their areas by providing them with quality sheep to improve their flocks.
Frazee explains that wildfires occur all too often, leading to the destruction of homes and rangelands, and resulting in the loss of community members and livestock. These fires are often ignited by improperly extinguished cooking fires and children playing with fire.
"40% of the clients in MNA’s Fleece Naturally initiative are women, and our goal is to help them produce better quality sheep and wool," says Frazee. "The breed improvement donation in exchange for participating in educational activities and leading fire prevention and rangeland protection achieves several goals at the same time."
Building a circular green economy
Meat Naturally (MN) Kruger Meats is part of the MNA social enterprise network. The MN Kruger Meats mobile abattoir exclusively buys and legally slaughters cattle from farmers in communities that manage their livestock according to the rangeland improvement programme, coordinated by the NGO Conservation South Africa.
Through an outreach programme, MN Kruger Meats will encourage women and youth to buy beef directly from the MNK abattoir and sell it within their communities from spaza shops equipped with freezers. This initiative will create a circular economy that benefits the communities, retaining financial resources within their area and linking stewardship actions on their rangelands.
‘The link between conservation and local food security is critical in the Kruger Park buffer zone, where the alternative for protein is either paying for a taxi to town an hour away or poaching game,’ Frazee explains.
Source: WWF Nedbank Green Trust
Clearing alien invasive plants
"This innovation aims to incentivise volunteer clearing efforts in the communities where MNA is present. MNA will work with its NGO partners, including LIMA Rural Development Foundation, the Institute for Natural Resources, Environment and Rural Solutions, and BirdLife South Africa, on projects to clear alien invasive plants to restore natural catchments.
"The aim is to have a ‘Clearing Team of the Year’ programme," Frazee explains.
This innovation will not only benefit local livelihoods and rangeland conservation but is also critical for the entire country, as the targeted areas are strategic water source areas (SWSAs) for South Africa. SWSAs cover less than 10% of South Africa’s land surface but provide more than 50% of the country’s water.
The country is disproportionately reliant on water from SWSAs, and they must be carefully managed at all levels, from policy and legislation all the way to what happens on the ground.
"While each of the four innovations in this WWF Nedbank Green Trust-supported project will have its benefits, this project epitomises the whole being greater than the sum of its parts," says Frazee. "We are confident that it will considerably contribute to improving livelihoods, rangelands, biodiversity and water catchments over a large area."
