{"id":20609,"date":"2025-12-23T15:56:41","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T20:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/?p=20609"},"modified":"2025-12-23T15:56:41","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T20:56:41","slug":"drought-and-farming-how-women-in-south-africa-are-using-indigenous-knowledge-to-cope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/africanstudies\/2025\/drought-and-farming-how-women-in-south-africa-are-using-indigenous-knowledge-to-cope\/","title":{"rendered":"Drought and farming: how women in South Africa are using Indigenous knowledge to cope"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa\u2019s small-scale farmers make up\u00a0nearly 80%<\/a>\u00a0of all farms in the agriculture sector. In South Africa, there are about\u00a02 million small-scale farmers<\/a>, predominantly Black and\u00a0based in<\/a>\u00a0the eastern summer rainfall region of the country.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Communal wells have helped small-scale farmers adapt to drought in South Africa.\u00a0Courtesy Jabulile Mzimela<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/h6>\n

A small-scale farmer produces food for their family on land that is generally smaller than five hectares. Small-scale farmers sell their excess produce but have limited access to resources, technology and big markets.<\/p>\n

Africa\u2019s small-scale\u00a0farming sector is hit hard<\/a>\u00a0when there\u2019s a drought because these farmers rely on rainwater. South Africa has been affected by\u00a0major drought episodes<\/a>\u00a0over the years. However, 2015 stands out as the driest period on record since 1904, with drought affecting\u00a02.7 million households<\/a>, including small-scale farmers.<\/p>\n

As droughts induced by climate change increase, South Africa\u2019s small-scale farmers need to adapt to the changed farming environment so that they can continue to produce food.<\/p>\n

Our research<\/a>\u00a0investigated how small-scale farmers, particularly women, were using\u00a0Indigenous knowledge systems<\/a>\u00a0to adapt to drought. Indigenous knowledge systems are\u00a0collections of wisdom developed over many generations<\/a>\u00a0by people who live closely with nature. They include ways of organising and classifying the world, practical observations about the local environment, and methods for managing resources responsibly. The terms indigenous knowledge and indigenous knowledge systems are used interchangeably.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/theconversation.com\/drought-and-farming-how-women-in-south-africa-are-using-indigenous-knowledge-to-cope-240462<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa\u2019s small-scale farmers make up\u00a0nearly 80%\u00a0of all farms in the agriculture sector. In South Africa, there are about\u00a02 million small-scale farmers, predominantly Black and\u00a0based in\u00a0the eastern summer rainfall region of the country. Communal wells have helped small-scale farmers adapt to drought in South Africa.\u00a0Courtesy Jabulile Mzimela A small-scale farmer produces food for their family on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[234,80,1,81,277,236],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nDrought and farming: how women in South Africa are using Indigenous knowledge to cope - Institute of African Studies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Africa\u2019s small-scale farmers make up\u00a0nearly 80%\u00a0of all farms in the agriculture sector. 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