Drought and Farming: How Women in South Africa are Using Indigenous Knowledge to Cope

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.

South Africa has been affected by major drought episodes over the yrs…

…the worst was in 2015 when 2.7mn households & farmers were affected

Africa’s small-scale farming sector is hit hard when there’s a drought because these farmers rely on rainwater. South Africa has been affected by major drought episodes over the years.

However, 2015 stands out as the driest period on record since 1904, with drought affecting 2.7 million households, including small-scale farmers.

As droughts induced by climate change increase, South Africa’s small-scale farmers need to adapt to the changed farming environment so that they can continue to produce food.

Our research investigated how small-scale farmers, particularly women, were using Indigenous knowledge systems to adapt to drought. Indigenous knowledge systems are collections of wisdom developed over many generations by 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.

Indigenous knowledge systems can help small-scale farmers to adapt to drought

We studied small-scale farmers in the Umkhanyakude District Municipality of South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province. This is one of the most impoverished areas in the province, with an unemployment rate of 37.7%: 4.2 percentage points higher than the rest of the country.

Nearly all (95%) of the 690,000 people in the district live rurally, relying on social security grants, remittances from family members working elsewhere and small-scale agriculture to survive.

The Umkhanyakude District Municipality is also managed collectively by 18 traditional authorities under the Ingonyama Trust Board, a contentious organisation that has been criticised for keeping male domination of the land alive and infringing on women’s land rights.

As geographers who research climate change adaptation and Indigenous knowledge systems, we asked 384 small-scale farmers (61% of them women) to tell us how they were adapting to drought.

We found that farming practices based on Indigenous knowledge had built this community’s resilience to drought, especially when led by women. Water harvesting, soil regeneration and pest control were some of the practices.

Indigenous women-led farming is often excluded from mainstream climate adaptation

However, these practices are often overlooked in mainstream climate adaptation policies and interventions, which are driven by mostly non-indigenous stakeholders, based on western technical and legal solutions. Indigenous knowledge was not valued by colonisers during colonial times, a practice that persists in the patriarchal and capitalist systems that currently operate in our world.

Our research found that integrating Indigenous knowledge systems into formal climate adaptation frameworks will help small-scale farmers adapt to global warming and extreme weather. This could lead to sustainable ways of creating long term food security and gender equity.

The devastating impact of drought

The women small-scale farmers we interviewed reflected on the droughts they had experienced over the past 39 years (between 1983 and 2022):

Live stock was decaying…

…crops were destroyed…

…even hand-dug wells dried up & farmers had to stop farming all together

“The smell of decaying livestock tainted the atmosphere. Moreover, salt began to crystallise in the river. We used this salt both for cooking and sold some it.”

Droughts meant that it was a struggle to grow enough to feed their families and there was nothing to sell:

“I lost three hectares of maize, nothing was growing, and even our livestock were perishing. Normally, we do not need to purchase feed for our livestock, but we had to.”

Even the hand-dug wells dried up, and some farmers had to stop farming altogether:

“We had no food. While goats managed to survive by relying on trees for sustenance, our cattle were not as fortunate and died.”

How farmers adapted

Various practices helped them survive:

Finding different supplies of water: The farmers found ways to harvest rainwater. Collectively, they excavated hand dug communal wells and stored as much water as possible. They recycled the water they used at home and if they could afford it, drilled boreholes.

Conserving the moisture in the soil: This included hand ploughing, fallowing and tree planting. Women farmers used more organic waste on the soil – such as mulch and manure from cattle, chickens and goats, and crop residues. They also placed perforated plastic, used diapers and cardboard on the soil to retain soil moisture.

Planting different crops that can survive drought: Sweet potatoes, spinach, onions, taro, sugarcane and cotton were planted instead of water-intensive crops like cabbage, onion and tomatoes.

Homemade ways of getting rid of pests: The women farmers used wood ash, flour and homemade plant concoctions as well as the Tirucalia tirucalli tree (pencil cactus), which repels moles. They also manually removed caterpillars and applied water mixed with menstrual blood on vegetables to repel pests.

How women farmers carry the burden of climate change

Our research found that female-headed and low-income households paid the price for the changing climate. For example, small-scale farmers had to look for other work. But female-headed and low-income households had few options for other work and women couldn’t leave home. They often had to do risky jobs like selling unlicensed alcohol, marijuana and fuel.

During drought, women farmers faced extra burdens, while males had more time to seek other work

During the droughts, women farmers also had an increased workload from needing to carry water from wells in buckets to water the crops.

Male small-scale farmers were less restricted by domestic duties. They had more time and space to find other work during the drought, our research found.

Women small-scale farmers have inadequate access to formal markets, financial services and formal employment.

Indigenous knowledge systems must be recognised

Indigenous knowledge draws on knowledge that has been built up over hundreds of years about actions that are useful in a specific local area. It is therefore very useful for communities who have to adapt to a changing climate. On the other hand, government climate adaptation plans, such as drought relief schemes, are often rolled out without understanding of the local knowledge or social identities in a specific area. This needs to change if small-scale farmers must cope with more intense and more frequent droughts.

Indigenous knowledge is often overlooked in govt climate adaptation…

…but it can help farmers achieve long-term food security & gender equity

The government, climate financiers and aid institutions must also move away from gender-neutral policies that maintain the status quo and impose additional burdens on women.

We call for the unsilencing, legitimisation and integration of Indigenous knowledge systems in both informal and formal adaptation programmes. This will empower small-scale farmers to preserve and transfer Indigenous knowledge and promote resilient agricultural practices. It will disrupt entrenched power dynamics and empower women farmers.

Further readings

• A Conversation with Meghna Chakkraborty – Founder of South Asia Young Women in Water – There was no turning back for Chakkraborty after experiencing first-hand impacts of water scarcity in her early years. We sit down with Chakkraborty to find out more about her water story, founding of SAYWiW, not sugarcoated advice to youth & more
• Heat Waves Hit the Poor Hardest – Heatwaves are among the deadliest disasters and poorer countries will be 2-5x more exposed to them by 2060, which risks $ billions. Sadegh, Abatzoglou & Alizadeh share more key findings from their research
• Genius Greens Aeroponic Farms: The Future of Agriculture – In the midst of our current food conundrum we chat with King Lai, Founder of Genius Greens, set up an aeroponic farm in Hong Kong to reduce food miles & bolster local production

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• 5 Lessons from Ancient Civilizations for Keeping Homes Cool in Hot, Dry Climates – When aircons fail in a heatwave, how do you stay cool? For millennia, ancient civilisations knew how to cope. Zuniga-Teran from the University of Arizona reveals how “old” designs can improve modern architecture for hotter climates
• A Conversation with Jenny Quinton: Eco-education, Biophobia & Nature Healing – Nestled in the forests of Lantau Island, Ark Eden is a “green paradise” for HKers to escape stress & reconnect with nature. We chat to its founder Quinton to find out how eco-education can help heal the planet & our relationships