Cattle sales in KwaZulu: A systems based approach to an improved marketing strategy∗

Abstract

A recognition of the central role of cattle in African pastoral society, and the means by which benefits derived from cattle ownership can be accommodated under changing social and economic circumstances, should be built into appropriate livestock development strategies. The contention put forward in this paper is that it is only through the adoption of a process—orientated, systems‐based approach to the evaluation of subsistence pastoralism, in which causes rather than effects become the key issues, that it is possible to direct administrators and planners in the formulation of appropriate marketing policies. Past experience in KwaZulu has shown that, traditionally, cattle owners have been unresponsive and conservative in the face of marketing initiatives. This paper argues that it is not economic development that is resisted so much as the ability of rural communities to adapt to economic change. Strategies based on the perspectives and requirements of subsistence herders are advocated if current low le...