The impact of drought on commercial livestock farmers in South Africa

Mafongoya

Journal of Asian and African Studies

2020

Drought is a major challenge threatening agricultural productivity in uMsinga. The occurrence of drought is expected to increase in coming decades, intensifying in severity, duration and the way people are affected by drought. The objective of this study is to understand small-scale farmers’ and rural communities’ perceptions of drought, its environmental and socio-economic impacts, adaptive and mitigation measures at household level and their satisfaction with the government’s role in drought management in the community. The study utilized a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods, in the form of questionnaires, focus groups and key informant interviews. The sample size for the research study was 180 respondents for the questionnaire component and a total of 30 respondents for the focus groups and key informant interviews. The results show that increased levels of poverty, food insecurity and increased migration were the main socio-economic impacts perceived by respondents. Water scarcity, crop failure, forest degradation and an increase in average temperatures were perceived by respondents as the main environmental impacts caused by drought in uMsinga. Respondents perceived drought as a serious threat to agricultural production and adopted various indigenous adaptive strategies. A majority of respondents adopted a reactive approach to drought management, and therefore did not adopt many mitigation measures.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impacts of Drought and the Adaptive Strategies of Small-Scale Farmers in uMsinga, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Mafongoya

Journal of Asian and African Studies

2020

“…In the first stage, the Northern Cape Province was chosen purposively because it represents the main livestock-producing province in South Africa. Additionally, the South African government has declared the province a disaster area [35,36]. The second stage of the sampling involved the simple random selection of The Frances Baard District Municipality (FBDM) using balloting.…”

Section: Data and Samplingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Agricultural Drought Resilience on the Welfare of Smallholder Livestock Farming Households in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa

Matlou

Bahta

Owusu‐Sekyere

et al. 2021

Land

Self Cite

Recurring agricultural droughts are of concern to smallholder livestock farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study determined the impact of agricultural drought resilience on smallholder livestock farming households’ welfare in the Frances Baard District Municipality (FBDM), in Northern Cape Province of South Africa. Interviews, more specifically survey interviews, were conducted with 207 smallholder livestock farmers. We used compensation variation, resilience index and linear regression models to analyse the data. The findings indicate that smallholder farmers who received drought relief support saw an improvement in their welfare. However, the welfare improvements varied across respondents and different gender categories, with males having higher welfare improvements relative to females. The study also found that economic capital, social capital, human capital and natural capital substantially affected the welfare of smallholder farmers. Furthermore, the study revealed that the smallholder farmers had a moderate agricultural drought resilience index, but low natural resilience capital. The study recommends that governments and non-governmental policymakers aiming to improve the welfare of smallholder farmers should focus on building their economic, social, human and capital resource bases. In this way, the smallholder farmers will be resilient in a time of climatic shock.

Economic Effects of Natural Disasters

“…In the past, drought management has only been implemented after times of drought, not during or as a precautionary measure (Baudoin et al, 2017;Favretto et al, 2018). Recently, an increasing number of official, government-led arrangements have been made such as new legislation on water management, policies, warning systems, support programs, trainings, and water management equipment for farmers, private sector and citizens-all with moderate success (Bahta, Jordaan, & Muyambo, 2016;Baudoin et al, 2017;Mare et al, 2018).…”

Section: Ecological Challenges Of Entrepreneurs In South Africamentioning

confidence: 99%

Showcasing Entrepreneurs’ Responses to Severe Drought: Qualitative Findings From Cape Town, South Africa

Kuijpers¹,

Eijdenberg

2021

That South Africa science pushes to improve daily life does not come as a surprise. Apart from the emerging country's social and economic struggles, climate change leaves its traces as exemplified by severe drought (Wild, 2018). "Drought is a natural hazard and recurrent feature of southern Africa's climate" (Baudoin, Vogel, Nortje, & Naik, 2017, p. 129). Without doubt, South Africa-especially the Western Cape region, in and around Cape Town-has been suffering from drought for years. Some blame solely climate change (e.g.,