By The world is faced with the devastating impact of climate change and South Africa is not immune to this pending threat and needs to adjust accordingly, or face the devastating results of food and water insecurity.
According to the Free State MEC for the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environmental Affairs (DARDEA) Ms Elzabe Rockman, long term projections on climate change in the province indicate that the Free State is likely to become hotter and dryer.
The National Department of Agriculture and Rural Development in partnership with the Free State DARDEA hosted a two days Provincial Climate Smart Agriculture Dialogue in Bloemfontein from 3 to 4 September 2024; where expects in the sector, the directorate from Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction shared their experiences and research on how to create a climate resistant agricultural sector.
The discussions were aimed at bouncing off ideas on how to come up with a climate smart agriculture and strategies that will ensure the production of food more resilient, to reduce the production of greenhouse emissions and maintain food security.
During her key note address, Rockman said agriculture and food production are considered the most vulnerable sectors amongst other sectors. She said the sector is to experience more losses on livestock and other adverse challenges due to climate change.
The Free State is expected to have extreme rain fall events in summer coupled with hotter weather patens and dryness. MEC Rockman said they are however encouraged that South Africa has the potential to respond to climate change and its resultant disasters.
“Although agriculture is one of the most highly impacted and most vulnerable to climate change globally, it also contributing to the increase of greenhouse emissions globally. It has been proven that in Africa agriculture contributes about 4% of global total greenhouse gas emission globally. But it is insignificant to that of other developed countries,” said Elzabe Rockman.
“As a province we have a responsibility within the agricultural sector to ensure that we respond to the increasing impact of climate change; through our collective determined efforts by capacitating our farmers and local communities to ensure compliance by implementing our domestic actions,” continued the MEC.
Elzabe Rockman said the Free State province is about 3% food insecure at household level; as such, thousands of farmers continue to benefit from climate change and disaster management programmes that benefit the local people who leave in farming communities and improve their lives.
Rockman said her department has made some interventions and has programmes in place to assist farmers who are negatively affected by climate change disasters including prolonged droughts, localised flooding and other events associated to climate change.
The MEC said the province is ready for any eventuality as it has put sector response measures that support and capacitate farmers to deal with the challenges of climate change. She pointed out that natural disasters have a negative impact on agriculture, as the province recently experienced veld fires that were costly to local farmers.
Rockman said the province has also prioritised early warning systems to alert farmers of potential disasters given the weather patens. She said her department is working closely with academic institutions and the Agricultural Research Institute on research to improve and capacitate the province in dealing with disasters and ensure food security.
