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:: Farming Regions
The existing major land-use types in the Region shows a definite regional arrangement in the farming pattern which may be largely correlated with the physiographic divisions and climatic zones, varying from the mountain rim, through the intermediate bench, the transverse basins to the Lowveld proper. At present it is the Crocodile and De Kaap valleys that are most intensively developed, but the potentialities of the northern area along the Blyde and Klaserie Rivers, and of the lower Komati and Lomati Rivers in the south-east are considerable.
As a guide to the farming potentialities of the Region with particular emphasis upon conservation farming and well-balanced farming systems, the Department of Agriculture has divided the Transvaal into natural farming regions. Those which affect the Lowveld are summarized here with some modifications. The boundaries between the regions must be regarded as zonal and the regions themselves take cognizance not only of natural environmental factors but economic factors such as the distance from existing towns, and the road and rail network. As the economic factors change it may be necessary to modify the farming systems of the regions concerned, in the same way that the introduction of irrigation would affect the development of the areas at present farmed extensively.
:: Soil and Water Conservation
It is a fundamental fact of the greatest importance to the Lowveld Region that the mountains hold the sources and headwaters of its permanent rivers, for upon the water of these rivers depends so much of the region's prosperity. Large areas of these mountains have been afforested while unforested land is generally used for sheep grazing. While plantations have generally not been established in the neighbourhood of streams it is known that uncontrolled afforestation can desiccate springs and river sources, a problem that the Government is at present investigating.
At the same time though the old grasses of the mountain slopes are generally burnt only once in two years to induce the growth of green grass for the winter months, excessive burning and overgrazing by sheep are dangerous to both soil and veld. For those reasons, while both forestry and sheep grazing are valuable elements in the Region's economy, their occurance along the vital mountain catchment zone necessitates special vigilance to conserve its soil and water resources.
In the lands below the Escarpment it is fortunate that irrigation farming itself calls for crop contouring to be related to irrigation furrows, but many farmers who are aware of the physical steps necessary to combat soil erosion contour both their grass slopes and areas of dry-land cultivation as well. However, a certain amount of soil erosion is caused even in contoured lands, and particularly in those areas deficient in humus, by thunderstorms which are common in the Region.
Fortunately, where a system of grass cover management has been practicesd in conjunction with the cultivation of citrus and other fruit, this type of erosion has been eliminated and the fertility-consuming effects of the sun reduced. The benefits of sound rotational cropping are generally appreciated for the loss of humus in cultivated regions is a problem.
The Region, however, is not completely free from the problems of indiscriminate veld burning, of overgrazing, of incorrect placement of fencing and the drainage of roads. Nevertheless, the success so far attained in preserving the soil is attested by the extremely low silt content of the streams and rivers. Much of the solution to the problem, where it exists, lies in some cases cases in an intelligent use of grass, and the composting of land from the manure of animals feeding upon it.
The comparatively small number of animals in the farming system of the irrigated tracts is possibly the most serious aspect of the problem of maintaining soul fertility. Nevertheless, there is a growing awareness of this problem and new techniques for the conservation of soil and veld are being worked out in this region. The move towards the establishment of a pasture research station in the Lowveld is an important step.
Though there is only one proclaimed Soil Conservation District in the Region, viz., the Elands River, and one other project (upper Crocodile River), the farmers of the Lowveld are becoming alive to the problem of soil and veld conservation and some of them are among the most intelligent in South Africa in their approach to.
In short, the introduction of the following practices is essential to the maintenance of soil fertility in the Lowveld:-
1. Better use of the natural veld, rational grazing and better beef animals
2. introduction of leys in rotation;
3. integration of the animal factor to build up fertility of soil and give stability to the farmer's income; and
4. the planting of orchards on the contour and the practice of non-cultivation and sod-culture.
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