Farmer's perception and prevalence of stock theft in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.

Simple item page
dc.contributor.advisorJaja, I.F.
dc.contributor.authorNdzungu, Kanya
dc.date.accessioned2026-08-24T07:36:10Z
dc.date.available2026-08-24T07:36:10Z
dc.date.issued2024
dc.descriptionMSc dissertation
dc.description.abstractThe Eastern Cape Province is largely rural and agrarian and leading in most of South African livestock population. However, stock theft is a persistent challenge affecting both communal and commercial farmers in the province and posing a persistent limitation on livestock productivity with consequences. The impact of stock theft is far-reaching, including financial losses, emotional distress, and the ability to maintain sustainable agricultural practices. This study aimed to assess farmer's perception and prevalence of stock theft in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Two separate studies were conducted for this objective: the first study was to assess farmers' perceptions of stock theft in some districts of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. About 192 pre-tested questionnaires were collected from a sample of farmers in three districts in the province, namely, Amathole, OR Tambo and Sarah Baartman. According to the findings, stock theft is significantly more likely to occur during winter (P < 0.05). About 94.8% of farmers are in the communal farming sector in the three districts visited while 5.2% were in the commercial farming. Furthermore, 81.2% of the respondents believe that the government needs to do more to combat the spread of stock theft. This study also revealed that most respondents (88.6%) agree that branding and tattooing should be made available to all registered farmers. More than 50% believe that forensic deoxyribonucleic acid should not be used to control stock theft at crime scenes. This study highlights the farmers' perceptions and knowledge of stock theft to enable policymakers to develop targeted interventions and strategies. Policing strategy must be adaptive and technologydriven to fast-track detection, prevention, and reduction of stock theft crime. The second objective of the study was to quantify the incidence and financial implications of stock theft in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The retrospective data from 2018 to 2024 stock theft was obtained from the provincial police stock theft unit, captured in Excel, transformed, and analysed using R 4.2.2 (R Core Team) version 2019 for statistical analysis. The Alfred Nzo district, with a total of 6427 (21.5%) reported cases, experienced the highest number of cases of stock theft reported amongst the eight districts of the Eastern Cape Province (ECP) from 2018 to 2024 financial year. Additionally, Alfred Nzo (27.4%) and Chris Hani (19.9%) lead the most unrecovered stolen animals compared to other districts. Cattle (42.5%) and sheep (28.7%) were the most unrecovered stolen animals under Alfred Nzo, followed by Chris Hani with cattle (24.6%) and Sheep (22.2%) and OR Tambo with cattle (14.4%) and sheep (25.9%) unrecovered of stolen animals. Sheep was the most stolen animal with a total number of 119 404 (57.1%) with a loss of 148m (11 041 352.97 USD), followed by goat being the second most species with a total number of 51 881(24.8%) with an estimated loss of 104m (5 790 695.00 USD). The overall loss of stolen animals is 715m (39 494 283.6 USD), with a high percentage loss of 93.1% of stolen and not recovered animals. This study exposed a gap between the government, the South African Police Service, and farmers regarding the impact of stock theft in the Eastern Cape Province. Additionally, this study provides the outline and baseline of the widespread issue of stock theft in the province that has been ignored for too long. There is still a need for further research on strategies to prevent stock theft and an overview research of stock theft, especially in the Eastern Cape Province.
dc.identifier.citationNdzungu, K. (2024) Farmer's perception and prevalence of stock theft in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. MSc Agriculture (Animal Science) dissertation. Alice, South Africa: University of Fort Hare.
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11837/5038
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherUniversity of Fort Hare
dc.subjectLivestock -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
dc.subjectDNA
dc.subjectDistricts
dc.subjectPerception
dc.subjectTheft -- Livestock
dc.subjectPolice -- South Africa
dc.titleFarmer's perception and prevalence of stock theft in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa.
dc.typeThesis
person.identifier.orcid0000-0003-4305-0940

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
Kanya Ndzungu- 201715847- Final Draft.pdf
Size:
38.47 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
No Thumbnail Available
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.71 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download

Collections

Theses and Dissertations