Analysis of smallholder farmer livelihood strategies for coping and adapting to drought in the Western Cape Province, South Africa

Abstract

The South African government acknowledges the potential of the smallholder agricultural sector in improving rural livelihoods through sustainable farming. In South Africa, the smallholder farming sector comprises a diverse group of farmers in terms of their needs and livelihood outcomes. Smallholder farmers experience a myriad of challenges in their endeavours to develop and sustain their livelihood. Lately, drought has been a setback to the achievement of livelihood outcomes by smallholder farmers in South Africa. Meanwhile, the private sector, civil society and government organisations in South Africa have played a meaningful role in assisting smallholder farmers to satisfy their diverse needs. This has resulted in the implementation of various policies by different organisations and the adoption of various approaches to develop the sector. However, all the stakeholders, including farmers, have experienced their fair share of challenges in their endeavours. Therefore, the translation of different policies into programmes or initiatives to achieve their intended purposes requires vigilance and should be followed by an evaluation to determine their effectiveness. Although South Africa has sound policies for livelihoods and drought management, literature suggests a rare implementation of them. There is limited information available to facilitate the understanding of the approaches used and the implementation processes to determine the impact of the policies. The achievement of sustainability in this farming sector necessitates the careful consideration of the diversity existing amongst different livelihood strategies to understand the context in which operations are undertaken. Against this background, this study was conducted based mainly on the context of the 2015-2018 drought, which started around early 2015 and lasted until the end of 2018. The four main objectives of this study were: 1) Analysing the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in the Western Cape; 2) Analysing the different strategies employed by smallholder farmers in adapting to the effects of the 2015-2018 drought in the Western Cape; 3) Understanding the role of different organisations in enhancing livelihoods and drought strategies in the Western Cape; and 4) evaluating a drought programme from a private or public organisation implemented to assist smallholder farmers in adapting to the 2015-2018 drought in the Western Cape. The Sustainable Livelihood Approach was largely used to conduct the analyses and the Sustainable Livelihood Framework to frame the research questions, formulated with reference to different parameters such as livelihood capital, coping and adaptation and organisations. Though the study largely utilised the qualitative design, very limited methods of quantitative research design were also utilised in collecting data, for instance. Firstly, the access to and ownership of financial, physical, natural, social and human capital by the Overberg and West Coast districts farmers was analysed during the period 2017 to 2019. The existence of a diverse group of farmers in terms of how they access and own assets was confirmed at the two study sites. Smallholder farming in the two districts was dominated by males (83%) and the youths (18 and 38 years) proportion of involvement was less than 13%. This shed a blurred picture of the future of smallholder farming in the sector. Only 10% of the farmers possessed tertiary education training and had under 12 years of education. Seventy-six per cent of the respondents had no access to credit. Land ownership was dominantly municipal lease for the respondents in both districts. Mainly, group farming was practiced through farming associations, trusts or co-operatives, and these influence smallholder farmer activities. Challenges experienced by smallholder farmers in the two districts included the lack of resources such as water and infrastructure, markets, land, and increasing production costs. The 2015-2018 drought which ravaged the province was highlighted in the Overberg and West Coast districts as one of the main challenges which farmers were facing. Majority of farmers had limited benefits from group membership, because of their large membership sizes and the associated limitations. Groups were not able to make unanimous decisions and different personalities hampered the effectiveness of the groups. The perceptions of farmers towards droughts and their impacts determine the extent to which the phenomena are dealt with when they occur. The second objective in this study was to determine the perceptions of smallholder farmers towards drought, impacts, coping and adaptation strategies utilised by smallholder farmers in the two districts and the challenges they faced. Farmers in the Overberg District (67%) and West Coast District (60%) mainly perceived drought as a general water scarcity and expressed that it was becoming hotter and drier by every year. The common 2015-2018 drought impacts were identified as crop failure, livestock mortality and theft of livestock and crops. Respondents in both districts reported predation as a common environmental impact during the 2015-2018 drought, with its associated impacts of increased prevalent of wild animals. Other environmental impacts were poor water quality, increased prevalence of pests, weeds and diseases. Economically, farmers reported crop and livestock thefts, crop failure and alteration of market contracts, resulting in loss of income. Increased conflicts related to up/downstream water challenges among respondents was reported under social impacts in the two areas as a major concern. To cope and adapt to water shortages during the 2015-2018 drought, respondents reported that they mainly transported water to the farms, while sharing water rights and using boreholes were also employed. In the Overberg District, 17% of the respondents received drought support from the government in the form of fodder vouchers while in the West Coast District, it was 72%. The researcher observed that respondents also received assistance from the private sector in the form of advice, information, technical support and provision of other resources including land. Four per cent of the respondents in the Overberg District reported that they had acquired insurance for their produce, while there was none in the West Coast District. Another common adaptation strategy for the 2015-2018 drought was social networks through which respondents highlighted that they helped each other with grazing area, water and infrastructure, advice and emotional support. The access to livelihood assets influenced the extent to which smallholder farmers adapted to the 2015-2018 drought in the Overberg and West Coast districts and explained the heterogeneity among farmers, as is advocated by the Sustainable Livelihood Approach. The general lack of resources and increasing cost of production were mentioned by respondents as the main challenges in coping and adapting to the 2015-2018 drought the Overberg and West Coast districts. The third objective considered the approaches utilised by organisations to enhance the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and drought coping and adaptation strategies in the study areas. The study revealed that the commodity approach was being implemented by the Western Cape government, in partnership with the private sector. Civil society was also involved in the development of the sector. The main goal for organisations to support smallholder farmers was that of facilitating them to graduate to large-scale commercial farming. The main kind of support provided to smallholder farmers by the organisations was the provision of information, among others such as finance and implementation inputs. Farmers were also provided with livestock fodder vouchers by government during the 2015-2018 drought period. The private sector and civil society assisted farmers indirectly before and during the 2015-2018 drought through their ongoing activities. This study revealed that there was a mismatch between the farming community and organisations’ goals. Not all farmers had aspirations of operating at the large-scale commercial farming. Others highlighted that they were farming to improve their income and standard of living, while a few were farming because of the passion they inherited from their fathers. Few farmers reported the limited access to markets as a challenge, which may suggest that the commodity approach was working in their favour in that respect. Some of the challenges faced by organisations in implementing the commodity approach in the two districts were, for instance, complex government systems, farmer personalities and a lack of funding and human resources. Challenges could be addressed by providing clarity on each stakeholder’s role, integrating work, implementing development policies in a well-coordinated manner and conducting evaluations accordingly. Finally, a process evaluation was conducted to assess the process and strategies adopted by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture through the Cape Agency for Sustainable Integrated Development in Rural Areas to implement its provincial drought management plan during the 2015-2018 drought, relationships among stakeholders involved and the challenges faced during implementation. Findings show that the agency was fulfilling its role of administering finances for the drought relief scheme. There were direct and indirect relationships among stakeholders, and these influenced how work was done by each of them. Different challenges experienced during the implementation of the provincial drought relief scheme and livelihoods policies entailed the misappropriation of fodder by farmers, the inadequate human resources and finance, and the lack of coordination and communication among stakeholders. No specific drought programme was found in the private sector for evaluation. In conclusion, smallholder farming in the two study sites had limited female participants who farmed as individuals and were mostly from the old-age category. The percentage of the youths involved in the sector was low. The future of smallholder farming in the province was blurred. Farmers access the five livelihoods capitals to varying extents. The diversity of the farmers in terms of individual farm enterprises requires that any developmental efforts be tailored to suit the specific objectives of the farming households. The limited effectiveness of the farming groups, access to adequate water and infrastructure, the existence of market-related issues such as long distances between farms and markets, land shortage, and increasing production costs were some of the challenges facing farmers in the two study districts. The consideration of the smallholder farmer’s perceptions of drought impacts in the two districts did not directly influence their decisions to utilise particular coping and adaptation strategies. Farmers were affected differently by the 2015-2018 drought, which implies that they also utilised different coping and adaptation strategies. External assistance from the government, private sector and civil society enhanced adaptation by smallholder farmers in the two districts. Thus, smallholder farmers who had access to any or all of the livelihood capitals tended to cope and adapt better than those who did not. The study identified various organisations involved in the smallholder farmers’ businesses in the two study areas who aspired to see them graduating to become large-scale commercial farmers. Among the five main categories of support services provided, information dominated the list, while finance was at the bottom. Through the implementation of the commodity approach in the Western Cape, farmers had a double benefit from working together and with the organisations. Organisations experience various challenges with smallholder farmers and among themselves as they implement the commodity approach. The processes followed by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture and CASIDRA to implement one of the 2015-2018 drought programme in the province included the recruitment of smallholder farmers, facilitating the provision of feed vouchers to the farmers and other related activities. It was revealed that the programme implementers had direct or indirect relationships amongst themselves. The nature of the relationship influenced how they delivered their services at times. Challenges experienced by CASIDRA and the Western Cape Department of Agriculture in implementing the drought relief schemes in the two districts were mentioned by respondents as the misappropriation of assistance by farmers, limited human resources and finance, and poor coordination of activities. The need for initiatives to promote youths’ involvement in smallholder farming should be upheld. These could include early exposure to farming, scholarships and bursaries for further education and mentorship and coaching programmes. Programmes for smallholder farmer empowerment should be flexible to incorporate the smallholder farmers’ inputs, for example, drought management initiatives. They should be designed in a way that addresses their individual needs to promote effectiveness as a matter of urgency. More research should be conducted to investigate the impacts of droughts on the livelihoods of smallholder farmers in various provinces, alongside the strategies utilised for coping and adaptation. Similarly, farmers should be encouraged to utilise the available sustainable farming methods and other feasible opportunities. Further research should be conducted to determine how external assistance influenced the utilisation of various assets for livelihood, coping and adaptation by smallholder farmers in other provinces. Farmers should be equipped to take ownership of their businesses and run them effectively. The government should ensure that all the roles for all organisations are clear to promote accountability and prevent overlaps. Further analysis focused on the nature of work done by each stakeholder in smallholder farmer development, including farmers, should be conducted to determine how they can all work together effectively. Again, activities for all stakeholders should be properly coordinated, while cooperation should be encouraged to successfully integrate all the development work. Implementation of policy documents should be prioritised without delay, as it is long overdue. The Western Cape Department of Agriculture should commission a comprehensive process and impact evaluation of the drought programmes to determine the processes followed in implementing them. The challenges experienced should be used as lessons for future work. The extent of utilisation of independent and external evaluators should be re-considered. The evaluation of programmes would be successful only when there is adequate and relevant data, collected throughout the implementation processes. This should be prioritised by the programme designers and implementers.