Nkanyiso Mncwango, Emmanuel Mutambara and Pfano Mashau

DOI: https://doi.org/10.6000/1929-7092.2019.08.144

Published: 31 December 2019

Abstract: Nongoma is popularly known as the seat of the Zulu Monarch and the home of the mighty King Zwelithini Zulu. King Zwelithini is the traditional hereditary leader of the Zulu nation. The people from Nongoma largely depend on livestock production for their sustainable livelihoods. Unfortunately, Nongoma was not spared by 2015 drought disaster. This affected most their livelihoods. Thus, this study investigated the economic impact of drought on livestock production, which plays significant role in rural communities of the Nongoma area. The study adopted a positivist approach using quantitative research methodology due to the size, availability, and ease of access of the participants. The target population for the study was 600 selected from three tribal authorities from Nongoma which were namely, Matheni, Mandlakazi and Usuthu. Thus, the study sample was 150 rural farmers, which were randomly selected from three study sites. A questionnaire-based survey was employed as a research instrument. The findings of the study unveiled that to a certain extent, Nongoma rural farmers were aware of the drought impact on their livestock keeping, but unfortunately, they lacked strategies to mitigate it. The study thus concluded that although livestock keeping is economically important to Nongoma rural farmers, drought period impacted negatively of their farming activities. Therefore, implementation of improved strategies (e.g construction of dams to ensure water availability to livestock) was recommended.

Keywords: Drought, Livestock, production, Rural communities and Nongoma.

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