Communal farmers in South Africa own a large proportion of the country’s cattle, yet much of this livestock remains outside the formal red meat market. A conservation initiative by Meat Naturally Africa is helping to change that.
By Lebogang Mashala, editor, African Farming
Over the past 10 years, Meat Naturally Africa has channelled more than R134 million into rural communities, trained more than 8 000 farmers and helped restore hundreds of thousands of hectares of grazing land across South Africa.
Limited access to formal markets has often translated into little economic return for many rural livestock owners, despite generations of farming knowledge and years of hard work. Conservationist and social entrepreneur Sarah Frazee believed there had to be a better way. In 2016, she founded Meat Naturally Africa, a social enterprise that helps communal farmers access formal markets while restoring the rangeland on which their livelihoods depend.
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Conservation meets commerce
“I spent many years working in conservation and kept asking the same question,” says Caroline McCann, sustainability and business development director at Meat Naturally Africa. “How do we make healthy ecosystems valuable to the people living on them? The answer was to reward good grazing practices with access to better markets.”
Through Meat Naturally Africa’s model, farmers receive training in regenerative grazing, livestock management, herding and fire management, while committing to practices that improve veld health and increase livestock productivity.
In return, the enterprise helps to overcome one of the biggest barriers facing communal farmers: access to formal markets. By providing mobile livestock auctions, wool-shearing facilities and South Africa’s first approved mobile abattoir, Meat Naturally Africa enables farmers in remote areas to sell livestock into formal markets, often for the first time.
“What makes this approach different is that we recognise the economic value farmers already have,” McCann says. “With the right support and access to markets, communities can earn more from the livestock they already own while improving the land for future generations.”
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Transforming rural livelihoods
The impact of the programme is visible in communities across the country.
Since 2020, Meat Naturally Africa has helped about 200 farmers each year to earn more than R50 000 through formal market sales, income that might otherwise have bypassed many rural households.
“What has impressed me most is seeing farmers run their own businesses and benefit from them,” says Landiwe Mbuli, deputy implementation manager for KwaZulu-Natal. “You see the confidence that comes when improved farming practices start translating into better prices and better incomes.”
A boost through innovation
A significant milestone in the organisation’s growth came through the SAB Foundation Social Innovation and Disability Empowerment Awards.
At the time, Meat Naturally Africa was developing South Africa’s first approved mobile abattoir, a critical piece of infrastructure needed to unlock formal market access for communal livestock farmers.
“The SAB Foundation award couldn’t have come at a better time,” says McCann. “The funding helped us secure approval for the mobile abattoir, expand into more villages and continue developing new opportunities for communities practising regenerative agriculture.”
Today, Meat Naturally Africa works with approximately 180 communities and farmer associations across South Africa.
In 2026, the organisation became part of the world’s first carbon credit issuance to achieve both the Climate, Community and Biodiversity label and Verra’s VM42 methodology, creating new opportunities for rural communities to benefit financially from environmental restoration. This has enabled 15 communities to earn R2.7 million through carbon credit sales.
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Expanding the vision
For Meat Naturally Africa, the vision extends far beyond South Africa.
“We have a clear goal of restoring 1 million hectares of rangeland in South Africa by 2028 and 5 million hectares across Africa by 2030,” says McCann. “We’ve demonstrated that healthy landscapes and thriving rural economies can go hand in hand. Now it’s time to scale up that impact.”
What began as a search for a better way to protect South Africa’s natural resources has evolved into a model that is helping communal livestock farmers build stronger businesses, healthier herds and more resilient landscapes, proving that environmental conservation and agricultural prosperity can grow together.
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