Rethinking radical veld improvement: a sustainable approach to grazing land restoration?

Abstract

Radical veld improvement (RVI), a concept explored in southern Africa during the mid to late 1900s, aimed to intensify agricultural landscapes by enhancing veld productivity by incorporating productive forage grasses or legumes, soil nutrient enrichment, or a combination of both. The envisioned agricultural landscapes encompassed croplands on fertile soils, pastures on less productive soils (veld replacement), radically improved veld (fortified with nutrients and forage species) on marginal soils, and intact natural veld remnants in rocky, steep or inaccessible areas. While numerous studies have documented the principles and practices of RVI, widespread adoption has been limited. Had RVI gained broader acceptance, grazing land productivity in southern Africa might have seen marked improvements; however, at the cost of diminished biodiversity and the associated ecosystem services. Revisiting RVI and its associated procedures and mechanisms, but focusing on rehabilitating degraded grazing lands and abandoned fields, provides a contemporary context for RVI procedures and practices. This re-evaluation presents an opportunity to harness decades of research and highlight the potential of RVI principles and practices as cost-effective and ecologically benign approaches to augment livestock production and enhance pertinent ecosystem services without compromising the intrinsic biodiversity and conservation value of pristine veld.