干旱区生态环境知识资源中心(Arid): It depends on the rain: Smallholder farmers' perceptions on the seasonality of feed gaps and how it affects livestock in semi-arid and arid regions in Southern Africa

Arid

DOI	10.1016/j.crm.2021.100362
	It depends on the rain: Smallholder farmers' perceptions on the seasonality of feed gaps and how it affects livestock in semi-arid and arid regions in Southern Africa
	Lamega, Sala Alanda; Komainda, Martin; Hoffmann, Munir Paul; Ayisi, Kingsley Kwabena; Odhiambo, Jude Julius Owuor; Isselstein, Johannes
通讯作者	Lamega, SA (corresponding author), Univ Goettingen, Dept Crop Sci, Div Grassland Sci, Von Siebold Str 8, D-37075 Gottingen, Germany.
来源期刊	CLIMATE RISK MANAGEMENT
ISSN	2212-0963
出版年	2021
卷号	34
英文摘要	The risk of climate-induced feed gaps, i.e. seasonal deficiencies in forage quantity and quality, is a major constraint for livestock in the dry regions of southern Africa. In South Africa particularly, the frequent occurrence of drought is a challenge for livestock farming and, coping strategies to mitigate feed gaps on smallholder farms are urgently needed. We chose the Limpopo province, of northern South Africa to study livestock farmers' perceptions of the temporal patterns of feed gaps and their perceived impacts on livestock production across different agro-ecological zones (AEZ) and farm types (i.e., livestock only, mixed crop-livestock farms). We combined a semi structured questionnaire on ninety farms with data from herbage analysis (mineral nutrient concentrations of grasses grazed in winter). Additionally, we explored the effect of seasonal feed availability on feed gaps, expressed as gross primary productivity (GPP), based on long-term simulated vegetation data. We found a close correlation between farmers' perceived feed gaps and GPP (Pearson's r = 0.77, p < 0.01). Farmers' perceptions of feed gaps are related to precipitation deficits that restrict rangeland productivity especially in winter and spring across the AEZ. Consequently, farmers considered that feed gaps occur mainly in winter (80%) followed by spring (30%) and autumn (20%). In addition, our analysis demonstrated that in winter the mineral concentration in rangeland biomass is inadequate to meet the livestock feed requirements. The percentages of farmers who perceived feed gaps and animal weight loss in the winter season did not differ significantly between farm types (p = 0.40) and AEZ (p = 0.41). Among livestock-only farmers, feed gaps were perceived to occur more in autumn (p < 0.01) whereas for mixed crop-livestock farmers the feed gap perception was greater in spring (p < 0.01). Farmers located in the drier zone perceived feed gaps more in spring (p < 0.05), leading to the significant perception of livestock weight loss for that period (p < 0.01). As strategies to deal with feed gaps, farmers rely on crop residues and/or reduction of livestock numbers. To improve the sustainability of the livestock system, our results show that feed gaps follow a strong seasonal pattern and they suggest that intervention strategies do not necessarily need to account for local climatic differences but rather for farm operation types.
英文关键词	Rangelands Climate risk Cattle Adaptation South Africa
类型	Article
语种	英语
开放获取类型	gold
收录类别	SCI-E ; SSCI
WOS记录号	WOS:000704981500009
WOS关键词	MIXED-FARMING SYSTEMS ; CLIMATE-CHANGE ; LIMPOPO PROVINCE ; METEOROLOGICAL DATA ; ADAPTATION ; CROP ; VARIABILITY ; IMPACTS ; INSIGHTS ; DROUGHT
WOS类目	Environmental Sciences ; Environmental Studies ; Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
WOS研究方向	Environmental Sciences & Ecology ; Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
资源类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.177/qdio/handle/2XILL650/362879
作者单位	[Lamega, Sala Alanda; Komainda, Martin; Isselstein, Johannes] Univ Goettingen, Dept Crop Sci, Div Grassland Sci, Von Siebold Str 8, D-37075 Gottingen, Germany; [Hoffmann, Munir Paul] AGVOLUTION GmbH, Gottingen, Germany; [Ayisi, Kingsley Kwabena] Univ Limpopo, Risk & Vunerabil Sci Ctr, Polokwane, South Africa; [Odhiambo, Jude Julius Owuor] Univ Venda, Dept Soil Sci, ZA-0950 Thohoyandou, South Africa; [Isselstein, Johannes] Univ Goettingen, Ctr Biodivers & Sustainable Land Use CBL, Buesgenweg 1, D-37077 Gottingen, Germany
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Lamega, Sala Alanda,Komainda, Martin,Hoffmann, Munir Paul,et al. It depends on the rain: Smallholder farmers' perceptions on the seasonality of feed gaps and how it affects livestock in semi-arid and arid regions in Southern Africa[J],2021,34.
APA	Lamega, Sala Alanda,Komainda, Martin,Hoffmann, Munir Paul,Ayisi, Kingsley Kwabena,Odhiambo, Jude Julius Owuor,&Isselstein, Johannes.(2021).It depends on the rain: Smallholder farmers' perceptions on the seasonality of feed gaps and how it affects livestock in semi-arid and arid regions in Southern Africa.CLIMATE RISK MANAGEMENT,34.
MLA	Lamega, Sala Alanda,et al."It depends on the rain: Smallholder farmers' perceptions on the seasonality of feed gaps and how it affects livestock in semi-arid and arid regions in Southern Africa".CLIMATE RISK MANAGEMENT 34(2021).