Raising livestock in resource-poor communities of the North West Province of South Africa: a participatory rural appraisal study

This article traces a participatory research model used in six village communities in the Central Region of the North-West of South Africa in order to achieve the following broad objectives: to obtain information on the challenges owners face in raising livestock in these areas and to evaluate the livestock owners' level of knowledge of internal parasites in their animals. Participatory workshops revealed a need for improvements in water supply, schools, job creation, and health services; and that lack of pasture for grazing livestock was an important issue. With regards to treatment of animals it was found that most owners used a combination of treatment ranging from traditional to folklore to commercial. Difficulties encountered in using participatory methods were due to the fact that it was the first time that the facilitators and the communities had been exposed to them, and as a result many had difficulty in dealing with the concept of finding solutions within the community, which is an integral part of participatory methods.