Dear Xatyiswa,

Do please read the following report which I believe can be of great help.

http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/ditcted2012d3_en.pdf

Also, do consider to visit and contact these groups:

http://www.permaculturesouthafrica.co.za

Do let me know if you require more support.

All the best,

Gil

This requires active support from researchers, extension personnel and policy.We must differentiate climate and weather when we strategise climate/weather smart agicultural practices for small farmers. Economis-environment-equity are 3 pillars of such strategies.

Thanks for an important question, which triggers already good answers. From agric. work-experiences and observations in Ethiopia and Rwanda I can state, that 1) slight temperature increase; 2) hefty start-up rains at begin of rain-season, 3) generallly higher rain-fall-intensities per time-unit and 4) interrupted rain-seasons by approx. 3-weeks dry-spells with destructive consequences were common features of the climate-change in the past 15 years or so. Remedies to cope with this for small-holders were / are: A) New short-term and more drought-resistant varieties for cereals and legumes; B) Countour-oriented bunds, ridges on the fields to retain most rain-fall run-off, C) Deeper soil-ploughing or tine-tilling to open deeper soil-layers for better percolation of rain-water; D) mulching with all sorts of cheaply available organic-manure, organic waster, etc. (e.g. cut vegetation-material from road-sides); E) Interrow tine-tilling to cut capilarity and evaporation; F) Stone-mulching, where flat Stones are abundantly available; G) placing mineral or organic fertilizer underground near to the plant (e.g. 15 cm below + sidewise to the stem) H) drip-/trickle-irrigation; I) planting deep-rooting and soil-fertility-relevant leguminous drought-resistant trees (Acacia, Prosopis spp.) in agro-forestry lines of randomly at 20 units/ha. The permaculture hint of Gil is extremely relevant.

Dear Albert Baur,

Smallholder farm, which is also known as family farm, has been defined in different ways. But the most familiar measure is farm size. Several sources define small farms as those with less than 2 ha of crop land. Some define small farms as those depending on household members for most of the labor or those with a subsistence orientation, in which the primary aim of the farm is to produce the majority of the consumption of staple foods for the household (Hazell et al.2007). And others describe small farms as those with limited resources including land, capital, skills and labor. According to the World Bank’s Rural Development Strategy, smallholders are defined as those with a low asset base, operating less than 2 ha of cropland (World Bank, 2003), and an FAO study defines smallholders as farmers with limited resource endowments, relative to other farmers in the sector (Dixon et al 2003).The study of IFAD (2009) defines small farms as those with less than 2 ha of land area and those depending on household members for most of the labor. To conclude, all the definitions mentioned above are revolving around two central points, that are farm size (< 2 ha) and labor source (family). If you read the literatures mentioned in this summary you may get further information.

Said by Getachew Agegnehu

Some of adaptation practices that may be appropriate for Africa include:

1. Use crop varieties which are more appropriate to the altered thermal regime

2. Use crops which are resistance to heat shock, or drought or floods

3. Alter fertilizer rates to maintain grain or fruit quality consistent with the climate

4. Improve in either existing rain-fed farming systems or alter amounts and timing of irrigation

5. Diversify farmer’s income by integrating other farming activities such as livestock raising, integrated agriculture and aquaculture/fish farming

The dramatic change in climate in the past two to three years- late summer, early and longer winters may be locally researched for the negative and positive impacts on small holder crop farmers level. The research should be focused on parameters of decision, economic, social, cultural, institutional and infrastructure environment for the Cape. The traditional knowledge, culture and the practices made by households to adjust with their result should also be empirically measured through questionnaire. Based on these adjustment should be made at internal and external level by the households as well as functionaries of the Cape. Without proper researched (obviously with people observations) nothing specifically can be concluded or recommended.

Increases in production efficiency are only likely to take place autonomously on farms in communities that are linked to local, regional or/and national food product markets so that market price signals can supply economic incentives to change production "technology" as an adjustment to climate change. It's a marketing economics problem, not a production economics problem. As such, adjusting to climate change will be a real challenge for household farmers whose outputs and inputs (including most importantly household labor) are not tied to "relatively" efficient output and input markets. That spells trouble ahead.