Browsing by Author "Wynne, Adrian Theodor."

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Institutions to govern wildlife in the developing regions of KwaZulu-Natal.
(1995) Wynne, Adrian Theodor.; Lyne, Michael Charles.
In practice, property rights to wild flora and fauna are determined by de facto property rights to the land on which they are found. However, access to wildlife may become open regardless of land tenure due to the growing demands of expanding rural populations living at subsistence levels. This precarious outcome is more likely in areas where land is "communal". Traditional common property user groups are unstable because transaction costs become inhibitory in large groups. Non-user groups with small management teams (eg. companies and trusts) are better equipped to devise and enforce rules restricting access to communal resources. Three community-based organisations (CBO's) from KwaZulu-Natal are described, viz. Dukuduku Forest, Shongweni Resources Reserve and the Thukela Biosphere Reserve. Support for conservation rules appears to be strongest amongst communities at the Shongweni Resources Reserve where: community management organisations are formal institutions with legally binding constitutions; community representatives are broadly accepted and share decision-making power with the resource owner, and; community members get direct benefits from the Reserve. However, in all three cases change was prompted by agents who stood to lose substantially when neighbouring communities invaded or poached resources on their land. This is an important finding as it suggests a need for outside intervention in communal areas where common property institutions have collapsed and natural resources are being over-utilised. The case studies are analyzed and compared using criteria suggested by the theory of Institutional Economics to determine why some CBO's are more successful than others. It is concluded that individuals have an incentive to abide by rules if they are assured of receiving benefits in return for their compliance. Creating appropriate management institutions is a necessary first step, but it may also be necessary to subsidise their development programmes and support local enforcement owing to the high cost of protecting and instituting conservancies for commercial purposes.
Rural economic growth and small-scale poultry production : the economic and technical constraints.
(2002) Wynne, Adrian Theodor.; Gous, Robert Mervyn.; Lyne, Michael Charles.
Small-scale commercial poultry enterprises are often used in development projects to (a) improve food self-sufficiency, and (b) to generate income. The analysis of survey data gathered from the rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal shows that the majority of small-scale poultry producers come from previously disadvantaged communities and have significantly lower enterprise growth rates than larger producers. Principal Component Analysis is used to determine underlying "dimensions" of the main technical poultry production parameters, which with the aid of a t-test indicate that management practices and equipment use are significantly different for small-scale and larger producers but that feed utilisation and disease reduction practices are similar. The results of a block-recursive regression analysis indicate that enterprise growth rate is constrained by poor access to credit, high transaction costs and unreliable local markets. Using growth linkage concepts it was found that smallscale poultry enterprises have the potential to initiate economic growth by drawing under-utilised resources such as labour into production when their products are "exported". The impact of the subsequent multiplier effect is strongest in the nontradable, non-agricultural sector. To enhance this multiplier through increased rural economic growth government policies should focus on reducing transaction costs by improving education and physical infrastructure, sponsoring training and assisting with mentoring services. Facilitating the development of appropriate business institutions capable of managing co-owned resources is particularly important as well as legal and fmancial management instruction. Economic growth also requires a stable, equitable and well-adapted institutional environment where the potential threat of a functional and affordable conflict resolution mechanism is crucial to discourage opportunistic behaviour. Many disputes associated with poultry production in KwaZulu-Natal currently remain unresolved because legal court action is prohibitively expensive and legal uncertainty arises where informal tribal authorities administer conflicts. Setting up small-claims courts is one option of correcting these inefficiencies; the desired effect would be to strengthen property rights, reduce transaction costs and promote economic growth. Poultry has established itself as an appropriate vehicle to stimulate economic growth in rural KwaZulu-Natal and its impact is expected to be greater if growth constraints are alleviated for a large number of small enterprises rather than encouraging a few larger enterprises to grow bigger.