Institutional factors in natural resource management in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa - Institutional Constraints to Small Farmer Development in Southern Africa - page 228

9.4.4 Markets for livestock farmers
Markets play an important role in providing incentives for people, including farmers, to
increase their income. Fenyes and Groenewald (1985), cited by Coetzee et al. (2005 ) ,
pointed out that there are four primary functions of livestock markets, namely, acting as
centres for collection and local produce exchange, providing services, acting as distribution
and bulking points for goods imported from other areas. However, most small-scale livestock
farmers have market problems. For example, in the Eastern Cape Province, less than 10%
of the total livestock from small-scale farmers is marketed (Ainslie, 2002). The argument
behind this is poor infrastructure and an information gap that exists in rural communities.
The Commark Trust (2003) indicates that these farmers sell their cattle through local
marketing channels, either directly to other rural households for ritual slaughter or to
local entrepreneurs. Because of this, farmers tend to sell their animals at a low price. These
informal markets are differentiated by a high degree of seasonality, poor market information
regarding prices and quality needed. Besides informal markets, farmers also rely on
speculators to sell their animals during critical periods of the year. This results in farmers
selling their animals below market value because of weak negotiation power and bad timing.
10.4.5 Extension services
The role of extension service is to improve the standard of living in the rural communities.
Thus, extension agents act as facilitators, planners, organizers, motivators and educators
(Terblanche, 2005). Therefore, there is a need for effective extension services, which helps
in training famers on how best they can adopt various management practices because
training contributes towards improvement of rural farmers. In addition, Coetzee et al.
(2005) stressed that most of the rural farmers are illiterate; as a result, training programs
should make use of visual aid materials and adequate illustrations and should work towards
developing farmer's negotiation skills. Generally, extension services are seen as a means of
transforming suitable agricultural practices to farmers to help them change their attitude
towards adoption of these innovations.
10.5 Effects of institutional factors on natural resource management
Every development strategy or programme has its own impact for economic development.
This implies that institutional factors, both formal and informal also have an impact on
the management of natural resources and their impact varies with the community. Their
impact depends on how effective the communities perceive them to be. In general, these
institutional factors on rangelands act as a constraint for human activities in that they limit
some of the activities on rangelands (Twine, 2005). This section discusses some of the
effects of institutional factors on the use of communal rangelands. Issues such as conflict