Examining the dynamic shift between pastoralism and agropastoralism: comparative insights from South Africa and south Asia

Abstract

Often, pastoralism conflicts with cropping for land and other resources, leading to tensions between these two land uses. Nevertheless, pastoralism and agropastoralism can coexist, with the same people often engaging in both land use practices. However, the dominance of each land use is dependent on various factors, which are often dynamic. In South Africa’s arid zone, pastoralists have become spatially constrained through land grabbing during colonialism and apartheid, and due to the smaller size of the grazing lands, both land uses operate in proximity but vary according to climatic and socio-economic conditions and the governance of the land. Due to increases in rainfall variability and a reduction in rainfall, and drought recurrences, dryland cropping has declined whereby only about 12% of all croplands are utilized. These croplands are located within a matrix of arid, yet biodiverse shrublands that have been used by indigenous Nama pastoralists for centuries. On the other hand, in the arid zone of Rajasthan, India, livestock mobility as practiced by the Raika people is a mechanism to cope with climate change in search for better forage and water resources. Our results indicate that 80% of the grazing time was spent on cropland and fallow land along migration routes. In both cases, the rapid decline of cropping practices has had negative implications for livestock and concerted efforts needs to be undertaken to support this historic land use in rangelands that have shown to complement pastoralism in the face of rapid environmental and socio-economic change.