Comparison of the socioeconomic development roles played by different forestry companies in rural communities of Mkhondo local municipality in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa

Abstract

Forest plantations are usually located in deep rural areas of South Africa. Meanwhile, rural communities within and adjacent to these forest plantations are still underdeveloped. Although rural people are mostly employed to work in the plantations by various companies, the expectation of the companies in addressing communities’ problems such as low level of education, exposure to risk, voicelessness, material deprivation, among others, are still lacking. Therefore, this study assessed the roles played by various forestry companies in improving the livelihoods of the people in these areas by identifying the socio-economic impacts of having commercial forests in the surrounding rural communities, as well as weighing the level of engagement between forestry companies and rural communities. The study was conducted in two purposefully selected study communities, which included the Sappi community at Adalia and the Normandien community at Wolvenkop situated near Piet Retief in the Mkhondo Local Municipality in the Mpumalanga province. The households were randomly selected with sample size of 128 at Sappi community and 108 at Normandien community Furthermore, using a mixed method approach, qualitative data were collected using a structured questionnaire, while a focus group discussion and key informant interviews were used were used for collection of qualitative data. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software (version 20) was used for the computation of descriptive analysis, including frequencies and Chi-square test of independence to understand the relationship between perceptions of respondents about socioeconomic roles that are played by forestry companies in the study communities. An ordinal logistic regression (PLUM Procedure) model was also adopted to estimate whether the explanatory variables had statistically significant effect on respondents’ ratings of company responses in response to community requests and concerns. The findings of the study revealed that the respondents from Sappi community (83.3%) and the Normandien community (68.5%) agreed that forestry companies conducting businesses in their localities play a big socioeconomic role in improving the local livelihoods. The findings also showed that there were highly significant differences between socioeconomic benefits provisioned by different forestry companies for both Sappi (X2 = 713,979, p < 0.001) and Normandien (X2 = 492.820, p = 0.001) communities. In addition, results showed different engagement experiences between the two study communities and forestry companies, wherein an open-door policy contributed positively to the sustainability of both the forestry Company and the community agenda. In contrast, none open-door policies negatively impacted communities, mostly favoring forestry companies. As a result, community concerns were not addressed.

The study concluded that forestry companies played positive socioeconomic roles that have improved the rural livelihood of both study communities, though not at the expected level. Therefore, it would be critical for the forestry companies to consider partnering with the local government to increase their funding for further improvement of their socioeconomic roles. Lastly, the study recommends that the Normandien forestry company should consider working closely with their community to create a good relationship. This will improve community-forestry company engagements for sustainability purposes as demonstrated by the Sappi community.