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Transforming rural communities through innovative initiatives

transforming rural women led livestock farming

Abafuyi or Livestock Farmers hold the secret to an economic revolution among small scale women led farmers in South Africa. We are unlocking the potential of these Abafuyi with the Mdukatshani Abafuyi Programme, focussing on goats, chickens and cattle.


If we see rural subsistence farmers as real farmers and understand that their production has an economic value, even if it is for local consumption, it changes our perspective somewhat. Now when we drive through a rural area and the goats run into the road, making us swerve and curse, it should reflect the same perception as if we swerved around a tractor loaded with lettuce destined for Woolworths.  And who are these farmers who generate such huge economic value in these rural areas? They are generally female, have children and head up their households. They own a range of livestock, but these are small livestock, chickens and goats. 


“We think that given the amount of capital held in livestock, the majority being goats, is probably close to R10 000 to R15 000 per rural family. There are just under 500 000 households in KwaZulu-Natal involved in agriculture. That’s four to six billion rand in goats and this capital is stagnant. Just imagine if every family improved their goat herd productivity slightly and made ten per cent per month by selling one goat a month.” 

- Rauri Alcock, Mdukatshani.


The Mdukatshani Abafuyi Programme aims to improve food security and rural livelihoods through the commercialisation of indigenous goat herds & chicken flocks. The programme targets farmers in a number of the poorest, most arid KZN district municipalities. It improves production in local homestead herds with a focus on increasing women and youth involvement in livestock and value-adding activities in order to create wealth for the poorest.

What do the official figures say?

Official figures show that the total sales in the goat industry in South Africa, both slaughtered and sold goats, is R4,4 billion a year. What of that percentage could be formal livestock farmers?  Maybe 80%, or at worst 50%? No, commercial farmers supply an astonishing 1%. Yes, the informal small rural livestock owner, generally a rural woman, is responsible for 99% of all goat production in South Africa!

LIVESTOCK VALUE PER ANIMAL

Goats: R2,500 each

Cattle: Starting from R6,000 each

Chickens: R120 each


IN MSINGA DISTRICT ALONE, THE TOTAL VALUE OF LIVESTOCK IS REMARKABLE


Goats: R1 470 000 000

Cattle: R1 890 000 000

Chickens: R147 840 000


This results in a combined livestock value nearing R986 million, almost a billion rand for just one rural district, which is considered economically disadvantaged.  The Mdukatshani Abafuyi Programme seeks to empower rural abafuyi to realise this value.

Resources for free download

Mdukatshani has an abundance of resources including videos, reports, training materials and research that are free to download. The information contained in these resources has been compiled to support and inform livestock farmers and development practitioners. Click on the links below for access to research files.

click here

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