Mzansi Now: How Communities are Adapting to Drought Cycles
Johannes Plenio
The Free State, a landlocked province in the center of South Africa, is the agricultural heart of the country. The province is the largest producer of maize in the nation, yielding over 13% of all of South Africa’s agricultural goods and services. Maize, a water-intensive crop, is a staple food eaten daily by 67% to 83% of South Africa’s population. Maize production in South Africa is ranked ninth globally and second in sub-Saharan Africa, contributing approximately 9.5 billion rand each year to the nation’s economy—making maize a crucial crop in feeding civilians and maintaining a strong economic outlook.
Distribution of the maize crop by province
But the Free State’s maize is facing a challenge: drought. South Africa is already one of the driest countries in the world, with an annual rainfall of less than half of the global average. Additionally, South Africa’s per capita water availability is one of the lowest in Africa, making access to clean water an ongoing problem in many areas of the country. In 2019, over 30% of the country’s water resources were already under stress, with South Africa losing 20% of its annual water supply due to pollution and mismanagement.
Implications of Drought
The Free State, characterized by low rainfall and high evaporation rates, is one of the most drought prone regions in the nation. As a result, the province has seen a massive decline in maize production over the past decade. In 2016-17, the province produced 7.3 million tons of maize, declining to 5.2 million tons in 2017-18 and to 4 million tons in 2018-19 due to prolonged and harsh droughts.
Because agriculture in the Free State accounts for 90% of land use and employs about 10% of the province, droughts and water shortages have had severe consequences. A 2021 report found that droughts not only worsen food prices and scarcity, but lower the national GDP, increase dependence on imports, and exacerbate unemployment. Between 2018 and 2021, the agricultural sector shed 31,000 jobs in the provinces most affected by droughts and subsequently lost about 7 billion rand. The report also found that communal farmers are far more susceptible to droughts than commercial farmers. Limited access to information and infrastructure combined with low income levels and high unemployment create a singular dependency on agriculture. When droughts cause poor and small harvests, there is little safety net for those whose livelihoods depend on their farms.
Poor infrastructure, geographical factors, and financial constraints limit the capabilities of the government to aid drought-prone provinces when it matters most. Approximately 55.5% of South Africa’s rural population lives in poverty, making it difficult for residents to afford private water systems when public infrastructure fails. Moreover, government funding for rural water projects is often limited, leaving communities with few formal resources to address their water needs. Although the South African government does allocate funds for rural water supply, these resources are often insufficient to meet the growing demands as droughts become more frequent and more severe.
Informal Aid
Where provincial and national governments have failed to provide necessary aid, international NGOs and local initiatives have sought to fill the gaps. The Southern African Drought Resilience Initiative (SADRI) was a 2020 program by the World Bank and the Cooperation in International Waters in Africa (CIWA) to improve drought monitoring, risk assessment, and response strategies. Other NGOs distribute water, food, services, and supplies to these communities. The South African Water Warriors and the Gift of Givers are prime examples, collecting and distributing donations of water, water tanks, food, toiletries, animal fodder, and drought-resistent crops to drought stricken areas. Educational campaigns like Water Wise, led by the Water Research Commission, have also worked to advise rural communities on water conservation and inform policy.
Local Organization
Though NGOs provide key resources for South Africans in drought, community practices appear to be equally important. Social networks like church groups and farmers’ associations have been proven to strengthen resilience to agricultural drought as members of these networks aim to share resources, whereas a lack of social network contributes to vulnerability. Borrowing from neighbors, sharecropping, and crop diversification are common amongst rural farmers as methods of drought mitigation.
Farming communities have also been known to create their own committees for regulating irrigation schemes or for pooling livestock fodder. Local-level institutions like civic groups, the royal council, farmers associations, and water user groups have also organized to help their communities. Many of these groups elect representatives who act as conduits to the provincial or national government when problems arise. These local-level institutions are key during droughts, as they communicate municipal needs with high authorities.
Indigenous knowledge is also shared, considered, and implemented in communities as they work to resist the effect of droughts. In drought forecasting, indigenous communities assess the size and shape of the moon and monitor the behaviour of animals. For example, frog migration has been proven to signify drought, and such migration has been monitored by indigenous communities for centuries as they look for drought warning signs.
Indigenous mitigation strategies include rainwater harvesting, conserving the moisture found in soil, planting drought resistant crops, and sprinkling ash or flour over preserved crops to keep away insects. During a harvest, the big maize cobs are set aside and kept for seed for the following growing season. As a result of these practices, about two-thirds of South African rural farming communities reported that indigenous knowledge contributed to the resilience of farmers towards drought.
Research institutions have recognized the effectiveness of using indigenous knowledge in drought mitigation. At the Central University of Technology in the Free State, researchers have used such knowledge to create drought sensor mechanisms. The system, introduced in 2016, is able to predict drought with accuracies as high as 96%. However, it is a purely-research based project and has not as yet been implemented for use given infrastructural and funding issues.
It is clear that the Free State and South Africa as whole require governmental action and effective policy in order to better withstand worsening droughts. February and March of 2024 were two of the driest months on record for nations across Southern Africa, receiving 20% of the usual rainfall expected for this period. 68 million people across the region were affected, with tens of millions of those living in South Africa. If future droughts like this are to be effectively mitigated, politicians must focus on improving infrastructure, prioritizing indigenous practices, and integrating climate adaptation measures to rural communities on a larger scale.