Evaluación de la exposición

The farming system of Seronga represents a system of semi-permanent cultivation of subsistence-oriented smallholders, practicing rain-fed mixed and mono-cropping of maize (Zea mays), sorghum (Sorghum spec.) and millet (Pennisetum glaucum) on a few hectares with small livestock herds of cattle and goat. Adverse environmental conditions, such as declining soil fertility near Seronga-town and high annual rainfall variability, as well as livestock and wildlife damages lead to high crop losses and make crop production a risky business that rarely covers a household’s annual food needs. See Tab. 1.27 for an overview of the main results of the farming system analysis.

Fields are occasionally extended by clearing pristine woodland vegetation, if possible in mixed mopane woodlands of higher soil fertility. As of yet, no typical cultivation-fallow pattern has formed (see also Bendsen 2002). This may be related both to the combination of a relatively young cropping system (not older than 200 years) with a relatively low population density, as well as to the long-lasting dominance of alternative livelihoods such as natural resource use and livestock keeping. In general, farmers in Seronga prefer expanding their fields or clearing new land over applying fallow periods or any kind of field inputs such as manure.

Mean yields calculated for the study site are very low, which may be connected both to the dryness of the year of yield assessment as well as the now number of measurements that could be carried out (N=19). All fields assessed were cropped with Millet as the primary crop, yielding a mean harvest of 90 kg/ha and a standard deviation of 72 kg/ha. Total yield of both cereals and beans of a field amounted to 180 kg/ha at a standard deviation of 90 kg/ha. Considering the dry conditions of the year of assessment, these numbers are roughly in line with the region’s long-term yield average of 162 kg/ha for Maize, 121 kg/ha for Sorghum and 144 kg/ha Millet (Bendsen 2002).

Due to a limited degree of land scarcity, field sizes around Seronga-town are relatively small at a mean of 0.5 ha (with the biggest at 4.5 ha), while deeper in the forest field sizes may reach 17 ha28. The mean field size calculated during the yield assessment was 3.1 ha, while

the agricultural officer stated 2.5 ha as a mean for the wider area; both values are slightly more than the region’s long-term average of 2.1 ha (Bendsen 2002).

Households in Seronga either live in clustered and permanent settlements along the main road or at scattered locations within a 4 km wide strip of woodlands along the road. For most farm- households, the building material of their homestead ranges from mud-and-clay walls to brick walls and the material of the roof from thatching grass to metal. Naturally, traditional materials dominate in the more remote locations. Modern buildings of concrete walls and metal roofs can only be found in Seronga-town’s center, commonly belonging to teachers and other people with formal employment. Within the settlements, homesteads are often surrounded by garden plots, while fields are generally located around the village or cattle post. In the growing season, some household construct an improvised hut near the field to protect it from wildlife at night. In the forest, homesteads are located adjacent to the fields. In total, smallholders in Seronga cultivate 14 different crops (excluding two professional farmers who cultivate a much higher number), of which only 6 are cultivated by more than 50% (Große et al. 2013 – Fig. 1.11). Millet, beans, maize and groundnuts are the most important crops for both subsistence and cash income – although only 12% of crop producers actually sell or exchange any of their crops. The low numbers of food sales is surprising especially because of the fact that 40% of households in the study site that do not produce any staple crop and that thus rely on food imports from outside Seronga (Große et al. 2013). Fig. 1.11: Crop diversity in Seronga: share of households vs. total number of crops

Source: Adapted from Große et al. (2013). 0,0 5,0 10,0 15,0 20,0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 16

Total number of crops cultivated per household

Sh ar e of h ou se ho ld s % (N =2 92 )

Tab. 1.27: Main results of the farming system analysis in Seronga, Botswana.

Aspect of farming system Results for Seronga, Botswana SC SPC PC

Mean yield/ha 90 kg/ha (millet) + 87 kg/ha (sorghum)

Mean field sizes 2.5 ha, from 0.5 ha (near Seronga-town) - 17 ha

(forest)

Main types of crops Cereals and legumes _{X X}

Rotation intensity (R-value) unknown, no clear cultivation/fallow pattern Mean fallow period length unknown, no clear cultivation/fallow pattern Mean cultivation period length unknown, no clear cultivation/fallow pattern Degree of land scarcity

(as perceived by smallholders)

Low, except around Seronga-town

X

Cultivation tools & techniques hoe-based cultivation / ploughing via animal traction / land clearing via slash-and-burn-techniques / fence- construction of central importance to avoid crop losses due to livestock and wildlife

X X

Soil fertility management 1. Acquisition of fresh soil by clearing new or extending old field.

2. Herding cattle into fenced field for a few days to fertilize with manure.

3. Incorporation of crop residues into soil during ploughing.

4. Use of a mold board plough.

5. Livestock feeding on crop residues, fertilizing to a limited degree with manure

X

Seasonality of labour demand Pronounced _X

Labour division Traditional division of tasks by gender, yet

increasingly abandoned X X

Role of livestock in crop prdn. Central for ploughing / limited use of manure _{X X}

Land tenure Tribal land tenure, though currently administered by

governmental Land Board. Household-specific use-

rights to fields. Both formal and informal ownership. X X

Further observations Very high rainfall variability and crop losses due to

wildlife and livestock make farming a risky business.

Heterogeneity of livelihoods Very heterogeneous, also caused by semi-urban

character of Seronga-town. X X

Animal husbandry Transhumance for cattle, partial nomadism and

stationary animal husbandry for goats, donkeys and poultry.

Source: Author’s design. Based on the theoretical framework presented in chapter 1.3, the observations are classified as being typical of Shifting Cultivation (SC), Semi-permanent Cultivation (SPC) or Permanent rain-fed cultivation (PC). The results indicate that the farming system in Seronga shows characteristics of semi- permanent to permanent rain-fed cultivation. However, the occasional character of field extensions (which could not be captured quantitatively) clearly indicates semi-permanent cultivation.

Crop rotation, mixed cropping, and phased planting

Households in Seronga generally rely largely on the same agricultural tasks for field cultivation, using largely the same tools, i.e. ox- or donkey-drawn ploughs for ploughing and transport and the hoe for most other tasks. As in Mashare, households not owning any draught-animals usually hire them from their neighbors. Only a minority uses the hoe for soil preparation.

However, a look at the main farming strategies reveals a limited degree of heterogeneity. For example, households plant very individual crop mixtures and no dominant pattern could be discerned. Millet and beans generally dominate on sandy soils, often combined with water melon and pumpkin. On more loamy soils Sorghum and Maize are common, either as part of a crop mix or in monoculture.

As in the two other study sties, phased planting is not carried out in Seronga. In general, households try to put as much land as possible into production as early as possible. Lack of rainfalls at the beginning of the rainy season may lead to unintentional phased planting, though. At the same time, the diversity of crop mixes leads to phased harvesting, thus extending the period of available fresh food. Formal crop rotations are used by nearly no household in Seronga, although some households follow informal rotations in case of declining yields. On the least fertile soils, no cereal can replace the drought-resistant millet and the options for rotations are thus very limited. On more fertile soils, maize, millet, sorghum and secondary crops may be rotated. Fallow periods are applied very rarely, as farmers usually prefer to expand or re-locate their field. Some households do however state to apply fallow periods of up to two years in case of declining yields. The elsewhere wide- spread farming in the inundated floodplains (molapo-farming) does not occur around Seronga, because at the moment the type of floodplain required for this type of farming does not exist in the study site.

Labor needs within an agricultural cycle in Seronga

As is typical for a system of semi-permanent cultivation, weeding and field preparation are some of the most labour intense tasks (see Tab. 1.28). At the same time, the high livestock and wildlife density necessitates the construction of fences, which is a highly labour- demanding task that is carried out by all farmers. In fact, crop losses from animals are so high that farmers start to combine traditional bush fences with modern wire fences – which is also the best solution for reliably keeping goats and poultry out of the fields. However, both types of fences are regularly damaged by the animals, and especially elephants have become quite adept at pushing nearby trees directly onto fences to be able to access a field. For some farmers, fence repairs have therefore become part of the annual labour cycle. Additional efforts at protecting the fields especially from elephants include the daily burning of chilli and the incorporation of chilli-inundated cloth into the fences.

Holdings in the study site are centrally organized and all household members jointly cultivate the households’ fields. A traditional division of labour between genders can be observed, although it is increasingly dissolving. In its purest form, it can still be observed in regards to the handling of oxen (which is still done only by men).

As in Mashare, animal-drawn ploughs greatly reduce the labour needs of ploughing and allow farmers to cope with the limited time window available for this task. An important difference to Mashare is Seronga’s abundance of pastures, leading to a currently stable livestock

population and a sufficient availability of oxen and even donkeys for ploughing. In general, most farmers prefer to use the stronger and faster oxen over donkeys, although the latter can in theory also be used by women and on smaller plots their higher mobility can make up for their relatively slower speed. However, only 43% of households practicing arable agriculture do own an ox and only slightly more a donkey. While 54% of households indicated to rent or borrow oxen, only 3% indicated to not use an ox at all. This low degree of ox-ownership in Seronga is partly a result of the culling of the cattle population in 1996, in the aftermath of which farmers experienced a shortage in draft power which forced them to reduce their cultivated area (Bendsen 2002).

For households with recently cleared fields, the annual agricultural cycle in Seronga begins in July with a task called “de-stumping”. Normally, field clearing occurs via slash-and-burn techniques and – as some of the stronger trees may resist both flames and axes – typically results in a considerable amount of trees left standing in the field. Most of these trees died during field clearing, yet only over the course of the following decade do they slowly decay until one day they may simply be kicked over and burned – the before-mentioned “de-

stumping”. Any field clearing that needs to be carried out is also happening during the dry

season, mainly between June and October.

The agricultural cycle continues with the maintenance of fences, usually starting in September. At the same time, and thus before the onset of the rains, farmers start with the de-bushing of annual plants and with pre-sowing, mostly of melons, around more fertile tree stumps or on remaining ash piles. Manual field preparation (i.e. ploughing by hoe and planting) starts earliest in mid-October, after the onset of the rainy season and lasts rarely longer than mid-November. Animal-based field preparation starts later, in November, and may last even beyond January, depending on rainfall distribution. Planting is carried out either by planting pot-by-pot or via broadcasting, the latter of which describes the manual scattering of seeds on the field via a sweeping arm-motion. During this time, a few households also apply manure to their fields. Weeding is carried out between December and March, at which time the crops have reached a stage during which they also need to be protected from birds. This can be done both by installing scarecrows as well as actively chasing them away. From March to harvesting in May, farmers also start to protect their fields from elephants by applying chili to their fences and by burning it on a daily basis at the edges of their fields, with the hope that the chili-smoke may keep the elephants at bay. The main harvesting period lasts from April to May, during which farmers usually construct a temporary crop storage shelter near their fields. While the non-ox-owning households reported to transport their harvest home in June, the wealthier ox-owning farmers often wait with transport until August, at which point they prepare the seeds needed for the following growing.

Tab. 1.29 depicts the mean per-hectare labour-demand of agricultural activities in Seronga, while Tab. 1.30 compares these values, summarized into the main agricultural tasks, with those of other semi-permanent and permanent cultivation systems of the tropics. As was the case for the other two study sites, it has to be kept in mind that labour-needs do not only differ between systems, but also between individuals of the same systems – some farmers may work at a more leisurely pace or work slower because they are malnourished, other may work quicker and more effectively. These numbers serve only as a rough reference frame for the comparison.

Tab. 1.28: Seasonal calendar of natural resource-based livelihood activities in Seronga

Source: Author’s design. Note: Collection of wild fruits, nuts and vegetables has been excluded for ease of presentation, but will be presented in Tab. 1.31.

Main annual cultivation activities: 1st half2nd half 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd 1st 2nd

Maintain modern fence minor repairs

Maintain bush fence minor repairs

De-bushing Pre-Sowing

Applying manure to the field

Ploughing by hoe Timing & need for re-planting depend on rainfall

Ploughing with donkeys Ploughing with oxen

Sowing pot-by-pot Timing & need for re-planting depend on rainfall

Broadcasting Weeding Chasing away birds

Making and installing scarecrows Applying chili to the fence against elephants

Burning chili in the corners of the field against elephants Building a temporary grain-storage near the field Harvesting

Threshing Taking harvest home

Main non-annual cultivation activities:

Clearing a new field from the forest Removing tree stumps from an existing field Building a modern wire fence

Building a traditional bush fence

Cattle husbandry and chosen natural resource use activities:

Branding livestock Herding Training livestock Building a kraal Skinning Milking Castrating Dehorning livestock Hunting Fishing

Cutting grass and reeds

May June July August September October November December January February March April

Tab. 1.29: Mean labour-demand of agricultural tasks per ha & year, differentiated by gender.

Tab. 1.30: Overview of labour needs of main agricultural tasks in various semi-permanent and permanent cultivation systems in working-hours/ha.

Sources: * = empirical data, **Bureau pour le développement de la production agricole (1967) in Ruthenberg (1971), *** = MAWRD (1996:37) in Hecht (2010), ****= Hecht (2010:119 ff), ***** Rotenhan (1966) in Ruthenberg (1971) Location Field preparation & planting (hours/ha) Weeding (hours/ha) Harvesting (hours/ha) Total labour (hours/ha) Characteristics of the system Study Site Seronga, Botswana 307 (25 for ploughing &

40 for planting)

280 152 739

semi-permanent plough- based cultivation of pearl millet, maize or sorghum Study Site Mashare, Namibia* 339 220 25 584 semi-permanent to permanent plough-based cultivation Burkina Faso (Upper Volta)** 88 180 208 476 semi-permanent cultivation of millet (hoe-

based) Burkina Faso (Upper Volta)** 152 252 64 468 semi-permanent cultivation of maize (hoe-based) Tanzania, Sukumaland ***** 390 250 300 940 semi-permanent cultivation of maize &

sorghum (hoe-based) Senegal, Kaolak** 136 110 210 456 semi-permanent cultivation of groundnut (plough-based) Senegal** 66 (field preparation) + 8 (sowing/planting) 86 64 224 permanent cultivation of millet (plough-based) India** 32 (field preparation) + 16 (planting) 32 56 136 permanent cultivation of sorghum (plough-based) Cameroon** 136 (field preparation) + 120 (planting) 216 80 552 permanent cultivation of sorghum (hoe-based) Kavango region, Namibia *** 34 (field preparation) + 31 (planting) 93 90 (incl. threshing) 248 plough-based cultivation Kavango region, Namibia *** 46 (field preparation) + 31 (planting) 93 90 (incl. threshing) 260 hoe-based cultivation Kavango region, Namibia **** 40 (field preparation) + 24 (broadcasting) or 27 (row planting) 10 (if plough- based in rows) 17 (harvesting) + 51 (threshing) 142 + plough-based cultivation Kavango region, Namibia **** 54 (field preparation) + 24 (broadcasting) or 27 (row planting) 65 (hoe-based without rows) 17 (harvesting) + 51 (threshing) 211 + hoe-based cultivation

Tab. 1.31: Mean annual household labour-demand for natural resource use & household chores in Seronga, separated by month & season.

Source: Empirical data. Note: Each task’s gender specificity and estimated share of producers involved in each task indicated. Note: Specialized activities like baking and marketing of fat-cakes or specialized harvesting of a local herb called Motetlwa excluded from this overview. Donkey ownership was also excluded, as it is carried out only by 19 % of crop producing households, or 50% by wealthy ox-owners and 10% by poorer non-ox- owners, respectively. It thus represents a specialized livelihood activity.

The data presented in Tab. 1.30 suggest that Seronga’s labour-needs per hectare lie at the upper end of all compared systems but still within a reasonable range for a semi-permanent cultivation system: Above-average labour-needs characterize the task of field preparation & planting. However, as in Mashare, de-bushing was included in field preparation and this increased the labour needs of this task by 160 hours/ha. Excluding this task would result in values that lie in the mid-ranges of the compared farming systems (147 hours/ha). Also the labour-needs for weeding and especially harvesting appear to lie slightly above average. Considering the relatively low yields per hectare, the latter finding is surprising. As both focus groups on agricultural activities resulted in a similar value (140 h/ha vs. 160 h/ha), an erroneous statement or an exaggeration by the interviewed farmers appears unlikely. In fact, other semi-permanent farming systems presented in the comparison are characterized by even higher labour-needs for harvesting. Both facts indicate that the value for harvesting lies within a reasonable range and can be regarded as correct. The same holds true for the other reported labour-needs. Seronga can thus be characterized as a semi-permanent cultivation system of relatively high labour-needs per hectare.

Seronga’s rural economy is characterized by the very high importance of natural resource use