Marketing challenges and opportunities faced by the Nguni cattle project beneficiaries in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa - Institutional Constraints to Small Farmer Development in Southern Africa - page 108

et al. , 2007). Besides its resistance to tropical diseases and parasites, the Nguni is highly
adaptable to poor quality grazing and conditions of excessive heat and humidity. The Nguni
also has adaptive traits such as walking ability, which enables it to walk long distances in search
of grazing and water. They are excellent foragers and can graze and browse on steep slopes and
in thick bush alike. According to Bester et al. (2005), the evolutionary development of the
Nguni has resulted in a breed with good temperament and mothering ability.
6.4 Contribution of Nguni cattle to communal livelihoods
Communal farmers keep cattle for multiple purposes. Rural households depend on cattle
for milk, meat, hides, horns and income (Chimonyo et al. , 1999; Dovie et al. , 2006; Simela
et al. , 2006). Cattle provides dung for manure, fuel and floor polish/seal, and draught power
for cultivation of crops and transport of goods in communal areas (Shackleton et al. , 1999;
Bayer et al. , 2004). Cattle are an inflation-free form of banking for resource-poor people
and can be sold to meet family financial needs such as school fees, medical bills, village
taxes and household expenses (Dovie et al. , 2006; Simela et al. , 2006). They are a source of
employment, collateral and insurance against natural calamities. Some farmers keep cattle
for prestige and pleasure (Shackleton et al. , 1999). More importantly, indigenous cattle are
valuable reservoirs of genes for adaptive and economic traits, providing diversified genetic
pool, which can help in meeting future challenges resulting from changes in production
sources and market requirements (FAO, 2007).
Socio-cultural functions of cattle include their use as payment for bride price (known as
lobola) and to settle disputes (as fine) in communal areas (Chimonyo et al. , 1999). hey are
reserved for special ceremonies such as marriage feasts, weddings, funerals and circumcision
(Bayer et al. , 2004). Cattle are given as gifts to visitors and relatives, and as starting capital
for youth and for the newly married man about to start a family. They are used to strengthen
relationships with in-laws and to maintain family contacts by entrusting them to other
family members (Dovie et al. , 2006). The quality of care given to the entrusted animal is a
measure of the value placed on the relationship, and families are known to have fractured
irretrievably as a result of disagreement on the way cattle so entrusted has been looked
after. Cattle plays an important role in installation and exorcism of spirits and frequently
the object of choice for assorted sacrificial offerings to appease ancestors or avenging spirits
(Bayer et al. , 2004).
The relative importance of each of the functions mentioned above varies with production
system, rangeland type, region and socio-economic factors such as gender, marital status,
age, education and religion of the keepers (Chimonyo et al. , 1999; Simela et al. , 2006).
The differences in farmers' objectives and perspectives to communal cattle production
hamper the formulation of effective livestock policies aimed at improving the livelihoods
of the resource-poor farmers (Bayer et al. , 2004) across all regions or countries. Efforts