The contribution of ecosystem services to smallholder agriculture is widely recognised. However, they are seldom analysed in tandem with the ecosystem disservices, such as crop weeds and pests, which the same systems produce. We do so by quantifying the provisioning ecosystem services and disservices in smallholder arable agricultural systems in three rural villages in southeastern South Africa. Using a mixed methods approach we consider the relative benefits from ecosystem services after the effects of disservices, and the management and strategies that households adopt to minimise disservices. The role of ecosystem services and disservices was expressed in economic terms to provide a common framework to assess the relative magnitude of their contribution or loss. Although crop cultivation made measurable contributions to households, disservices were prevalent and undermined livelihoods to varying degrees. Despite active management, disservices could result in complete loss of the yield. The dual character of services and disservices was observed with some ‘weeds’ considered both a service, as food, and a disservice in competing with planted crops. We emphasise the need to recognise both the positive and negative contributions of ecosystems when analysing rural livelihoods to fully grasp how rural people conceive and engage with nature in small-scale agroecological systems.

生态系统服务对小农农业的贡献已得到广泛认可。但是，很少将它们与同一系统产生的生态系统损害（例如农作物杂草和害虫）同时进行分析。为此，我们对南非东南部三个农村小农耕作的农业系统中的供应生态系统服务和破坏进行了量化。使用混合方法的方法，我们考虑了生态系统服务在产生损害后的相对收益，以及家庭为最大程度地减少损害而采取的管理和策略。生态系统服务和损害的作用用经济术语表示，以提供一个共同的框架来评估其贡献或损失的相对规模。尽管农作物种植对家庭产生了可观的贡献，伤残普遍存在，并在不同程度上损害了人们的生计。尽管进行了积极的管理，但服务中断可能会导致产量完全损失。一些“杂草”被认为是一种服务，既是一种食物，又是一种与种植作物竞争的损害，因此观察到了服务和损害的双重特征。我们强调在分析农村生计时必须认识到生态系统的积极和消极贡献，以充分掌握农村人民如何在小规模农业生态系统中构想和参与自然。