Lack of knowledge about climate change poses a greater risk to human development in general. This study emerges from the premise that agriculture, and more specifically smallholder farmers, are the most affected by climate variability due to the type of assets they hold. Among other factors, climate change can directly and adversely impact the ability of smallholder farmers to sustain their livelihoods. Taking into consideration spatial differences across Ngqushwa Local Municipality, smallholder farmers in different areas have to understand the constraints they face that emanate from climate change. The study aimed to explore the knowledge that smallholder farmers in Ngqushwa local municipality have on climate change, strategies they utilise to cope and minimise the detrimental effects of climate change. The study also focused on climate change information sources namely, meteorological and Indigenous Knowledge (IK) that smallholder farmers have at their disposal for coping and adaptation to climate change. Furthermore, the study analyses comprehensiveness and usefulness of information that the resource-poor farmers possess. The findings of this study show that smallholder farmers in Ngqushwa local municipality access climate change information through televisions, newspapers and listening to the radio. Their knowledge of the behaviour of birds, moon, wind, and insects is also an important source of forecasting weather patterns. Recommendations from this study include the following: enhancing and widening the sources of climate change information, education encompassing the nature of climate change, networking of smallholder farmers, linking meteorological and indigenous knowledge and supplementing natural water supply.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:ufh/vital:29744 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Shoko, Witness Alvis |
| Publisher | University of Fort Hare, Faculty of Social Science and Humanities |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, MSoc |
| Format | 80 leaves, pdf |
| Rights | University of Fort Hare |
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