South Africans use ‘smart farming’ to counteract drought

Southern African farmers facing hunger as a result of worsening drought know a lot about climate change but lack the resources to put solutions that work into place, agriculture and development researchers say.

That is in part because government agricultural extension services, which offer training and advice to farmers, have too few agents, states a report by the Technical Center for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation, based in the Netherlands.

In many cases, farmers are simply not aware of potential solutions, said Oluyede Ajayi, a senior programme coordinator with the centre, speaking on the sidelines of a meeting in Johannesburg on scaling up climate-smart agricultural solutions.