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 A Social Anthropological Study of Changing Climate and Small-scale
Farmers in Soweto

By

Luvuyo Zigana

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree

Masters

In

Anthropology

In the

Faculty of Humanities

At the

University of Johannesburg

Supervisor: Dr Carina van Rooyen

Date: August 2018

“As an environmental anthropologist I don’t want to protect the environment; I

want to create a world where the environment doesn’t need any protection.”

 Declaration
I hereby declare that the dissertation, which I herewith submit to meet the
requirements for the qualification Master of Art in Anthropology to the University of
Johannesburg, is my own work and has not been previously submitted by me to
another institution to obtain a research degree.

Luvuyo Zigana Date: 06 August 2018

i
 Acknowledgements
I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor Dr C van
Rooyen for her guidance in conducting this research. I would like to thank her for her
tireless enthusiasm, guidance, encouragement, advice and criticism in all stages of
the study. Without which, this dissertation would not have been possible. She
challenged me to develop analytical and writing skills, not forgetting how to do a
research thoroughly.

I would also love to thank my mother who has been my pillar of strength, she did not
understand at first why I chose to do Master’s instead of looking for a job. Well
“Mama” this is what I have been working on in the past two years and I therefore
dedicate all this work to you. Your support and love kept me going even through
difficult times although I never showed any of my suffering. I would also love to thank
my siblings Nompumelelo, Mandisa, Ziyanda and Andile for their inputs in this
research.

I also humbly acknowledge the contribution of my friends, Ayabulela, Bongani,

Jabulile, Mary, Mbalenhle and Qhawe, I am indebted to you guys. Your support and
encouragement was the kick-start I needed in this long journey of my academic life. I
would like to thank all my peers and lectures at the Department of Anthropology and
Development Studies for giving me the support and also pushing me to the limit.

Massive thanks to those who provided me with funding, namely the University of
Johannesburg Faculty of Humanities for their supervisor-linked bursary, the National
Research Foundation for their scholarship, and Dr van Rooyen for her sponsorship.
Their generous support will never be forgotten.

ii


Abstract

Based on the aforementioned platform, this study seeks to account on how the
changing effects of the climate is being explained and experienced by small-scale
farmers in the urban agricultural sector in Soweto. The analysis of local account on
climate change was viewed on four key social anthropological themes, namely
perceptions, knowledge, valuations and responses.

A qualitative research design was used in which observations alongside series of in-
depth interviews technique were adopted with the intention to obtain grounded data
on the experiences and local knowledges on changing climate of small-scale farmers
in the Soweto community. A purposive sampling design was used to select
participants who are actively engage in small-scale farming operations in Soweto. To
validate the results of the outcome, a diversified sampling population was used.

The findings of this research reveals that changes in climate are not only seen
through perceptions, the daily engagement with these changes give small-scale
farmers an idea to associate them with what has occurred in the past. This then
gives them a platform to come up with different socio-cultural explanations for the
occurrence of such events. Explaining the occurrence of these climatic changes
allows these small-scale farmers to find ways in which they can adapt to them. Using
local knowledge, that takes into account the evolution of information, the small-scale
farmers have been able to amalgamate different types of information to form one
part of knowledge that is able to tackle the effects that climate change cause.

Key words: anthropology; local knowledge; climate change; perceptions; small-

scale farmers; agriculture; adaptation; knowledge

iii
Table of Contents
Declaration .............................................................................................................................................. i

Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................... ii

Abstract ................................................................................................................................................. iii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1

1.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1

1.2 Rationale ..................................................................................................................................... 2

1.3 Aim and objectives of the research ............................................................................................ 8

1.4 Structure of this dissertation ...................................................................................................... 9

1.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 9

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................................... 10

2.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 10

2.2 Defining key concepts ............................................................................................................... 11

2.3 Small-scale farmers in the South African context .................................................................... 17

2.4 Knowledge traditions / Local knowledge on changing climate ............................................... 20

2.5 The perceptions of changes in climate by small-scale farmers ............................................... 23

2.5.1 Changed rainfall ................................................................................................................. 24

2.5.2 Rising temperatures ........................................................................................................... 25

2.5.3 Changes in the velocity of the wind .................................................................................. 26

2.5.4 Climate change indicators .................................................................................................. 27

2.6 Environmental knowledges ...................................................................................................... 28

2.6.1 Changing climate as part of a ‘natural’ environmental cycle ........................................... 28

2.6.2 Changing climate as a result of socio-cultural changes .................................................... 30

2.6.3 Changing climate as a reaction of natural and spiritual entities ...................................... 31

2.7 Valuation of the environment .................................................................................................. 34

2.7.1 Giving values to environment ............................................................................................ 34

2.7.2 Utilitarian valuing of the environment .............................................................................. 35

iv


2.7.3 Opportunities provided through environmental changes ................................................ 35

2.8 Responses to the perceived effects of changing climate ......................................................... 36

2.8.1 Perceived effects of changing climate on agriculture ....................................................... 37

2.8.2 Adaptation strategies used to deal with the effects of climate change ........................... 38

2.8.3 Limits to adaptation ........................................................................................................... 45

2.9 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 48

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY .............................................................................................................. 50

3.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 50

3.2 Description of the study area ................................................................................................... 50

3.3 History and demographics of Soweto ...................................................................................... 52

3.4 Weather and climate of Soweto ............................................................................................... 54

3.5 Perceptions about farming in Soweto ...................................................................................... 56

3.6 Research methodology ............................................................................................................. 57

3.7 Access to research ‘site’ ............................................................................................................ 58

3.8 Population and sampling .......................................................................................................... 58

3.9 Data collection methods ........................................................................................................... 59

3.10 Data analysis ........................................................................................................................... 63

3.11 Validity and reliability ............................................................................................................. 63

3.12 Research ethics ....................................................................................................................... 65

3.13 Reflections about my research ............................................................................................... 66

3.14 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 66

CHAPTER 4: SOCIO-CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT WITH CHANGING CLIMATE BY SMALL-SCALE

FARMERS IN SOWETO ......................................................................................................................... 67

4.1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 67

4.2 Introduction to some of my participants ................................................................................. 67

4.3. Perceptions of the changes in the climate .............................................................................. 70

4.3.1 Lack of rain ......................................................................................................................... 70

4.3.2 Rising temperature ............................................................................................................ 72

4.3.3 Perceived effects changes in the climate .......................................................................... 75

4.3.4 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 82

4.4 Environmental knowledges ...................................................................................................... 82

4.4.1 Natural environmental cycle ............................................................................................. 83

4.4.2 Socio-cultural changes ....................................................................................................... 86

4.4.3 Reaction of natural and spiritual entities .......................................................................... 89

4.5 Valuation of the environment .................................................................................................. 91

4.5.1 Environment or changes in it, offers more than just food production ............................. 92

4.5.2 Communicating with the environment ............................................................................. 93

4.6 Responses to changes in the climate ........................................................................................ 96

4.6.1 Advanced ‘traditional’ irrigation system ........................................................................... 96

4.6.2. Crop rotation ..................................................................................................................... 97

4.6.3 Mulching ............................................................................................................................. 98

4.6.4 Change in ploughing dates ................................................................................................. 98

4.6.5 Conservation practices ....................................................................................................... 99

4.6.6 Diversifying away from farming ........................................................................................ 99

4.6.7 Agricultural intensification .............................................................................................. 100

4.6.8 Rain-making rituals .......................................................................................................... 100

4.6.9 Accessing information ...................................................................................................... 101

4.7 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 101

Chapter 5: Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 102

5.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 102

5.2 Limitations of the study and recommendations for future research .................................... 103

5.3 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 105

References ......................................................................................................................................... 107

Appendix A: Interview guide ............................................................................................................ 121

Appendix B: Observation sheet ........................................................................................................ 124

Appendix C: Consent form ................................................................................................................ 125

vi


vii
 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction

Changing climate has been one of the most widely debated issues in the public
sphere, and will likely dominate environmental, political, and social agendas for
some time to come. The topic of climate has a long history in the social sciences
(Akang’a 1987; Aukema 1989; Berkes 1999; Crate 2011; Crate and Nuttall 2009;
Hanson et al. 2012; Henson 2006; Huda 2013; Magistro and Roncoli 2001;
Neumann 1985; Nuttall 2008; Orlove et al. 2014; Paavola 2008; Peterson and Broad
2009; Rudiak 2011; Sanders 2003; Strauss and Orlove 2003). In the past many
scholars theorised how climate can shape society, and how climatic changes
affected human activities. The focus on these topics often led to ethically dubious
and racist theories such as environmental determinism, in which the climate was
believed to lead to certain cultural or social behaviours. However, there was a
change in how climate was looked at in the 1990s, which shifted to climate
constraints and human responses, or adaptation, as central to today’s
multidisciplinary academic discourse. Three major simplifications of the past are
being acknowledged: climate is only one of several drivers affecting human
behaviour; climate on most time scales is not static; and we are capable of
influencing and changing global climate (Peterson and Broad 2009:69).
Acknowledging these non-conformities from environmental determinism opens
territory for anthropological exploration (Peterson and Broad 2009:70). With a broad
acceptance to differing degrees, climate organises and shapes central aspects of our
lives. We are now organising our understanding of climate in epistemologically
complex ways: from temporally and spatially explicit predictions of seasonal climate
characteristics, with global projections reaching decades into the future (Peterson
and Broad 2009:70). The main ethical motivation and financial justification for this
globalised research effort in changing climate is to allow better understanding and
prediction of our climate in order to manage it in better ways for society to benefit
and reduce harm that it has enacted on our societies.

When looking through the lens of science ‘climate change’ is described as a long-
term (meaning hundreds of years) change in the climate pattern. From a social
science perspective, we can define ‘changing climate’ as a conspicuous change in

climate parameters such as rainfall, wind, temperature and extreme events, by those
who are affected. The effects of such changes are felt in human culture over a period
of time (generations to generations), thus modifying culture due to adaption to the
changes in climate parameters. Such ‘noticeable’ and felt change is from the
viewpoint of the people that are being studied, and is not measurable with natural
sciences instruments. Thus a concern for social scientists is to understand the
perceptions of people about changing climate so that they can voice out what they
have seen changing in the climate for as long as they can remember.

It cannot be denied that changing climate / climate change1 is one of the phrases
that today is seen as conundrum to many scientists, whether natural or social
scientists. As climate change is measured by natural scientists, the job of social
scientists is to look at the stories that people have about this global phenomena, and
how we are responding to it. In doing that, this research is inspired by the theoretical
lens of environmental justice, in which I acknowledge and I am aware of the effects
of climate change to those who contributed the least. I also recognise that
environmental justice as a framework tries to address issues of environmental
racism, social class issues and any type of environmental discrimination. With that in
mind I therefore looked at views, socio-cultural explanations and adaptive strategies
that small-scale farmers in Soweto have about changing climate, in order not to
measure but get the stories on effects of and adaptation to it, from their perspectives.

1.2 Rationale

The imperative of research topic, for example, is the 2015 drought, one of the most
severe in South Africa’s recent history, which threatened the overall production of
major crops such as maize and wheat. The country had to import tons of these
products at a cost of about 120 billion Rand (R). Understanding perceptions about
global environmental issues, such as the changing climate, can help enlighten us to
better manage our natural resources. Climate change is a threat multiplier that
exacerbates environmental, social, and economic challenges on a global scale. It

1
Both words are many times used interchangeably, however, because this is a social science research, the
preferred phrase that will be used more often in this research is ‘changing climate’. See the detailed discussion
in Chapter Two about this.

affects every sphere of the earth; it is similar to globalisation in a sense that no

culture or society is in isolation from the changing climate.

Doing this research I want to indicate how environmental change and changes in
climate are related, by using people’s perceptions about the environmental changes.
Changes in the climate influence the changes in the environment; this can be
regarded as an effect of changing climate. So, it is this way that changes in the
environment are related to changes in climate. For Aswani and colleagues (2015:2)
“documenting local perceptions of environmental change, therefore, is fundamental
to both discussing adaptation options locally (e.g., community-based disaster risk
reduction) and for governments and other non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
to design ‘anticipatory’ adaptive response plans locally. This, in turn, can assist in
scaling up a more realistic adaptation policy that can be applied regionally, national,
and internationally (e.g., climate change adaptation schemes).” The importance of
integrating local perceptions into national and international debates about climate
change has received increasing attention (Baer and Singer 2014; Descola and
Palsson 1996; Dove 2014; Hulme 2009; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) 2007; 2014; Roncoli et al. 2009). Local perceptions on the impacts of
changing climate often focus on issues of loss and harm, and support the widely
recognised need for global responses to climate change as suggested by scientists
and international institutions. Therefore doing this research, I want to emphasise my
standpoint on the issue of changing climate, namely that local perceptions about
changing climate need to be addressed not only from outside communities but also
within in order to understand people’s responses to climate change. Through their
concerns; understanding of themselves as members of particular groups; their
position in the world; their view on responsibilities for causing climate change; and
their perceptions of possible responses (Jurt et al. 2015:1). In doing so, I bring my
anthropological knowledge that has a core theoretical tenet that culture frames the
way people perceive, understand, experience, and respond to key elements of the
world which they live in. This framing is grounded in systems of meanings and
relationships that mediate human engagements and entanglements with natural
phenomena and processes. This framing is particularly relevant to the study of
climate change, which entails movement away from a known past, through an
altered present, and toward an uncertain future, since what is recalled, recognised,

or envisaged rests on socio-cultural models and values (Roncoli et al. 2009:87).

Individual and collective adaptations are shaped by common ideas about what is
believable, desirable, feasible, and acceptable (Ogalleh et al. 2012:3305).

In South Africa mean annual temperatures have increased by at least 1.5 times the
observed global average of 0.65°C over the past five decades and extreme rainfall
events have increased in frequency (Ziervogel et al. 2014:605). With the increased
annual temperatures, changing climate poses a significant threat to South Africa’s
water resources, food security, health, infrastructure, soil erosion, decreased
subsistence economies, cessation of cultural activities which are likely to impact
negatively on human health conditions as well as ecosystem services and
biodiversity (Rankoana 2016:1). Considering South Africa’s high levels of poverty
and inequality, these impacts pose critical challenges for national development.

One of the sectors vulnerable to changing climate is agriculture. In South Africa

agriculture “contributes about 2.9% to the gross domestic product (GDP) (or about
12% if backward and forward linkages are taken into consideration), 13% (or 30%
considering backward and forward linkages) of employment, and [is] a major source
of foreign exchange contributing about 10% of total value of exports in 2000” (Benhin
2008:666). Furthermore, farmers are key contributors to the food security of the
country. But changing climate has affected and will continue to affect agricultural
ecosystems, with, for example, the growth yield of crops diminishing. This is because
crops are most vulnerable to the changes in climate variables such as temperature
and precipitation. And given the already semi-arid nature of South Africa, with
increased farming on marginal lands, the frequency of droughts and the scarcity of
water, changes in the agricultural sector is inevitable (Benhin 2008:666). In addition
Abia et al. (2014:24) argue that “climate change affects agricultural production
leading to serious environmental, socio-economic and health impacts. The situation
may be more severe in the case of small-scale farmers whose livelihood depends on
the use of available natural resources, especially in developing countries.” Farmers
have knowledge of changing climate, and they experience its impact on their
agricultural production. Therefore the changes that farmers experience are reflected
in decisions that they make, and more broadly, in changes in crop production,
geography, and economics. With our agriculture already in a dire stage, climate

changes pose serious threat to crop productivity in regions that are already food
insecure.

There are limited studies that have elaborated on how people view losses of crops
and livestock that results from climate variability; however, the perceptions can
shape how small farm holders cope and adapt to climate change (Ogalleh et al.
2012:3304). In addressing that shortfall of limited studies in the South African
context, I start by showing the importance of agriculture in the South African
government perspective, as the President of the country Jacob Gedlehlekisa Zuma
in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) in 2015 said: “agriculture is the catalyst of
food growth and food security” (South African Government 2015). In addition to that
the president in SONA 2016 stated that agriculture needs to be revitalised, and there
should be an increase in support of small-scale farmers. This clearly shows how
agriculture is important in South Africa. As agriculture is the main driver of food
security, the research on climate change and how it interact with agriculture has
evolved from top-down approach which estimates the impact of changing climate
through scenario analysis and adaptation practices are identified. While a bottom-up
approach looks at vulnerability perceptions where adaptation strategies are viewed
as processes which involve socioeconomic and policy environments and elements of
decision making (Gbetibouo 2009:2). In the move to focus on adaptation strategies,
we must take into cognisance that changing climate is a global issue; however, there
are places that are more vulnerable than others.

Climate change does not only affect agriculture, there are also four other critical
elements that climate change impact, namely; the infrastructure; health; conflicts and
economy. Firstly, the infrastructure that I refer to in this research includes existing
transport systems, energy plants, renewable energy infrastructure, industries, water
supply networks, education and health infrastructure. The interconnectedness of
these infrastructures is a problem because the breakdown of one infrastructure may
crumble the whole system (Chappin and van der Lei 2014; Forzieri et al. 2018).

Secondly, climate change also affects health. Many studies have presented
evidence of the observed effects of climate change on vector-borne and other
infectious diseases. The main cause of the deteriorating health in this climatic
environment includes heat waves (in which many studies have shown that mortality

rises in hot weather conditions especially for infants and old people). The other
causes are floods, droughts and storms. These natural disasters have a variety of
health impacts that range from physical injuries, morbidities, and mortality. These
natural disasters causes deaths through increased drowning, diarrhoeal and
respiratory deaths especially in low-income countries (Haines et al. 2006).

The agents of disease transmission are very sensitive to weather conditions

especially those that spend their lifecycle outside the human body. The pathogens
that are carried by numerous insects are exposed to ambient weather. Vector-borne
diseases typically show seasonal patterns in which the role of temperature and
rainfall are well documented. The example of these seasonal diseases may include
malaria, which display considerable year-to-year variation in some regions that can
also be partly explained by climatic factors. Climate change then, puts burden on the
quest to fight these diseases (Haines et al. 2006).

Thirdly, climate change will also have an impact on the nature and drivers of conflicts
experienced in different contexts. Climate change is currently reducing the
availability of much needed resources such as food and water to name the few. This
then creates the culture of privilege in a sense that, only few can have access to
already stressed resources. Many scholars have shown that people have been
fighting to have access to the limited environmental resources that have been
affected by the changing climate. However when we look at climate change and
conflict, many of the studies are mostly about politics, security and assumption that
climate change has a potential to disrupt societies and cause either wars or political
turmoil in various ways as I have alluded above. However what must also be noted
when looking at climate change and conflict is that political instabilities may also be
driving climate change. Currently we have political competition that is enforced or
fuelled by fossil fuel economic growth in which the aim is to provide wealth to build
weapons and armies. The evidence of this can be taken in what has happened
during the period of 1960s when there was a Cold War that up-to-date is also a
major anthropogenic contributor to changes in the climate after industrial revolution
(Dalby 2018).

Climate change is the mother of all externalities and any other environmental
problems. Weather is one of the engine of climate change that affects all other

elements I have mentioned above. The breakdown of these elements in the midst of
climate change becomes very expensive especially to low-income economies that
have contributed the least. The effects of climate change are incommensurable in
terms of economy. Climate change has hindered the economic growth of many
countries, as they use a lot of money in finding ways to adapt to the effects of climate
change (Tol 2009).

This then shows that changing climate is no longer an external threat to be managed
‘out there’, but is an intimate element of human history, both an outcome and driver
of development decisions for individuals, organisations and governments. This
requires a closer look at social relations and practices, even values, as sites for
adaptation, and suggests that it is necessary, but not sufficient, to control the
impacts of changing climate through technological innovations such as
environmental engineering and crop selection (Pelling 2011:14).

Since one part of my research will also look at the adaptive mechanism that small-
scale farmers in Soweto use to respond to changing climate, the following part will
provide a snapshot of the research I conducted in Free State 2015.

In the study that I have conducted, many farmers spoke about drought; the reason
being that South Africa is prone to drought, and in 2015 has been struck by a severe
drought that now threatened the overall production of major crops such as maize and
wheat. This drought is the result of changing climate. In addition to drought and
adaptation, Paavola (2008:8) argues that “people adopt and modify livelihood
strategies as a response to environmental stress, of which climate variability and
climate change are examples. People are often influenced by multiple stressors such
as droughts and plant and livestock diseases simultaneously.” Drought is an
example of how vulnerable humans and other organisms can be, therefore the
following paragraph will be looking at the requirements that are needed before
adapting, which are identified by Gbetibouo (2009).

My personal motivation for this topic is that since 2012 I have been hunting in Free
State in places such as Sasolburg and Bethlehem. These places are mostly active in
agriculture, especially maize cultivation. While I was hunting with my uncle Mr
Ngoasheng, I noticed that some of the land of the farmers is no longer cultivated. I
asked one of the famers the reason for not cultivating the land, and he told me that

the temperature has risen in the area and there is too little rain so the crops are not
growing. That perplexed me until now, because what I also noticed is that there were
other farmers who were still practicing farming. So the question that I asked myself
was that how they did it while there are others who have given up? So an idea came
to my mind that I must try and find out their perceptions on changing climate and
what strategies do those farmers who are able to farm use to make sure that their
crops grow. This became my honours research project that I finished in 2015. During
the December holiday of 2015 I went home to Mthatha (Bhaziya location in a village
called eMabhambeni) in the Eastern Cape. Whilst there I felt melancholy to see there
were no places where farming activities were taking place. Me and my friends used
to call this province “elona phondo lihlale liluhlaza” [the ever-green province]. When I
asked people around there, they said that the year was not good for them to plough
anything because if they did they will waste energy and lose anything that they had. I
asked my grandmother, who is 89 years old, why they did not plough maize in
December 2015; she said to me: “Mzukulu wam imbalela yenze umhlaba waba
lukhuni kwaye woma kengoku ayikho into ezakuthi ikhule” [my grandson, the drought
has made the soil to be dry and hard to plough; therefore there is nothing that will
grow]. Hearing these stories encouraged me to continue studying the perceptions of
farmers about changing climate and also integrate the knowledge that elderly people
have. This then led to the aims of my research.

1.3 Aim and objectives of the research

The aim of my research is to explore the ways in which small-scale farmers in

Soweto engage changing climate, through perception, knowledge, valuation and
adaptation responses.

The objectives of this research project are to:

! Examine small-scale farmers’ perception of climate change,

! Investigate their socio-cultural explanations for changing climate,
! Explore how they value their environment, and
! Describe the small-scale farmers’ adaptation practices.

1.4 Structure of this dissertation

The discussion in this dissertation is structured around five chapters. In Chapter

Two I start by defining key concepts. The discussion continues to look at ways in
which society engage with the issue of changing climate. This will be done through
examining their perceptions, knowledges, valuations and responses to changing
climate.

In Chapter Three I discuss my research design, as well as different methods that

were used to collect data, and justification for using those methods. The way in
which data has been analysed is also discussed in this chapter. The issues related
to trustworthiness, rigour and ethics are discussed in this chapter. My reflection and
experiences I have about this research are also found in this chapter.

In Chapter Four I analyse and present the results of the fieldwork. My participants
are introduced in this chapter. Themes that emerged from fieldwork are discussed in
this chapter, and supported by relevant literature reviewed in Chapter Two.

Chapter Five provides a conclusion to this dissertation. A brief summary of my

findings is provided in this chapter, followed by recommendations for future research.

1.5 Conclusion

This chapter is the point of departure for the rest of this dissertation. It is the section
that guides the reader about the content of this document. The background, purpose
and rationale of this dissertation are found within this chapter. The next section will
review the past and current environmental anthropology and human geography
literature that relates to climate change and small-scale farmers.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

Climate change is a global and local environmental, social and political phenomenon
that is reshaping the way we think about ourselves, our societies and humanity’s
place on earth (Hulme 2009:1). Anthropologists’ interest in human-environment
relations (including weather, climate and society) is not new (see Baer and Singer
2014; Descola and Palsson 1996; Dove 2014). Their engagement in climate change,
since the 1970s, and more so since the 1990s, gives an indication that climate
change is linked to social and cultural ideas and behaviours (Barnes et al. 2013;
Dove 2014; Hulme 2009:1; Roncoli et al. 2009:87). Due to their in-depth field
methodology, long engagement with human-environment interactions, and its holistic
view on science and society, anthropologists are in a good position to interpret
knowledge about a changing climate, and also to communicate information to those
who are interested in climate change (Barnes et al. 2013; Crate 2008:569). From an
anthropological point of view changing climate is about socio-culture2 as it highlights
the relations between humans and the environment; it can either bring different kinds
of risks and opportunities, threatens cultural survival strategies (Crate and Nuttall
2009:12). The underpinning decision-making and adaptation strategies are the
perceptions of environmental change, associated risks, and the perceived causes.
Therefore this global phenomenon requires a global response (Aswani et al. 2015:2;
Smith 2007:200).

The literature review will start by defining key concepts that are related to climate
change; this will enable the readers to be familiar with terms used throughout this
dissertation. In this next section of this literature review I clarify my meaning of the
concepts weather, climate, ‘climate variability, ‘climate change’, ‘changing
climate’, ‘drought’, anthropogenic climate change’ and ‘natural climate
change’. The second part of the literature review will discuss knowledge traditions /
local knowledge on changing climate. In the third part of this literature review I will
start by discussing four overlapping socio-anthropological themes on climate change
that forms the foundation of this dissertation. The first theme is about ‘perception’,

2
This term is used to refer to any group of people that share a common interest.

10


and will look at how people perceive changing climate through socio-cultural lenses.
The second theme will be about knowledge, and will discuss how people
comprehend what they see, based on their mental models and social locations. The
third theme is valuation in which I discuss how people give value to what they know
in terms of shared meanings about changing climate. The last theme is the
adaptation responses of how people (in my case small-scale farmers) respond,
individually and collectively, to changing climate, on the basis of these meanings and
values. In this theme the first thing that will be discussed are the perceived effects of
changing climate on agriculture to which people respond, followed by the effects of
changing climate on knowledge. And I’ll end the discussion with the adaptation
strategies used to deal the effects. I then start with a discussion of key concepts.

2.2 Defining key concepts

Research on changing climate / climate change without a definition of terms, is like

allowing football players to play football with the rules of rugby; clearly there will be
confusion and not a common understanding. The first term that I define is weather.
Christopherson (2012:192) defines weather as “the short-term, day-to-day condition
of the atmosphere”; so, basically weather is a snapshot of atmospheric conditions on
a particular day. A term closely related to it is climate. According to Goosse et al.
(2010:1) “climate is traditionally defined as the description in terms of the mean and
variability of relevant atmospheric variables such as temperature, precipitation and
wind. Climate can thus be viewed as a synthesis or aggregate of weather. This
implies that the portrayal of the climate in a particular region must contain an
analysis of mean conditions, of the seasonal cycle, of the probability of extremes
such as severe frost and storms, etc.” The term ‘climate’ is linked with climate
variability; the term ‘climate variability’ means deviations in the mean state of climate,
and inconsistencies (e.g., in occurrence of wind and extreme precipitation), on all
temporal and spatial scales beyond those of individual weather events, including
short-term fluctuations that happen from year to year (Cullet 2008:110).

Given that my study is in South Africa, a drought-prone country, and that one of the
main ways we on the Highveld experience climate change is through irregular rain, it
is important to define drought and indicate different types of droughts. According to
the South African National Weather Service (2008:1) “Drought is a deficiency in

11


precipitation over an extended period, usually a season or more, resulting in a water

shortage causing adverse impacts on vegetation, animals, and/or people. It is a
normal, recurrent feature of climate that occurs in virtually all climate zones, from
very wet to very dry. Drought is a temporary aberration from normal climatic
conditions, thus it can vary significantly from one region to another.” This leads us to
the types of droughts.

Moeletsi and Walker (2012:426) identify four types of droughts. The first is
meteorological drought, which occurs when there is no rainfall in a large area over a
period of time. The second is hydrological drought, which is the abnormality of lack
of water in water bodies such as dams and lakes; this abnormality is caused by
evaporation, which is a response to the increasing temperature on earth. The third
type of drought is agricultural drought, which is in response to meteorological
drought. This type of drought can be described as lack of water in the soil to support
the growth of crops and other agricultural plants. The fourth and last type of drought
is known as socioeconomic drought; it occurs when the water resources systems fail
to meet the societal demands for water. So, if the dams and other water saving
bodies do not meet the water demands of the society that can be regarded as the
socioeconomic drought.

Different institutions authors define ‘climate change’ differently, depending on how it

affects them. The most appropriate definition for climate change probably is the one
that has been defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a
panel consisting of numerous climate change scientists from around the world.
According to the IPCC (2007:30) “climate change refers to a change in the state of
the climate that can be identified (e.g., using statistical tests) by changes in the mean
and / or the variability of its properties, and that persists for an extended period,
typically decades or longer. It refers to any change in climate over time, whether due
to natural variability or as a result of human activity. This usage differs from that in
the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, where climate
change refers to a change of climate that is attributed directly or indirectly to human
activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and that is in addition to
natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods.” Hannah et al.
(2002:264) expand this, including things such as change in oscillations, and their
definition of climate change is then “Climate change is much more than just

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temperature change, so biodiversity also will be confronted with changing rainfall

patterns, declining water balances, increased extreme climate events, and changes
in oscillations such as El Nino”. The next term is ‘changing climate’; this term is
mostly used by social scientists to refer to climate change; taking cognisance the
way people define and describe the changes in the climate.

This dissertation is more about the observations and socio-cultural explanations that
farmers have about climate change; however, climate change is more about long-
term (over hundreds of years) changes, and those long-term changes are not
observable by ordinary people in their life-time (typically less than hundred years).
To indicate the observable changes in climate by people over their life-time, I use the
phrase ‘changing climate’. This is in line with Bruce and Geoghegan’s (2010:287)
argument that “Using ‘climate and the ways it may change’ in preference to ‘climate
change’ enables a relational approach to emerge which: (1) does not insist on
research participants being able to disentangle anthropogenic causes from natural
causes of climate change; (2) acknowledges the way an understanding of climate
change is conjoined with other kinds of knowledge about the local environment; and
(3) allows different ways of knowing to play a legitimate part in framing a culture of
climate change.” Therefore it is important to define changing climate, which is the
term that will be mostly used in this study. The definition of changing climate is one
of the most important definitions in the field of anthropology of climate change
because it allows us as anthropologists to ask in-depth questions to people involved
in studies, about climate change without having to expect them to know the core
science of climate; but focusing on their observation and cultural explanation.

The terms ‘changing climate’ and ‘climate change’ will be used interchangeably in
the discussions of the findings because the participants are more familiar with the
term ‘climate change’ rather than ‘changing climate’. However, the reader must have
an idea that the most appropriate term in the context of this study is ‘changing
climate’. From a social science perspective I define ‘changing climate’ as a
conspicuous change in climate parameters such as rainfall, wind, temperature and
extreme events, as observed and described by those who are affected by it. The
effects of such changes are felt in human culture over a period of time (usually
seasons, but depends on the geographical location and culture), thus modifying
culture due to responses to the changes in rainfall, soil nutrients, etc. Such

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‘noticeable’ and felt change is from the viewpoint of the people that are being
studied, and is not per measurable with natural sciences instruments.

The next term that I will define is ‘anthropogenic climate change’, which is simply
about the changes in the climatic patterns due to human activities. Head and Gibson
(2012:699) argue that “anthropogenic climate change is a quintessentially ‘modern’
problem. The fossil fuel-based economies of industrial capitalism, the key economic
feature of modernity, are the root cause of enhanced greenhouse gas emissions
destabilising global climate.” This can be supported by general knowledge that the
problem of climate change started during the time of industrial revolution, were the
emission of the greenhouse gases started to pour in to the atmosphere, but the
problem is not the greenhouse per se but the abundance of them in the atmosphere
which leads to enhanced greenhouse effects and that causes heat waves and long-
wave radiations, to be trapped on earth instead of escaping. What happens here is
that when the sun emits energy, it is a shortwave radiation that penetrates the
earth’s atmosphere, and that insolation which is the energy that enters the earth’s
atmosphere becomes trapped in the lower part of the atmosphere. As energy is
being trapped in the atmosphere it increases the average temperature of the earth;
that phase is known as global warming, which is the current phase of climate change
(Christopherson 2012:196).

Human activities contribute to changing climate by causing changes in earth’s

atmosphere through the amount of greenhouse gases, aerosols and cloudiness.
Human activities result in emission of four principal greenhouse gases, namely
carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and halocarborns (Archer 2007:129; US
Department of State 2007:64). The first gas, which is carbon dioxide, has increased
due to burning of fossil fuels that are used in transportation, and heating and cooling
of manufacturing of cement and other goods. The second gas, methane, has also
increased as results of human activities that are related to agriculture, natural gas
distribution and landfills from human waste. The third most abundant gas in the
atmosphere due to human activities is the halocarbon gases; the principal
halocarbons include the chlorofluorocarbons which causes stratospheric ozone
depletion. The last gas that has increased over time is nitrous oxide generated from
human activities such as agriculture, fossil fuel combustion, wastewater
management, and industrial processes are increasing the amount of nitrous oxide in

14


the atmosphere. Nitrous oxide molecules stay in the atmosphere for an average of
114 years before being removed by a sink or destroyed through chemical reactions
(US Department of State 2007:64). Furthermore, the harmful impact from a unit of
these gases is the same regardless of its source (Cullet 2008:109). It can therefore
be said that we are now living in the Anthropocene which is the term that has been
recently proposed by Zalasiewicz et al. (2008) (cited in Barry and Hall-McKim
2014:186), which in a nutshell refers to a geological period when human influences
on the earth (including global climate) has become widely apparent. The next term
will be ‘global warming’, which occurs because of anthropogenic climate change.

A concept related to climate change, and wrongly used by many as synonymous to

climate change, is global warming. Global warming is the current stage within climate
change, indicating an increase of earth’s average surface temperature, due to the
build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by humans (Cullet 2008:110). With
the knowledge of global warming and how it is linked to anthropogenic climate
change indicated above, below I discuss natural climate change, which can be
referred to as the natural causes of climate change.

Natural climate change is more about the natural occurrence of climate change in
which humans have no influence in it. To discuss the natural climate change and the
causes of it, I first consider the earth and how it operates. The earth revolves around
the sun; this is known as orbit. As the earth orbits around the sun its axis tilt by 23.5°;
this causes difference in seasons, and this has an impact on climate variation,
because of the change in the rotation of the earth to more oblique way (Lockwood
1979:92). Another natural causes of climate change is, volcanic activity that occurs
in the interior of the earth. The carbon and other gases found in the volcanoes move
from the rocks deep within the earth to the surface, and produce volcanic eruptions.
These eruptions put more CO2 in the atmosphere, thus continuing to exert burden of
the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere; these gases are driven around the world
by strong winds (Behringer 2010:18; Ruddiman 2000:91). Natural causes of climate
change are just the earth’s response to natural phenomena such as the rotation and
orbit of the earth, and also moving tectonic plates that then causes the volcanic
eruptions.

15


The other natural cause of climate change that we take for granted is the earth’s
atmosphere. The earth’s atmosphere determines the effects of solar radiation on the
planet. The atmosphere consists of approximately 20 per cent oxygen and nearly 80
per cent nitrogen and trace gases, including 0.03 per cent of the greenhouse gas
carbon dioxide. The effects on the earth’s atmosphere strictly correspond to the law
of conservation of energy that states that energy cannot be created or destroyed. It
can only be transformed from one for into another (Behringer 2010:16). When it
comes to climate and atmosphere, solar radiation reaching the earth minus reflected
radiation equals the heat radiation from the earth. The oceans and the atmosphere
share the same heat within the climate system and have an impact on regional
climate. The amount of radiation is influenced by the proportion of absorption gasses
contained in the atmosphere. Apart from water vapour, these gases include trace
gases such as methane (CH4), chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), nitrogen dioxide (N2O),
and carbon dioxide (CO2) (Behringer 2010:16).

The sun also plays a role in changing the climate. The solar variation might cause
climatic instability, as Henson (2006:246) argue that “the total solar energy reaching
earth changes by very small amounts over time; even across the eleven-year solar
cycle, it varies by less than one per-cent. The most thorough modelling studies of the
twentieth century attribute only a third or so of the planet’s warming to solar changes.
Some works have suggested that changes in cosmic rays connected to solar
variation can affect cloud cover and thus climate.” The greenhouse gases and solar
radiation changes caused by the position of the earth to the sun and also by solar
cycle affect the absorption, scattering and emission of radiation within the
atmosphere and at the earth’s surface. The resulting positive or negative changes in
energy balance due to these factors are expressed as radiative forcing, which is
used to compare warming or cooling influences on global climate (IPCC 2007:37).
Physicists long thought that the sun’s radiated power remained the same (the ‘solar
constant’), however, in reality it undergoes variation. Now we know the connection
between heat balance and sunspots: a reduction or absence of sunspots usually
goes together with periods of cooling on earth (Behringer 2010:14). The natural
causes of climate change are the ones that are responsible for global cooling which
is defined as the global decrease in the earth's average temperature (Haluzan

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2009:1). There is no evidence that shows humans being responsible for global
cooling.

Adding more to the terms that are related to the broader topic of changing climate is
adaptation, which can be regarded as the process of developing characteristics that
will improve the chances for survival in a given environment. Pittock (2009:133)
defines adaptation as an “automatic or planned response to change that minimises
the adverse effects and maximise any benefits.” Furthermore, adaptations are part of
cultural knowledge and practice, evolved over time in effect, part of the overall toolkit
for life (Fiske et al. 2014:42). I elaborate on adaptation to climate change later in this
chapter. The concepts related to climate change have been defined and described
above; moving on below I will discuss the term ‘small-scale farmer’ in the South
African context and how it differ from use in the rest of the world.

2.3 Small-scale farmers in the South African context

In the past (apartheid era) South African policies have reduced small-scale farmers
into a state where they contribute very little to the economy as a whole. In order to
understand what a small-scale farmer is in the South African context, we must divide
South African agriculture into two categories of farmers. The first one is subsistence
farmers (mainly black) in rural areas (former homelands), and the second one is
large-scale commercial (mainly white) farmers. This is in contrast with the situation in
many other countries in the world where one would find a whole range of farm sizes,
ranging from the very small (often subsistence / small-scale) farmer to the very large
farmer / agribusiness type. In South Africa the concept of ‘small-scale farmer’ is
usually value-laden, creates wrong impressions and is often viewed in a negative
light (Kirsten and Van Zyl 1998:552; Thamaga-Chitja and Morojele 2014:147). In
South Africa ‘small-scale’ was often regarded as backward, non-productive, non-
commercial, subsistence agriculture that we found in parts of the former homeland
areas (now regarded as rural areas). The concept ‘small-scale’ farmer is associated
with black farmers whom are regarded as lacking the ability to become large-scale
commercial farmers. On the other hand, white farmers are generally perceived to be
large-scale commercial farmers, who are modern and efficient, using advanced
technology. These generalisations are a misrepresentation of the facts. For example,
almost 25% of all farms in the ‘white’ commercial sector covers a land area smaller

17


than 200 ha and almost five per cent less than 10ha. While these farms are small,
they are considered to be ‘commercial’, although they make a small contribution to
South Africa’s total gross farm income (Chisasa and Makina 2012:771; Kirsten and
Van Zyl 1998:552; Thamaga-Chitja and Morojele 2014:148). In many developing
countries, a small-scale farmer is usually disadvantaged and vulnerable to either
economic incentives or changes in the environment.

Many people judge small-scale farmers based on viability. According to Kirsten and
Van Zyl (1998:553), South Africans typically judge a farm’s viability on its land size
without necessarily considering other attributes, for example, the specific farming
enterprise or managerial ability. Therefore any definition of a small-scale farmer in
terms of ‘viable farm size’ alone had a deeply negative effect on the relative
profitability of farms smaller than the viable size. Given the historic high levels of
official assistance and subsidies to white farmers during the previous apartheid
period, the viability definition became almost a self-fulfilling prophecy because, under
the Agricultural Credit Act of 1966, all farms below the viable size which in those
cases were black-owned farmers, were excluded from assistance. That is why it
comes as no surprise that small-scale agriculture in South Africa is considered in a
negative light (Kirsten and Van Zyl 1998:553). It is thus fairly obvious why small-
scale agriculture in South Africa never really had a chance in a policy environment
that deliberately favoured large-scale farms. However, size is not a good criteria for
defining small farms, as Kirsten and Van Zyl (1998:554) makes an example by
stating “one hectare of irrigated peri-urban land, suitable for vegetable farming or
herb gardening, has a higher profit potential than 500 hectares of low quality land in
the Karoo. Turnover, or rather the level of net farm income, determines the farm size
category, not the land size.”

It must be acknowledged that small-scale farms is now important for the current
government, as this is reflected in both the State of the Nation Addresses of 2015
and 2016 when the president of the Republic of South Africa, Mr Jacob Gedlehlekisa
Zuma, put more emphasis on agriculture and that most of the small-scale farmers
must be supported by the government departments. From a policy point of view the
Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries needs to identify its target group or
clientele. This can be achieved by knowing the real definition of a small-scale farmer,
which according to Kirsten and Van Zyl (1998:555), a small-scale farmer is one

18


whose scale of operation is too small to attract the provision of the services he/she
needs to be able to significantly increase his/her productivity. In agreement with
Kirsten and van Zyl, Aliber et al. (2009:142) argue that small-scale farmers are black
farmers “who consistently market a surplus but who do not necessarily regard
agriculture as a full-time activity, or necessarily as the only source of income.” In
contrast to what Kirsten and Van Zyl have put forward, Cousins (2010:8) tends to
differ when trying to define what small-scale farmer is. The author argues that “the
term ‘small-scale’ is often defined and used in an inconsistent manner, referring,
inter alia, to producers who occasionally sell products for cash as a supplement to
other sources of income; to those who regularly market a surplus after their
consumption needs have been met; and to those who are small-scale commercial
farmers, with a primary focus on production for the market. Two criteria (often
implicit, sometimes explicit) tend to predominate: size of land holding and extent of
production for the market. Other possible criteria such as the use of different types of
labour (e.g., household or family labour, hired workers or cooperative labour), or
source of farming capital, are occasionally mentioned but rarely discussed.” These
different authors have put forward different arguments in an attempt to define small-
scale farmer and what constitute small-scale farms.

In this dissertation, the most appropriate definition that will be used throughout this
dissertation is the one provided by Taylor (2012:25) who stated that a small-scale
farmer is a farmer who farm on a small scale (a few hectares) in an effort to make a
living off the sales of their produce. It is these farmers that need government
assistance and who should be empowered to form part of a new and vibrant
agricultural sector. Establishing the average size of such farms is guesswork, given
that the definition itself is so imprecise (Aliber et al. 2009:142). However, it is clear
that small-scale farmers who make up a significant proportion of the actors in the
sector have to grapple with the daily challenges imposed by a changing climate and
efforts need to made address these challenges. One important action to look at is the
inclusion of local knowledge of small-scale farmers in this global environmental
discourse.

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2.4 Knowledge traditions / Local knowledge on changing climate

One of the currently debated issues in the climate change discourse is the inclusion
of local knowledge (Jasanoff 2010). The issue of global climate change is one of the
conundrums that humans face today and it has established itself in public discourse.
Climate change is no longer a scientific study that has a single truth. As different
communities around the world experience localised climate change and have given it
a meaning, according to their own socio-cultural context.

Thus the issue of changing climate has established itself in society through
individuals’ everyday experience of the weather and related long term changes.
Individuals within our societies can make sense of changing climate by their
everyday experience of weather; this enables the idea of knowledge contingency,
where knowledge is constructed as a result of social processes (Hulme 2012:6).
Through these social processes, people are able to realise that the present and
future are interacting in a new ways when we talk about climate change. The poets,
visionaries and sociologists tell us that the future can only be imagined or invented
but it can never be predicted (Hulme 2010:270). On the basis of publicising the issue
of changing climate, scientific assessments, such as from the IPCC, has helped
establish climate change as a global phenomenon, meaning they have made the
world see that climate change is not a local issue affecting a certain population only;
it is a global problem that affects all people regardless of their position. However, the
IPCC in the process of establishing climate change as a global phenomenon has
detached knowledge from meaning, by focusing only on scientific facts which are
based on detached observation. There is a huge ignorance of the fact that climate
change arise from impersonal observation whereas meanings emerge from
embedded experience. The climate science does not allow society to state the
common sense in the issue of climate change (Jasanoff 2010:233).

Climate change as an environmental issue directly affects people in four inter-related

levels (communal, political, spatial and temporal), contrary to climate science which
cuts against the grain of ordinary human experience which is, the basis for their
social arrangements and ethical instincts (Jasonaff 2010:237). When looking at the
first inter-related level that is communal, one finds out that as the boundaries of
states dissolve groups within the society compete to represent nature on their own

20


terms. Politically, changing climate cannot be incorporated within the knowledge-

making routines of even the most scientifically advanced nation-states or validated in
accordance with any single nation’s sovereign administrative practices. Climate,
moreover, is spatially limitless; it is everywhere and nowhere, hence not easily
accessible to imaginations rooted in specific places. And, lastly, changing climate
occurs over spans of time that are not easily assimilated to circadian or seasonal
rhythms: it is neither perceptible nor provable as a day or year of human life shades
into the next (Jasonaff 2010:237). That is why when we talk about the durable
representations of the environment, we have to emphasise that such representations
are sustained by shared normative and socio-cultural understandings of the world as
it ought to be. When it comes to nature, human societies seem to demand not only
objectively claimed matters of fact but also subjectively appreciated facts that matter
(Jasonaff 2010:248). This means that now climate change can also be understood
by including the experience of the society in their daily life regarding climate, so it is
not only up to science to convey a message of threat about changing climate.

When it comes to knowledge, it is imperative to understand how important

indigenous knowledge or local knowledge is in any environmental discourse.
According to Warren et al. (1995) (cited in Dudgeon and Berkes 2003:75)
“Indigenous knowledge has been used to refer to the local knowledge of indigenous
peoples or to the unique, local knowledge of particular cultural groups. As commonly
used in the development literature, the term ‘indigenous’ is meant to emphasise the
culture of the original inhabitants of an area, as opposed to globalised culture.”
‘Indigenous’ knowledge is being affected by changing climate in such a way that
many ‘indigenous’ cultures who contributed less or nothing to the changing climate
have to be open and try to learn other cultural explanations and adaptive
mechanisms of other cultures to cope with the effects of changing climate. Therefore
we can no longer say that there is an ‘indigenous’ static knowledge anymore,
because there is no culture or society that lives in isolation from the effects of
changing climate. And ‘indigenous’ knowledge that people had before has been
updated to cope with the effects of changing climate, further reiterating that
‘indigenous’ knowledge is not static, as implied many times. In moving away from
using the term ‘indigenous knowledge’ to avoid exclusion of certain type of
knowledge that has been exposed to globalisation, the word ‘local knowledge’ is

21


used as a substitute. Local knowledge is defined by Berkes (1999:8) as "a

cumulative body of knowledge, practice and belief, evolving by adaptive processes
and handed down through generations by cultural transmission, about the
relationship of living beings (including humans) with one another and with their
environment”.

This research uses ‘local knowledge’ based on the definition of knowledge traditions
or knowledge diversity as defined by Lesley Green (2008). Lesley Green, who is one
of the renown authors in the discourse of indigenous/local knowledge, argues for
acknowledgment of ‘knowledge practices’, ‘knowledge traditions’ or just ‘knowledge
diversity’. These terms indicate a plurality regarding knowledge, insinuating that
there are various knowledges that people have about their environment (Green
2008:149). The idea of knowledge diversity will be used as the building block to
show how urban farmers adapt to changing climate. What will be interesting here is
that farmers will not only use local / indigenous knowledge to adapt to changing
climate.

In line with knowledge traditions, and the linkage of anthropology and climate
change, anthropology as a field of study promotes the idea that any environmental
changes cannot be studied or viewed in isolation from the social life. People live with
these changes in a comprehensive manner; therefore social reposes to climate
change are needed (Hastrup and Rubow 2014:4). Anthropologists have made major
contributions to new frameworks, methods and models for understanding the
complex connections between the economy, the environment and human well-being
under climate change, while ensuring that these processes integrate environmental
and social realities at various scales (Fiske et al. 2014:29). There has also been
substantial effort to comprehend how local communities have responded and
adapted to environmental and climatic change, and they also contribute to the study
of climate change by bringing methodological and conceptual tools that tap into the
locally and finely contextualised ecological knowledge developed by small-scale
communities all over the world (Aswani et al. 2015:1). This study integrates both the
environmental and social realities in explaining the current trends in the world of
climate change.

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Four socio-anthropological themes in the study of changing climate have been

identified by Roncoli and colleagues (2009:88) in which they discuss: “how people
perceive [changing] climate … through [social] cultural lenses [perception]; how
people comprehend what they see based on their mental models and social
locations [knowledge]; how they give value to what they know in terms of shared
meanings [valuation]; and how they respond, individually and collectively, on the
basis of these meanings and values [adaptive response].”3

In the changing climate discourse, it is learned that local people may argue that
despite them contributing the least to greenhouse gas emissions, they are the ones
most at risk from its consequences due to their dependence upon and close
relationship with the environment and its resources (Crate and Nuttall 2009:12). With
such dependency on the environment and its resources, there have been massive
changes in the ecosystems and these have in many cases been accompanied by
opportunistic and often environmentally devastating resource exploitations.
Therefore for local people changing climate is not something that should be
examined in isolation; it increases already-existing problems of poverty,
deterioration, marginalisation, and non-inclusion in national and international policy-
making processes and discourses (Crate and Nuttall 2009:12). These national and
international policy-making processes and discourses on changing climate have
been characterised non-inclusion of indigenous / local people. To really challenge
climate change people on the ground must be consulted and their voices must be
prioritised in formulating ways of adapting to climate change. To do this the four
social-anthropological themes that better explain the way local populations (small-
scale farmers) engage on the changing climate needs to be thoroughly examined.

2.5 The perceptions of changes in climate by small-scale farmers

On what many farmers think have changed within the climatic parameters; this will
depend mostly on their perceptions. Perceptions are the opinions held by people
about a particular subject, such opinions might be based on a variety of sourcing
information, such as own experience, science, knowledge or even spiritual beliefs.

3
In their review of studies on changing glaciers and society, Gagné and colleagues (2014:794) found similar
themes (what they call processes), namely processes of ‘attribution’ (“how people assign moral and spiritual
values to glaciers as elements of the natural world”), processes of ‘perception’ (“how people perceive glacier
change through their empirical knowledge of the environment”), and processes of valuation.

23


By examining different case studies a clear overview on how farmers describe

changes that they have been observing is possible. Under this theme of perceptions,
four sub-themes are glaring, namely: (1) perceptions about changed in rainfall (this
into consideration both the experiences of reduced rainfall and also the abundance
of it); (2) rising temperature (this sub-theme has revealed that there is a consensus
around the increased temperatures from many people around Africa); (3) changes in
the velocity of the wind (many farmers around Africa have also agreed that there is a
change in the velocity of the wind, and the wind has become frequent and
devastating in the past years); and (4) various other indicators that indicate changing
climate for people (this sub-theme discusses various ways in which people predict
climate change using the environment and animals).

2.5.1 Changed rainfall

Many farmers rely on their own experiences to understand changes in their

environmental context; this can include meteorological changes and also signs
around the environment that indicate either warm or cold season. When it comes to
the parameters of climate that have changed over the years, many different farmers
from different geographical fields, ranging from Sahel (west of Africa) to east Sumba
in Indonesia all have observed changes in the rainfall. They all agree that there has
been less precipitation over the past years (Mertz et al. 2009:809; Orr et al.
2012:178; Reyes-Garcia et al. 2016:114). In a study done by Smith Jr and
colleagues in rural Nevada in North America, based on in-depth interviews, they
argue that changing climate has impacted the ‘tribal people’ in Nevada, as they see
rainfall as the climate parameter that has changed over the past years and the effect
of that is less water for plants and animals (Smith et al. 2014:110). In contrast to that,
many people in Bangladesh state that over the past years they have been getting
more precipitations and that have been affecting their crops with too much water
hampering the growing of some crops (Lewis 2012:156). Farmers in Yucatan
Peninsula (Mexico) had mixed responses in a study done by Faust and colleagues.
They found that farmers around this area had observed a huge drop in rainfall that
then lead to huge drought that affected crops in a huge way. Other farmers in the
same area did not share the same sentiments; they stated that in some seasons
they had observed a huge precipitation which leads to massive floods, and when that
happens the farming activities are put on hold up until all water above the surface is

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infiltrated (Faust et al. 2012:142). This analysis indicates that local people will
changes in rainfall imposed by changing climate differently and this depends on the
context in which they find themselves. It is also clear that in some instances,
changes in rainfall patterns will result in droughts and some context and flooding
others with their accompanying negative effects.

2.5.2 Rising temperatures

Temperature is another climatic parameter that people said has changed in the past
decades. Many farmers in Sahel have observed increase in temperature and how
they have observed this is through their feeling of intense heat, which then reduced
the length of cold spells and their intensity (Mertz et al. 2009:809; Reyes-Garcia
2016:114). In a study done in eleven countries of which ten were analysed (Burkina
Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Niger, Senegal, South Africa and
Zambia), farmers in these countries share the same sentiments that the average
temperature have increased over the past years and it has become less predictable
and the rising average temperature has cost farmers a staggering amount of money
in adaptation to drought and other temperature related disasters (Maddison
2007:24). To add on that, Capstick and his colleague did a systematic literature
review for almost fifty-seven (57) articles and looked at the earliest and relatively
small-scale studies carried out in the 1980s and early 1990s. For them these
researches were useful for understanding the nature of public awareness of climate
change at this early point in time, such as a commonplace conflation between
climate change and stratospheric ozone depletion. With all these articles combined
most of the people that were interviewed within those case studies all have the same
views that the temperature had been increasing with its accompanying
consequences including alteration of precipitation patterns (Capstick et al. 2015:37).
Other studies have highlighted the localised devastating effect of rising
temperatures. Some of these include studies by Henson (2006:45) which talks about
the heatwave that struck Europe in early August of 2003 that killed thousands of
people. Not only were people affected by the rising temperature, livestock and crops
were also devastated by these rising temperatures.

Also studies done in China by Burnham and colleagues (2015:21), found that many
people in China believe that temperature has risen over the years and they are

25


getting warmer winters with changes in the dates of their traditional agricultural
calendar and changes in the 24-solar terms. In the study, the farmers indicated that
through Jingzhe the third solar term and begins when the sun is at a celestial
longitude of 345°. However this Jingzhe is arriving earlier. They indicated in their
calendar, it traditionally lasts from early February to late March. Jingzhe marks the
time when insects become active, indicating the weather is getting warmer. Jingzhe
is important to farmers because it signifies the beginning of the farming season.
During this two-week period, fields are ploughed and prepared, cold resistant
seedlings are planted and fertilisers are applied. The interviewed farmers’
perceptions of the earlier arrival of Jingzhe suggest that winter is getting warmer and
spring is arriving earlier (Burnham et al. 2015:21). This clearly shows that
temperature from the local farmer’s perspective has always been rising and there are
negative effects therefore they have to find ways to adjust their planting schedules in
respond to these changes.

2.5.3 Changes in the velocity of the wind

Another climatic parameter that has been observed changing over the past years is
wind. Farmers in Sahel all agree that wind is an important climatic parameter that
affects their agricultural activity (Mertz et al. 2009:809). They have observed wind
changes in their lifetimes. The farmers in Sahel say that the winds in the past years
has become very strong and frequent, and this has stirred up dust which then brings
sandy soil in their farming. Others say that clouds that they are having bring more
wind than rain and they become very disappointed especially when rain is needed
more. The winds cause even more damage because since they have become very
strong they also collapse houses, and others say that the winds are so strong they
remove the roofs of the house. It can be said that winds have become more
ferocious with destructive force, especially for farmers (Mertz et al. 2009:809; Reyes-
Garcia 2016:115; Yaro 2013:1262). In response to this perceived changes in wind
velocity, have farmers developed strategies to cope with this changes or avoid the
damages caused by it for example planting more tress to serve as windbreaks
around their farms and houses.

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2.5.4 Climate change indicators

Fourteen indicators for observed impacts of climate change on physical systems

(such as changes in hydrology, and soils), ten indicators for observed impacts on
biological systems (such as changes in terrestrial, freshwater, and seasonal events),
and fourteen indicators for observed impacts on socio-economic systems (such as
changes in agriculture, fisheries, and human health) have been identified by Reyes-
García et al. (2016:114). Moreover, Marin’s (2010) case of Mongolian herders shows
farmers many times use several indicators simultaneous: herders use their
knowledge of the seasonal availability of water, snow, and locations of un-grazed
pastures to determine where and when to move their herds among traditional
seasonal grazing areas. Knowledge from their parents and elders is critical to their
survival. Furthermore, in a study conducted by Steph in 2015, the author found out
that many people in Idaho (United States of America) have looked at signs around
them to see changes in the climate. The knowledge of these signs have been
passed from generation to generation, even though some of the tales have changed
over the past years, however, people still use those sign to get a sense of what to
expect or anticipate in a particular season, especially when it comes to predicting
winter seasons.

People (mostly farmers) in Idaho believe that the caterpillars of the tiger moth can
predict how cold or snowy it is going to be in the upcoming winter if spotted. The
caterpillars have black bands at each of the body ends, and also have a reddish-
brown section in the centre. It is believed that when the brown band is narrow, the
winter is going to be harsh (Steph 2015). The second thing that people in Idaho
perceive to be a sign of climate predictor is the animals’ fur. If animals have unusual
thick coat of fur as winter approaches, people know that they should expect cold
winter. Others say that if one sees the lightning in winter, it means that it will snow in
10 days, or when the first thunder comes from the east it means that the winter is
over (Steph 2015). The other tale or legend that people in Idaho have about noticing
the signs in order to prepare for extreme weather is the early migration of birds. They
say that if geese start flying south earlier than usual, it means they are flying from
oncoming winter weather. The other thing is the early rodent infestation; this
happens when your home is prone to mice infestation, and you start hearing strange
noises coming from your walls earlier than normal, it means that winter may come

27


earlier than you anticipate. Farmers in this context have their own ways of predicting
colder winter. They look at the corn husks, if the corn husks are very thick and tight it
means that the corn is trying to protect itself from cooler weather, especially the corn
that relies on warm weather to thrive (Steph 2015). These are clear examples to
show that through the perceptions in diverse ways, local people, especially farmers
hold clue to understanding changing climate in the context where they find
themselves.

This part of the section was just briefing the readers about what many farmers think
have changed in the climate over the past years. The description of changes were
well identified using different case studies that were done by other scholars that are
interested in ways which small-scale farmers feel and ascribe meaning to changes.
The next socio-anthropological theme on changing climate that will be discussed is
farmers’ knowledge about their environment.

2.6 Environmental knowledges

Regarding the second overlapping theme of how people explain what they observe
(i.e., knowledge), a diversity of socio-cultural explanations for the occurrence of
changing climate as offered by farmers. Various studies have shown that farmers
depend on their own observations and experiences (i.e., experiential knowledge,
also called ‘indigenous’ or local knowledge) to understand and explain changes in
their natural environment, including changing climate (Burnham et al. 2015:21;
Orlove et al. 2010; Orr et al. 2012:178; Roncoli et al. 2009; Tschakert 2007). This
section will firstly discuss why many people, especially farmers, think that changing
climate is part of a natural environmental cycle, followed by why changing climate is
a result of socio-cultural changes, and lastly, others explain changing climate as a
result of natural and spiritual entities. All of these explanations are rooted in existing
culture and knowledge based, passed from one generation to the other. This section
with its sub-themes really looks at how people comprehend what they see based on
their mental models or worldviews.

2.6.1 Changing climate as part of a ‘natural’ environmental cycle

Local knowledge and perceptions of weather and climate should not merely be
acknowledged by policy-makers, but should form the foundation of policies in a

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bottom-up approach. Adaptation outcomes and also policy buy-ins are mostly based
on perceptions (Yaro 2013:1259). People know about climate change, and they have
different opinions about it. As some people do not know how changing climate is
measured, it is important to know their perceptions about changing climate; this will
be based on their historical observation about changing climate. By knowing this, I
will be able to get the information of what people think about the changing climate
and how they perceive it has affected them over the years.

People understand changing climate based on the historical pattern of the climate
(Orlove et al. 2010:251). So, understanding the historical pattern of climate forms the
basic framework against which variability and change are observed; that is why
Orlove et al. (2010:251) argue that “local people [referring to the people of Southern
Uganda] give different names to the two rainy seasons, and are familiar with a
number of attributes. They know the typical timing and duration of the seasons. The
first rainy season (toggo in Luganda) is expected to run from March through May; the
second season (ddumbi in Luganda) runs from September through December.” With
knowledge of different raining seasons and the real timing of such changes, the
knowledge practices or knowledge traditions that people have, has the possibilities
to differentiate old information with new perceptions of the environment, identifying
changes at very fine scales and have established very concrete and context-
dependent relationships with the environment (Aswani et al. 2015:2). Therefore, it is
capable of identifying change at scales not considered by standardised scientific
knowledge (Aswani et al. 2015:2). With knowledge traditions, people are able
document the historic occurrence of changing climate.

Changing climate is not something that has rocked-up in the last few years; there are
many cultures that claim the changes that are occurring now can be associated with
the changes that they noticed in the past. Some people do not consider changing
climate as an unknown and unprecedented phenomenon but interpreted it as part of
a cycle. In the study done by Boillat and Berks (2013) amongst farmers of Quechua
in Bolivia, they found that famers see changing climate as the return of some
characteristics of ancient times. Their interpretations of changing climate suggest
that farmers seek clues about what is happening within the deepest part of their
collective social memory, historical or mythical and often idealised ancient times
(Boillat and Berks 2013:6). In addition to that societies around the world, people talk

29


about the recent weather and the weather that is yet to come, by making a reference
to weather events that took place in the past. Many socio-cultures note the link
between exceptional climate events and historical events (Strauss and Orlove
2003:3). Many farmers often remember or associate changing climate as part of a
cycle through the losses that the generational family has experienced. Leclerc and
colleagues (2013:22) did a study of indigenous past climate knowledge and found
that Meru (in Kenya) has a long history of climate stress events and farmers in that
area remember periods of drought and famine. The great famine in the area ended
at the end of the 19th century, more than 100 years later, and the key challenge for
farmers in Meru remains in ensuring success of their rain-fed systems by preserving
the diversity of their crop varieties, well adapted to their homeland. For farmers in
Meru remembering past extreme climate events plays a huge role in mitigating
negative effects of future drought. The very interesting thing about the Meru farmers
is that they have drought terms (nomenclature) that allow them to remember past
rainfall variations. The remembrances of such events are embedded within their
social organisation similar to farmers in Quechua. It can be said that Meru worldview,
political authority is transmitted between generations according to regular rain and
sun cycles, which respectively correspond to the turn of drought or heavy rainfall
(Leclerc et al. 2013:2). The transmission of knowledge from one generation to the
other, informs how sometimes changing climate is explained based on socio-cultural
changes.

2.6.2 Changing climate as a result of socio-cultural changes

As changing climate is locally perceived as a complex, multi-layered phenomenon,

people also perceive or observe local changes during their lifetimes and interpret
these based on their observations and exogenous information that they receive, to
determine their causes over time (Aswani et al. 2015:2; Burnam, et al. 2015:20).
Many farmers observe and ascribe meaning in order to have diverse interpretations
in making sense of changes. The interpretations of changing climate are often
associated with socio-cultural changes. In extensive ethnographic fieldwork
conducted by Boillat and Berks (2013) in Bolovia, they found that farmers in
Quechua do not consider changing climate as an isolated global phenomenon. They
often tend to associate it with other socio-cultural changes, such as loss of customs,
population growth, out-migration, urbanisation and land degradation. They believed

30


that in the past people used to respect their customs but now there is no respect,
and that is why there are changes within the climate, or weather, as they call it.
Some farmers stated that now they are getting more hail, more rain, unexpected cold
or just strong heat, and this is due to people’s bad lives, their infidelities, everybody
behaves badly and therefore these things come (Boillat and Berks 2013:6). They
made an example that “in the community some people brought skulls to practice
witchcraft. This makes Pachamama [who is the maternal creator-figure linked with
crop production] to get angry and she does not want to provide [them] with food
anymore” (Boillat and Berks 2013:6). There is also an association of changing
climate with the current issues such as pollution.

Some of the farmers within Bolovia stated that these changes in the climate are
caused by cars that people drive because they pollute the environment (Boillat and
Berks 2013:6). But on the other hand, the idea of formal education amongst young
people is seen as a problem because they lack interest in agriculture. As young
people are exposed to alternative worldviews, activities and professional
opportunities, they lose interest in local agriculture and belief in the worldview to
which it has traditionally been tied. Therefore the contrast in perspectives within
families is so generationally marked that when parents and elders share their beliefs,
children often laugh and tell them that they are crazy to believe such lies. The
modernisation and mechanisation of agriculture turns to distance people from direct
interaction with the earth and that negatively affects humans and the environmental
health through to the changes in the climate (Skarbo et.al 2012:122). As there are
socio-cultural changes within our societies, this then force natural and spiritual
entities to exert power over people as a punishment for any wrongdoings.

2.6.3 Changing climate as a reaction of natural and spiritual entities

Changing climate to some is interpreted as a reaction of natural and spiritual entities.

It is believed that the environment that we live in is guarded by the supernatural,
which also guard our actions on this earth. If we do well then we get rewards, and if
we do bad we get punishment. Therefore changing climate is a punishment for our
bad behaviours. As Bloomquist and Machila (2009:11) argue that “in many passages
of the Bible, natural occurrences such as those occurring today due to human-
induced climate change, were attributed to God. People in many parts of the world

31


still do so today. God has been considered the agent causing floods, storms,
droughts and other local and global ‘natural’ catastrophes. People view what is
occurring as being acts of God.” That is why people are told to wait and endure
God’s judgement rather than trying to change what is considered to be God-ordained
(Bloomquist and Machila 2009:11).

Other people associate the punishment with the disappearance of respect and
communication. In line with this research, many people who are actively involved in
agriculture believe that when respect and communication are lost, the natural world
becomes angry and when that happen agricultural production decline. The current
changes in climate are therefore explained by elders as a punishment or a test of
God, or Mother Earth. An example is that the increase in pests and plant diseases is
occurring because people have forgotten God, hence he drops handful of pests to
the earth so that he will be remembered (Skarbo et.al. 2012:124). There is also the
issue of nature and culture and how these two are interrelated and they affect each
other in one way or the other. Other cultures believe that nature is fragile it must not
be exploited; whenever a person takes something from nature they must make sure
that they return something. Subsequently when it comes to changing climate some
cultures such as the Cotacachi believe that the lack of rain is caused by the removal
of native vegetation which they believe calls the rain by drawing clouds to the area’s
waterways. The effects of changing climate sometimes test the knowledge that
people have about their environment; the full explanation is given in the sub-section
below.

2.6.4 Effects of changing climate on knowledge

In a study I did in the north-east Free State in South Africa I to get a sense of
farmers’ knowledge about changing climate. I found that the farmers complained
about the fact that much of the knowledge that they used to have about the climate
and weather started to lose its relevancy, because of the lack of accurate prediction.
The farmers pointed to uncertainties; they said that the certain knowledge and the
predictability of climate have gone away. They can no longer predict the raining
seasons; therefore with changing climate certainty and predictability goes away. For
many there has been an expression of concern in some places such as Cordillera
Blanca of the Peruvian Andes, South Tirol in the Italian Alps, and the North

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Cascades of Washington State, USA, where local knowledge for crucial adaptation
to changing environments is being lost (Dunbar et al. 2012:103). Though local
residents in these three sites speak of loss when discussing the current depth of
their communal knowledge on climatic changes, this is being referred to as an
erosion or weakening of knowledge, as it is a combination of generational change,
market involvement, environmental change and a multitude of other factors that
contribute to the feeling of loss (Dunbar et al. 2012:103). Such feeling of knowledge
erosion is usually related to validity of knowledge.

The residents of these areas note changes in their surrounding environment that
result in existing knowledge becoming less valid, and describe a sense that their
world is becoming less knowable in the face of changing climate (Dunbar et al.
2012:103). The elders in these areas raise concern that the knowledge about
farming, soil, manure and ways of cooking and men being able to feed their families
through engaging with the land without purchased supplies is being lost. Knowledge
about identifying signs that are associated with noticing changes are disappearing
with dying elders as young people are reluctant to learn about how their elders had a
good connection with the environment (Dunbar et al. 2012:103). However, with the
elders dying, many believe that the knowledge is also disappearing. But it can be
seen in another spectrum. The youth or the young ones are not shocked or surprised
by the changes in their environment; what they see is normal to them. That is where
the idea of the ‘new normal’ comes into play. The ‘new norm’ is the idea that we are
now in a stage where these changes in the climate are being expected and
becoming accepted.

Knowledge as a social anthropological theme reveals different ways in which local

people engage on the issue of changing climate was looked in this section. Different
knowledge basis have been explored across different contexts with some local
people arguing that changing climate for them is no something new; they have
associated with historical events that happened in the past. Some stated that
changes that occur today have occurred in the past. The other thing that was
discussed in this section was that some people view changing climate as a result of
socio-cultural changes these are changes done by people living in that particular
society. Things such as infidelity, population growth and lack of respect to customs
have led to the changes in climate. The last thing that was discussed in this section

33


is that changing climate is a reaction of natural and spiritual entities. The idea behind
this is that changing climate is happening because there is something wrong we are
doing therefore God is punishing us. Some argue that changing climate is happening
because we are taking something from the environment without giving something
back; an example of this was that people in Cotacachi who believe that the lack of
rain is caused by the removal of native vegetation, thus spiritual entities are
responding to these removals of plants.

2.7 Valuation of the environment

The third overlapping theme of this social-anthropological study on changing climate

is that on valuation of the environment. What this theme addresses is how people (in
the case of this research, small-scale farmers) give value to what they know in terms
of shared meanings. People value the environment differently and some do not look
at what the environment can do for them but what they can do for it. The changes in
the environment can open up new opportunities. This sub-section is divided into
three parts: the first one looks at how people (including farmers) give value to the
environment based on what they see and know even though they might not get
anything in return. The second part considers the utilitarian valuing of the
environment, where economical valuing of the environment is also looked at. The
last part explores the diverse opportunities that arises when there are changes in our
environment.

2.7.1 Giving values to environment

As explored in previous sections, Roncoli and colleagues (2009:96) indicate that

both perception and knowledge are informed by valuation, i.e., how meaning and
values are ascribed to what people see and know. The example of this is that many
people consider that wild places should be preserved even though they do not have
any benefits to them, or to others; they believe in this goal because it aligns with their
idea of the shared values of a good society (Kenter et al. 2015:88). A characteristic
of the shared nature of values is that they are ‘impersonal’, and they are brought
forward through deliberative social processes that appear to be closely related
(Kenter et al. 2015:88). The value of the environment is a result of a process of
effective social interaction, open dialogue and social learning. And they are
promoted, imparted, transmitted, changed and maintained in a variety of ways such

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as through exposure to formal and informal customs, laws, norms, cultural traditions
and societal institutions (Kenter et al. 2015:91). The way we try to make sense of the
world can be described as either through dichotomising things, especially of culture
and nature. This then leads to the idea of utilitarian valuing of the environment that is
discussed below.

2.7.2 Utilitarian valuing of the environment

In examining the epistemology of utilitarian valuing of the environment it is observed

that there is a sharp divide between nature (in the case of this study weather and
climate) and society / culture (small-scale farmers), in which nature is valued for its
usefulness to humans; i.e., mostly its use value for humans in an economic sense.
Nature acquires aesthetic and economic value based on various interventions; this is
done through the creation of national parks and transformation of natural
environment into touristic activities. So when the environment is valued for its
aesthetic and economic dimensions, different processes move them from the local to
national and global scenes; this is where they become part of national parks, an
effort which is intricately linked to the landscape aesthetic which has grown ever
since globalisation started to take place (Gagne et al. 2014:7; Roncoli et al.
2009:97). Aesthetic value of the environment, gives rise to the economic value.
When parks are built, this promotes the idea of ecotourism that then put economic
value to the environment. Value is regarded as a morally neutral attribute that arises
from the natural workings of free and independent individual agents (Bolliar 2016:3).
Some people, including farmers, see the environment beyond its economic value;
this is where people look at other opportunities that the environment and the
changes it provides.

2.7.3 Opportunities provided through environmental changes

The other worldview of valuing the environment is how the environment provides
opportunities. Roncoli and colleagues (2009:97) mention an example of
anthropologists who were in Artic and sub-Artic or alpine regions (where there was a
clash over environmental management and who has power to control the
environment). Their findings illustrated how animals, mountains, glaciers, and other
landscape features are conceived by local people as more than things / assets to be
managed or measured, but seen or embraced as part of moral universe that includes

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both humans and nature, and their decline, due to unsustainable use or climate
change, is mourned as a loss of cultural identity and meaning. Furthermore, in a
study conducted by Nuttall (2009) in Greenland, she found that Inuit people do not
necessarily talk of the environment as changing but of it being in a constant process
of ‘becoming’. The way of valuing nature is to acknowledge that it has intrinsic value
outside of its value for humans. The destruction of one part of the environment
opens another opportunity, for example, when the glacier retreats, the water can
cover some areas. This then force the displacement of people and force them to
search for new places to live as some of their land is lost. In contrast to that, when
the glacier melts, it creates opportunity for exploring new ways of living, meaning
with the ice gone people are now able to take advantage on a new form of activity
which is fishing. The Greenland Inuit people view climate change as something that
makes them aware of their surroundings, or responding to change and remain
resilient is dependent, in part, on them continuing to learn how to grow up and dwell
in an environment where one is always prepared for surprise, where one is
constantly challenged by the uncertainty, and where one can never take anything for
granted (Nuttall 2008; 2009). This shows that valuing of the environmental changes
is not objectified, it emerges through a process as living entities go through the
interaction with one another. So in this sense, value is not fixed and static, but
something that emerges naturally as living entities interact (Bolliar 2016:16).

In preparation for responding to changing climate, it must be acknowledged that

people give value to their environment differently, therefore people will respond in
such a way that they do not lose what they value most. Different cosmologies come
into play when the society gives value to their environment. Understanding this can
gives us an idea that even though we are affected or we preach that climate change
will affect the entire population in different ways, others or the people we think are
affected the most are taking an advantage of change to make something for
themselves.

2.8 Responses to the perceived effects of changing climate

The following section will discuss the small-scale farmers’ perceived effects of
changing climate on agriculture, which then inform strategies that people (referring to
farmers) are using in order to adapt to changing climate. Amongst other things

36


discussed in this sub-section, are the limits to adaptation. In this section, it is

acknowledged that adaptation to changing climate by small-scale farmers is the main
goal we are trying to achieve, however, there are many factors that may limit
adaptation.

2.8.1 Perceived effects of changing climate on agriculture

The approaches that are used to estimate the impacts of changing climate, should
acknowledge that changing climate is a global issue; however, there are places that
are more vulnerable than others. Slingo and colleagues (2005:1987) state that Africa
is the most vulnerable to climate variability and change. Here in Africa the widely
dispersed population is heavily dependent on rain for agricultural growth, with one
third currently at risk from widespread hunger and malnutrition. This is a situation
that is likely to worsen as changing climate begins to bite (Slingo et al. 2005:1987).
Moreover, Charles (2011:44) agrees with Slingo by stating that climate systems in
developed regions are anticipated to experience less severe shifts in temperature
and precipitation than developing regions, but those regions also have the technical
capabilities and socio-economic resources to adapt to changing climate. The effects
of changing climate will be surely different from rich to poor regions, the changes in
temperature and precipitation are expected to impact the poorest and most
vulnerable regions in the world, many which lack the socio-political stability and
technological resources to adapt to these climatic shifts. As a result already hungry
regions of the world such as Africa are expected to be impacted negatively and in
some cases severely. Therefore changing climate bring about changes in
agriculture, so the changes could affect ranching and grazing as well as arable
farming; shifting focus of research that has focused on croplands to date (Slingo et
al. 2005:1988).

Because of longer dry spells, hotter temperatures, and more climatic uncertainty, the
next century is likely to see major shifts in crops sown and grown in various regions
(Henson 2006:139). In addition to that Charles (2011:44) claims that anticipated
impacts from changing climate include regional temperature shifts, increases
frequency of heavy precipitation, extended dry periods, and extreme weather events.
Changing climate will continue to affect agricultural ecosystems, for example, the
growth yield of crops changing. This is because crops are most vulnerable to the

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changes in climate variables such as temperature and precipitation. And given the
already semi-arid nature of South Africa, with increased farming on marginal lands,
the frequency of droughts and the scarcity of water changes in the agricultural sector
is inevitable (Benhin 2008:666). In addition to that, Artner et al. (2010:3) state that
the effects of changing climate and climate variability will continue to challenge
vulnerable people. Droughts and dry spells will be more frequent, rain more
inconsistent, and torrential downpours heavier, all phenomena that increase the risk
of soil erosion and vegetation damage through run-off. Higher temperatures will
increase the evaporation of soil moisture. Changing climate will aggravate water
stress, which the continent has already experienced; more people will be at risk of
water stress. What was observed in 2015 in South Africa is nothing compared to
what the changing climate has in stored the country. There will be an environmental
Armageddon, in the near future and the development of South Africa will stall, many
people will suffer, there will be a total die off of livestock (not extinction though),
farmers who do not live close to perennial river or water storage will suffer the most. I
am not predicting the future, I am merely explaining the present in relation to the
future. With all the current effects of changing climate, we can never shy away from
the fact that some farmers are aware of their surrounding environment, and the
trends of the climatic parameters.

Farmers usually have very clear ideas of the trends in the parameters of climate
change as they relate to farm productivity and other livelihoods. Yaro (2013:1259)
reveals that communities that rely on natural resources for their livelihood are
conscious of the landscape and quickly recognise climatic anomalies and their
effects. Farmers in the Sahelian region of West Africa identify shrinking water bodies
(due to more evaporation than precipitation), disappearing plants and crops, and
changing settlement patterns as evidence of reduced rainfall over the last three
decades of the twentieth century (Mngumi 2016:9). These farmers have thus engage
different strategies to adapt to changing climate.

2.8.2 Adaptation strategies used to deal with the effects of climate change

In the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights Article 3 it is stipulated that

everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security of person. In many of the dominant
development discourses, people put the economy as first to be preserved, above

38


cultural or ecological health. Money which only the few and wealthy have, is what is
regarded as important to save in this changing climate period. There is a danger that
adaptation policy and practice will be reduced to seeking the preservation of an
economic core, rather than allowing it to foster the flourishing of cultural and social
as well as economic development, or of improved governance that seeks to
incorporate the interests of future generations, non-human entities and the
marginalised (Pelling 2011:9). By adaptation I mean, any planned response to
change that minimises the adverse effects and maximise any benefits, and this can
be regarded as a social and political act because it has a potential of reshaping our
future and power relations within the society, such act has gone through two stages
in the past few decades, which are discussed below.

Many scientists agree that adaptation to changing climate will not be easy, that is
why changing climate has put us on the second stage of adaptation, which highlights
the problem of uncertainty in addressing the idea of sustainability. Le Blanc (2009)
(cited in Pelling 2011:10) support the claim by stating that our current age of
adaptation is the second one in recent history that a global environmental challenge
has provided an opportunity to question dominant forms of development. The first
adaptation in the late 1990s was more on the idea of sustainable development,
which has (to date) manifestly failed. We must remember that the international roots
of the sustainable development agenda lay in a concern that the environmental limits
to economic growth were fast approaching. So the combination of mitigation and
adaptation agendas represents the re-emergence of the sustainable development
agenda, but the effects of changing climate has shown us that existing developments
are far from sustainable. Climate change brings us a particular challenge. The
challenge of uncertainty is what we are now facing, because uncertainty in the ways
through which changing climate will be felt, its speed and scale of impacts, combined
with the invisibility of casual linkages in everyday life, brings new challenges for the
sustainability of socio-ecological systems. It is for this reason that understanding
adaptation to climate change is a critical challenge of our time.

Adaptation to changing climate requires farmers to identify useful adaptations

strategies and implement them. This is includes a wide range of skills such as crop
diversification and changing the timing operation; this will be further discussed in the
paragraphs below. Furthermore, an adaptation requirement is institutional changes;

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this is based on government responses and other stakeholders to remove subsidies

and improvements in agricultural markets (Gbetibouo 2009:1). The last adaptation
requirement is technological developments, which work as the promotion of new
varieties and advances in water management techniques (Gbetibouo 2009:1).
Knowing the requirement of adaptation does not mean that one adapts to changing
climate, what is needed is adaptation strategies because one of the important ways
in which we can live in this climatic world is to come up with different strategies to
adapt to the ever-changing climate.

These changes will be reflected in decisions made by farmers, and more broadly, in
changes in crop production, geography, and economics (Kaiser 2003:397).
According to Tambo and Abdoulaye (2013:376) “adapting agriculture to climate
change is recognised as a very important policy option to reduce the vulnerability
and the negative impacts; consequently, there is increasing attention on the pressing
need for adaptation in African agriculture.” As this research also look at ways in
which small-scale farmers adapt to changing climate, it is imperative for them to first
perceive that changes are taking place, and this implies that farmers’ perceptions
about climate change are very important in the uptake of adaptation measures. It
must be acknowledged that adaptation is a long process and adaptation options
chosen by farmers are outcomes of conscious decision-making processes given the
knowledge base and capabilities. To support the idea of acknowledging adaptation
as a long process, Archer et al. (2008:103) did a study on farming on the western
arid edge of South Africa and found out those different strategies that the farmers
have undertaken included ground preparation which is earlier preparation or deeper
ploughing and also ploughing more than once. To prevent erosion the farmers
retained the bush strips in land. What has been discussed above is linked to what is
called adaptive capacity. In terms of farming, adaptive capacity can be defined as
the strategies that have been passed on through different generations in order to
adapt to the effects of changing climate through experimenting those strategies
(Bolliat and Berkes 2013:1). An important starting point for the capacity to adapt to
climate change is the ability to observe and assign meaning to changes in the
occurrence and intensity of weather phenomena (Bolliat and Berkes 2013:1). The
adaptive capacity of farmers can be enhanced if national policies support climate
change responses that are already being implemented by farmers (Bolliat and

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Berkes 2013:1). Such adaptation strategies ranging from physical to spiritual

responses are being discussed below.

There are seven strategies highlighted by Mertz et al. (2009:804) that farmers use to
enable their crops to adapt to the ever-changing climate. Small-scale farmers
respond to the variability of climate change by strengthening the age-old practice of
multiple cropping; these increase varieties of cropping systems in a place (Yaro
2013:1267). Crop and variety diversification is very important; it includes switching
crops to varieties that are better suited for new climate that have the shorter growing
period. It also includes growing different types of crops on the same field to serve as
an insurance against complete failure as various crops and varieties respond
differently to climatic hazards. To support the above argument Mertz et al.
(2009:804) provide an example by stating that “farmers in the Sahel have always
been facing climatic variability at intra and inter-annual and decadal time scales,
while coping and adaptation strategies have traditionally included crop
diversification, mobility.”

Changing of crops every season is also another great strategy to make crops grow
because it enables the soil to recover from what it has lost due to climate change.
Knowing this type of information requires an in-depth enculturation, therefore farmers
who possess valuable indigenous adaptation strategies that include early warning
systems and recognise and respond to changes in climate parameters for example,
by maintaining flexible strategies with short and long cycle crop varieties. The
cultivation of short cycle crops and long cycle crop varieties shows the tendency of
farmers to take advantage of the different maturing times of crops. This makes them
strengthen their resilience to impacts associated with variable unpredictable rainfalls
and drier conditions, in order to increase chances of harvesting a crop during the
drier and wetter seasons (Mertz et al. 2008:804). Paavola (2008:9) agrees with the
statement of changing crops; he therefore comes up with the example of this
strategy by stating that farmers in Morogoro may switch from maize to sorghum and /
or cassava when there is a threat of drought or food insecurity and switch to rice or
banana when rainfall is abundant. Crop switching can make a difference.

The third strategy is changing dates of planting. When farmers notice that the rain
usually comes later than usual they must change their planting time in order to

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correlate with the rain at that particular time (Tambo and Abdoulaye 2013:385). The
time frame of crop farming will change over time. For example, if maize was being
farmed in December there will be a slight change and the maize could be farmed in
early January, depending on the availability of rainfall.

The fourth strategy is conservation practices that involve creating terraces in order to
save the topsoil from being eroded; this also improves soil fertility. What happens
here is that the terraces are able to hold water and prevent erosion (Tambo and
Abdoulaye 2013:385). This leads us to the fifth strategy that is irrigation; when
farmers notice the reduction in the rainfall they usually build water harvesting
structures such as shallow open wells for the abstraction of groundwater for
irrigation. Having water in storage will help irrigate the crops when there is a
shortage of rainfall (Tambo and Abdoulaye 2013:385). The sixth strategy is off-farm
income diversification; this involves the off-farm activities that are less sensitive to
climate change. Here the idea is that farmers must come up with green farming
strategies; this is sometimes called the greenhouse strategy (Tambo and Abdoulaye
2013:385). Responses to changing climate also involve attempts to reduce
dependence from agricultural production. In parts of Morogoro non-farm income has
become consistently more important since the mid-1980s and it has compensated
for the decline in farming (Ponte 1998:336). Paavola (2008) further emphasises that
many households in Morogoro tap natural resources in order to cater for their
subsistence needs and to earn cash income. For example, forests provide timber,
firewood, fruits, spices, fodder, traditional medicines and meat for subsistence
needs. Moreover, trees are harvested for the production of timber and charcoal for
local and more remote markets and the fuel wood obtained from the forests is used
for energy-intensive production of bricks. The other thing that happens is that parents
are also sending their children to cities to work for upkeep and cash income in order
to reduce the number of persons they have to support with uncertain agricultural
income (Paavola 2008:11).

The seventh strategy is afforestation that involves planting many trees so that they
protect the plants from the heat of the sun and provide natural shades for the
livestock (Tambo and Abdoulaye 2013:385). The other important thing about
afforestation is that trees also protect farm houses against seer windstorms (Tambo
and Abdoulaye 2013:385). These strategies just give a glimpse of the types of

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adjustments farmers have made in their farming practices in response to these

changes will offer some insights into necessary interventions to ensure a successful
adaptation in the region. Other strategies that are used to adapt to changing climate
includes deforestation as a way of responding to changing climate. The deforestation
gives rise to extensification as a way of adaptation, which is discussed below.

The strategy that Paavola learnt from his extensive fieldwork done in Morogoro
(Tanzania) was extensification. He found that the farmers in the area have a unique
way of adapting to changing climate; they relied on extensification as a method in
responding to changing climate. What they did was to clear the forest that they had
and transforming it to agricultural land. This agricultural response is done by the
Morogoro farmers because their soil has become exhausted and yields have
decreased, therefore by opting for new lands which still have nutrients is the
response that the farmers have to changing climate in order to yield more products
(Paavola 2008:9). There are other adaptation strategies that go beyond physical
ones.

In Africa when all these strategies fail, the only hope that they have is to perform
rainmaking rituals. What is interesting here is that individuals could invoke the God of
rain and request him to send down rain; the God of rain obeys and rain starts falling.
According to Akong’a (1987:72) “it can be hypothesised that the diverse kinds of
rainfall rituals emerged in arid and semi-arid areas as a means of coping within
adequacy and unreliability of rainfall.” This is to say that humans found that they
could adapt to conditions of rainfall inadequacy and unreliability by the manipulation
of supernatural forces that were believed to be closely associated with weather
conditions. This is not to say that rainmaking rituals are to be found only in the areas
of rainfall deficit. Ethnographic evidence provided by Semenya (2013:1) reveals that
there are some societies in East and Southern Africa, which have sufficient rainfall
for agricultural production but “in which rainmaking is a lucrative and prestigious
profession.” Rainmaking is an ancient science that the pagans utilised to water their
farms in times of drought. The methods for making rain differ from place to place and
according to the severity of the drought (Semenya 2013:1). The purpose of
rainmaking rituals is to influence weather conditions in order to cause rain in
response to drought or to cause drought either for the general good or destruction of

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the people in the specific society in which there is a belief in man's ability to influence
weather conditions (Akong’a 1987:71; Sanders 2003:90).

In South Africa the Pedi people have been known to practice rainmaking rituals with
the rainmaking doctor, known as the Moroka. The villagers in Limpopo will go to the
Moroka and pay a certain amount of money so that the Moroka can ask God for rain.
It is believed that the amount of rain that people will receive depends on the amount
of money that they paid to the Moroka. Other Baroka (plural of Moroka) use a
magical horn to invoke rain and this horn is placed in a place believed to be sacred.
Only the family of a Moroka has access to that place (Semenya 2013:2). Moreover,
caves can also be used as shelter for the rain medicine. The Pedi and the Tswana
speaking people make regular sacrifices of corn and beer to the spirits associated
with these caves and shelters. The sacrifices are usually accompanied by prayers for
rain and crop fertility. All this adds up to the fact that caves or clefts and rock shelters
are considered to be mysterious and sometimes even dangerous places, inhabited
by superior powers and apparently only visited when contact is needed with these
spirits or deities (Aukema 1989:71).

Other forms of adaptation to climate change includes turning to government for

support. Government programs are institutional responses to the economic risks
associated with climate change and have the potential to influence farm-level risk
management strategies. Many of the ad hoc government programs provide
compensation for disaster-related income loss independent of the support provided
by farm production subsidy, support and incentive programs (Smit and Skinner
2002:99).

Other ways of adapting to climate change includes access to information. The

decision of farmers to adopt some strategies in response to long-term changes in
temperature and rainfall is influenced by provision of information from both informal
and formal institutions. Majority of small-scale farmers have access to this
information because many rely on each other to combat the effects of changes in the
climate. The type of information that farmers share within their groups or forums
ranges from information and services that are crucial in decision on changing crop
types, investing in the purchase of seeds and specific soil conservation measure to
suit the expected weather conditions (Mgumi 2016:24). Information on what weather

44


conditions are expected in the coming season can help farmers make informed
decisions on what adaptation strategies they can opt for, changing what to plant and
when (time to acquire types of seeds of crops suited to the expected conditions and
plant), deciding on which farming and soil conservation measures to invest in for
improved crop productivity, which could lead to improved adaptation strategies
to climate change and variability and hence increased food productivity (Mngumi
2016:24). The lack of such information provided by other farmers can be the most
crucial obstacle to adaptation decision made by the small-scale farmer. They
contributing less on this global phenomenon yet they are the ones who carry all the
consequences of challenging Mother Nature. I believe that we will never reduce the
amount of all the gases that we pump in the atmosphere and the temperature will
continue to increase.

2.8.3 Limits to adaptation

While there is a recognised need to adapt to changing climatic conditions, there is an

emerging discourse of limits to such adaptation (Adger et al. 2009:336). Limits are
traditionally analysed as a set of immutable thresholds in biological, economic or
technological parameters. Individual and societal adaptation to changing climate is
nothing new, neither a theoretical construct. The resource irregularities offered by
different climates and the instabilities that emerge from the changes of climate have
both acted as significant motivations throughout human history for social and
technological innovation. Irrigation, insurance and weather forecasting are just three
of the many human institutions that have been stimulated and shaped by the
interactions between our physical and imaginative encounters with climate. They are
examples of how we have adapted our social practices in the face of variable
climates (Adger et al. 2009:336).

Adaptation to changing climate has now become part of the contemporary discourse
about the politics and economics of global climate change. Although much of the
earlier international climate policy debate in the 1990s and early 2000s was pre-
occupied with mitigation, the past decade has seen a growing attention given to
adaptation both its practice and its politics (Adger et al. 2009:336). In the time of
mitigation, the goal was to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that with put in
the atmosphere. After realising that the commitments to mitigation bared no fruits,

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there was a shift in a way we deal with the issue of climate change. Adaptation
became a buzzword in the late 2000s as the idea was to find ways in which humans
can be able to survive in these ever changing climate parameters. It can be said that
adaptation describes adjustments made to changed environmental circumstances
that take place naturally within biological systems and with some deliberation or
intent in social systems. Therefore the dialogue around limits to adaptation is often
constructed around three dimensions, namely ecological and physical limits (these
include lack of knowledge about the environment we live in and also some
environment makes it hard for adaptation to take place this could be due to
topography of the area), economic limits (this includes issues such as lack of capital
to make one adapt to changing climate), and technological limits (with lack of capital,
it becomes difficult for one to acquire technological innovations) (Adger et al.
2009:337). These three limiting factors play a major role in how the effects of
changing climate are intensified. In relation to the limiting factors, as much as ethics,
knowledge, risk and culture can also enabling factors of adaptation, but they can
also be the limits to adaptation. What I am going to discuss below include these four
non-tangible limitations that interact with reality. Firstly, it will be ethics which talks
about how and what we value; secondly, is knowledge which talks about how and
what we know; thirdly is risk which informs us how and what we perceive, and lastly,
culture which explains how and why we live.

When talking about ethics the important thing that needs to be known is that any
limits to adaptation depends on the ultimate goals of adaptation, which are
themselves dependent upon diverse values. This suggestion on the centrality of
values shows that limits are defined by ethical principles. Whatever the social goals
of adaptation, the values held by the actors involved in decision-making around
adaptation can act as limits if these values are not well-thought. The values that
underpin adaptation decisions become more diverse and contradictory as one
moves from small-scales and single agents to larger-scales and multiple agents.
Values in society are not held in isolation and are different for different stakeholders
with levels of influence and power over their own destinies (Adger et al. 2009:338;
Wolf et al. 2013:560). The issue here that there will be a clash of values because in
every society there are structures that are hierarchal where ones values will count

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more than the values of the other. The value preference acts as a limit to those
whose voice are not heard or to those who do not ascribe to them.

The second limit would be knowledge. Here adaptation is limited by uncertainties

associated with the foresight of future climate change. Uncertainties that people may
have about changing climate may relate to provisional nature of scientific knowledge
about future climates or about the contested nature and status of such scientific
foresight. Different social and organisational cultures, and sub-cultures, approach
foresight in different ways. These differences in the status of knowledge claims about
future climate reveal differences in values and make problematic the delineation of
any limit to adaptation to climate change but can have an important bearing on the
way in which adaptation decisions are made (Edger et al. 2009:339). The main idea
here is that what science proposes about the future climate change gets internalised
by people, when that is done it alters traditional (indigenous) knowledge then creates
uncertainties even though some predictions may not be reliable. Therefore the
perceptions that lack of reliable predictions of future climate pose a major limit for
effective adaptation to climate change. In order to overturn these perceptions society
can (and indeed must) make adaptation decisions in the absence of accurate and
precise climate predictions (Edger et al. 2009:343). In addition to that Dessai et al.
(2009:75) argue that “given the deep uncertainties involved in climate prediction (and
even more so in the prediction of climate impacts) and given that climate is usually
only one factor in decisions aimed at climate adaptation, [they] conclude that the
‘predict and provide’ approach to science in support of climate change adaptation is
significantly flawed. Other areas of public policy have come up with similar
conclusions (for example, earthquake risk, national security, public health).” The
authors therefore discuss that the epistemological limits to climate prediction should
not be interpreted as a limit to adaptation, despite the widespread belief that it is.

The third factor that may limit farmers / people from adapting to changing climate is
risk. Factors such as perception of risk, habit, social status and age operate at
individual decision-making levels but also constrain collective action. Individual
adaptation hinges on whether an impact, anticipated or experienced, is perceived as
a risk and whether it should (and could) be acted upon. At the policy level,
adaptation policies, like many other areas of public policy, are constrained by inertia,
cultures of risk denial, and other phenomena well known in policy sciences (Edger et

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al. 2009:339). Decisions are made regularly at individual and societal levels that
have implications for current and future adaptation. Individual and social
characteristics interact with fundamental values to form subjective and changeable
limits to adaptation that currently hinder society’s ability to act. This could prevent
adaptation at societal scales and in the future. These limits can be interpreted as
personal and social, mirroring wider debates on the relative dichotomy of agency and
structure in determining action.

The fourth factor that may limit adaptation is culture, here a systematic
undervaluation of involuntary loss of places and culture camouflages real,
experienced but subjective limits to adaptation. This proposition is based on the
observation that cultural assets are unique in place and time. Hence many impacts
result in loss of assets sometimes irreversible that individual’s value. This proposition
also raises the issue of values that are largely independent of material assets, but
rather rely on perceptions and representations of the world around us (Edger et al.
2009:339). It can be said that physical changes to places where changing climate
has had an impact, will influence the ways in which individuals interact with the
natural and social environments. It is known that changing climate is and will
continue to modify the relationships of societies with the environment. The loss of
physical places (e.g. rise in sea level which then forces people to migrate to new
areas) and transformed ecological systems will often be irreversible, with associated
environmental, cultural, and social implications. These changes are associated with
limits to certain possible adaptation pathways. While many of the changes are
unavoidable, the way in which we choose to plan for, and respond to, change is
subject to discretion (Edger et al. 2009:349).

2.9 Conclusion

The effects of changing climate has led to many farmers come up with adaptation
strategies in order to reduce the impacts and prepare for future. What the literature
review has pointed out is that in order to ascertain adaptation strategies firstly
farmers must perceive changing climate. The changing climate also affects
knowledge, because of that there is a great deal of uncertainties and knowledge that
people had about their environment is vanishing. The literature has also pointed out

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the limits to adaptation where things such as ethical principles, uncertainties, risk
and culture have been discussed more.

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction

The following chapter will discuss the methodology chosen to conduct the research
project. Within this, there will be a brief description of the study area, followed by
how I went about to access the site, and the role of a gatekeeper. Furthermore, as
the research used a qualitative research design, I provide justification for this choice.
Moreover, the sampling frame and sampling unit chosen for this study will be
explained. This leads us to the data collection methods used, and justifications for
their use. All research data has to be analysed and this chapter will state how the
collected data was be analysed. To show the rigour and trustworthiness of my
research I will discuss how these were achieved. The last sections of this chapter will
discuss the research ethics I followed in this project, and reflect on the research
process and experiences.

3.2 Description of the study area

The research was conducted in Soweto, Johannesburg (Gauteng province). Soweto

is situated in the south-west of Johannesburg (see Figure 3.1), and comprises of
more than 69 townships. The population of Soweto according to Statistics South
Africa 2012 was around 1.3 million people. Soweto is found in Gauteng province in
South Africa. The township is situated between 26.2485° S, 27.8540° E latitude and
longitude. However, there is no doubt that Soweto is an ever-growing collection of
townships. The township covers an area of approximately 150 km², just more than
9% of the 1 644 km² of the City of Johannesburg (COJ), and according to official
sources, is home to 43% of the city’s population. It has an estimated density of
approximately 8 667 people/km² compared to the 1 962 people/km² for the whole city
area (COJ 2008:9).

I chose Soweto as my area of study because of its diversity; this is a place where
you will find over ten languages spoken. It contains people from all rural areas of
South Africa. I can say that Soweto is a hub of ‘traditional’ ecological knowledge.
This is a place within the urban areas of South Africa than can be able to give clarity
to my overall topic of this research because of its richness in diversity.

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Fig 3.1 Overall location of Soweto

Fig 3.2 Townships where the study was conducted

Figure 3.2 indicates some of the areas in Soweto, such as Braamfischer, Fleurhof,
and Motsoaledi. Each blue circle on Fig.3.2 represent the areas where my

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participants are from. My participating small-scale farmers came from fifteen

townships in Soweto, namely Meadowlands, Dobsonville, Mofolo North, Emdeni,
Naledi, Protea Glen, Chiawelo, Dhlamini, Pimville, Diepkloof, Zola, Bramfischer,
Fleurhof, Motsoaledi, and Lefereng.

3.3 History and demographics of Soweto

Before one can talk about Soweto, people must understand the genesis of it, and
one cannot talk about such development without including the father of Soweto,
James Sofasonke Mpanza. I will not spend more time talking about the biography of
James Sofasonke Mpanza (see French 2007), but I will talk about how he mastered
to persuade the Apartheid government to build Soweto. In a nutshell, there was no
Soweto before 1931; however, there were informal houses in Klipspruit which is now
(currently) part of Pimville.

The Johannesburg City Council started building Orlando Township in 1931; by this
time it was believed that Orlando would become the ‘greatest city’. So in 1934 the
government at that time started moving people from Betrams, Lorentzville and
Doorfontein, to Orlando. At that time Orlando was now ‘the first big township’ (French
2007:13). The area became crowded, and there were many people living in one
house. Mpanza did not like that, and he advocated that people must start building
squatter camps just on the other side of the Klipspruit River which later become
Orlando West as it is known today. Many people built their shacks just above the
banks of the Klipspruit River. Mpanza was keen on getting the government support
to build houses for the ‘then’ residence of Orlando West. Within the period of 1944
to 1947 Mpanza was able to persuade the Johannesburg City Council to build
temporary houses in Orlando West for those people who lived in shacks. And then
within that period the Johannesburg City Council also built roads and also the railway
transport system that was useful for those who were working in the inner city of
Johannesburg. Moreover, Jabavu Township was established and later Dube was
also established (CoJ 2008:11; French 2007:22).

In 1944 the government did not want black people to live close to white areas, they
then labelled Sophiatown as a black spot in white area. So people were moved from
Sophiatown to Soweto, it can be said that metaphorically that the boom of Soweto
was a result of the destruction of Sophiatown. From the period of 1948 to 1971 there

52


were a lot of development of new townships in Soweto, and the COJ (2008:12)
argue that “whilst during this period there was a significant development boom in
Soweto in terms of housing; this was also a time of conflict between local and
national government, and increasing political oppression. The key instruments of
separate developments such as the 1950s Group Areas Act and the 1952 Native
Urban Areas Act were introduced. Mainly the 1951 Bantu Building Act and the 1952
Bantu Services Levy Act – which introduced the Services Levy Fund, fuelled the
housing boom. Consequently, townships such as Jabulani, Meadowlands, Diepkloof
and Dobsonville were developed.” Currently Soweto which is known as region D in
the City’s regional administrative breakdown; has a rich history, and strong active
struggle credentials.

When I was doing Geography 3B, the class was taken to Oppenheimer tower near
Central Western Jabavu, and I learned that there were about 69 townships making
up Soweto. It must be remembered that Soweto is still growing with new townships
developing. When looking at the population and economy, Soweto is the largest
urban residential area in the country with the population of around 1.3 million people,
but the formal economy of Soweto is very small. It is a region that comprises about
43% of the total population of the Johannesburg, nevertheless contributes about 4%
towards the economy of Johannesburg Metropole (COJ 2008:15; Krige, 2011;
Mears, 2012). The main contributor to Soweto’s economy is the tourism industry,
because of events such as the Soweto students uprisings and iconic personalities
such as Nobel Laureates such as Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu as well as
other struggle personalities which this point to the fact that Soweto enjoys a
particular place in history (COJ 2008:17; Krige, 2011; Mears, 2012).

In this research, farming in Soweto shall be the focus and because Soweto is in the
urban area, it must be acknowledged that urban farming provides an opportunity to
improve urban food security at the same time, reducing poverty, inequality and
unemployment. Specific data about the number of farmers in Soweto, is currently not
available and the types of farming that they do. However, from personal experience,
it can be concluded that residents of Soweto are mostly small-scale subsistence
farmers.

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3.4 Weather and climate of Soweto

The City of Johannesburg (COJ 2012a:2) projects an average temperature increase

of 2.4°C in the ‘near future’ (2046-2065), and 4.5°C into the ‘far future’ (2081-2100)
for Johannesburg. This is likely to be coupled with an average precipitation increase
of 18% in annual rainfall by 2050, due to both more intense rainfall and increases in
frequency of rainfall (CoJ 2012a:4). With these changes agriculture in Southern
Africa is predicted to be particularly severely affected by climate change and hence
is considered a priority area for creating an enabling environment for adaptation. It
must be known that agriculture is very delicate to changes in climate parameters;
these changes will affect agriculture in a direct as well as indirect way (Maharjan
2014:34). As agriculture is one of the sectors that are more dependent on climate,
farmers as a part of the society are more vulnerable to its harmful impact. The
change in agricultural production due to changing climate will have an effect on
farmers both economically as well as socially. The growth and yield of crops will
change, as well as the periods of time available for field operations. When looking at
the temperatures and rainfall since the 1950s one can see how they have been
fluctuating, below in Fig.3.3 and Fig.3.4 shows monthly daily rain and monthly
maximum temperature of Johannesburg.

Figure 3.3 shows the monthly rainfall from 1950 to early 2017, the data presented
here was from the South African Nation Weather Services (SAWS). The rain has
been decreasing especially between the period of 1988-2009, and then in 2010-2012
the rain slightly increased. However, the drought that many of the small-scale
farmers spoke about between the periods of 2013-2017 is clearly visible from the
data that SAWS collected. The colours represent different months. This part of
analysis was not to prove or disprove the knowledge that small-scale farmers had
when compared to scientific data, but it was to show the correlation that these two
types of knowledge have and how such knowledges can be amalgamated as they
speak to each other. This speaks to what the small-scale farmers have been saying
when they said the inconsistency of rain has been occurring in the past 10-15 years.

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Fig 3.3 Johannesburg monthly daily rain

In relation to the rainfall data, I have also managed to get maximum temperature of
Johannesburg from the SAWS. When looking at the trend since the 1950-2011, the
temperature was slightly below 26°C even though there were slight increase and
decrease in the temperature in between these years. But when looking close at the
data one can see that since 2011 the temperature has been increasing
exponentially, and between the years 2013-2017 the temperature increased by
almost 3°C. The colours represent different months. This is significant when taking
into account the short period of time that those changes occurred on. One can see
that these temperature data correlates with what most of my participants were saying
about the rising temperatures. The idea of rising temperature is associated with the
decrease in rainfall and this is evident from the scientific data collected by the
SAWS. With the problems that the small-scale farmers encounter about climate
parameters, they also have to face another issue of stigmatisation.

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Fig 3.4 Johannesburg Monthly maximum temperature

3.5 Perceptions about farming in Soweto

There is this perception amongst urban dwellers that food security is a rural problem
based on the availability of food, and those who are practicing farming are being
labelled as being backward in an advancing city. There is also a social stigma
associated with farming in Soweto; this stigma arises from childhood ‘gardening
punishment’ handed out by school teachers to maintain discipline in classrooms
(Campbell 2013:10). In order to overcome the stigma of farming in urban areas,
‘agents of change’ must promote the collaborative effort and slow change with
tangible evidence of success (Campbell 2013:11). We are lucky enough that the
Departments of Industrial Design, Anthropology and Development Studies at the

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University of Johannesburg and the Soweto Farmers Forum in 2014 started lab
projects in specific sites (Izindaba Zokudla).4 The aim was to document current
issues faced by the farmers on each site and then, together with the farmers, explore
design solutions. The main idea is that when the team move to the next site, the
farmers are left with enough skills for them to continue experimenting and also
empower their own emancipation whilst still remaining connected to the broader food
system through the Soweto Farmers Forum. This will have an impact on urban
farming / agriculture, by reducing poverty, and also unemployment.

3.6 Research methodology

In this research, a qualitative approach is used as it is the most suitable research

design when it comes to exploring the opinions of the participants. Hancock et al.
(2009:1) argue that “researchers working in the social sciences, psychology,
sociology, [and] anthropology [are] interested in studying human behaviour and the
social world inhabited by human beings, found increasing difficulty in trying to explain
human behaviour in quantifiable, measurable terms.” A qualitative research design is
appropriate for getting in-depth information, as it attempts to broaden and deepen
our understanding of how things came to be the way they are in our social world. As
Hancock et al. (2009:7) argue: “qualitative research is concerned with developing
explanations of social phenomena. That is to say, it aims to help us to understand
the social world in which we live and why things are the way they are. It is concerned
with the social aspects of our world and seeks to answer questions about: why
people behave the way they do, how opinions and attitudes are formed how people
are affected by the events that go on around them how and why cultures and
practices have developed in the way they have.”

My sub-research questions involved how farmers perceive and experience the

occurrence of changing climate, not forgetting the strategies that they implement in
order to deal with the effects of changing climate. These are real life contexts so they
require a research design that will make my participants to be open when we
deliberate on their views on the issue.

4
This is a multi-stakeholder project between UJ, the City of Johannesburg and Soweto farmers to create
opportunities for urban agriculture in Soweto.

57


A qualitative research design also allows me to depart from the view that there is no
single truth or single reality that I (and my participants) have to discover / expose.
Realities are based on the perceptions that are different for different people, and
these perceptions change over time. As Joubish et al. (2011:2082) argue: “what we
know has meaning only within a given situation or context.” In support of that,
qualitative research is concerned with developing explanations of social phenomena.
Here the idea is to understand the world in which we live in and why things are the
way they are. The views of the people being interviewed are regarded as being
important in explaining what is being studied.

3.7 Access to research ‘site’

Fieldwork was conducted fulltime in Soweto during September to October 2016, and
from between December 2016 to June 2017. Access to the fieldwork site through a
‘gatekeeper’. At a meeting held on 12 March 2016 by the Izindaba Zokudla Farmers’
School and Innovation Lab I met an executive director of Pheko Your Solution, Mr
Mapheu Pule. Pheko (which is the product that this small company makes) is a
100% natural health supplement brand that makes use of natural ingredients. Most
of these natural ingredients are crops bought from small-scale farmers. The
vegetables are not only used for food but also for medicinal purposes. Mr Pule was
able to initially introduce me to different farmers around Soweto. Mr Pule was a great
gatekeeper because he had over 15 years’ experience of farming, and within those
years he managed to make lots of farming friends, through sharing information and
helping one another when they encounter farming problems, and he was buying
some of the vegetables that the farmers were producing for his own natural health
supplement. High level of caution and flexibility was maintained to eliminate the
biases that my gatekeeper could have introduced to my study, for example, by only
referring me to those farmers whom he buys vegetables from. Thus more farmers
were talked to, who equally referred other farmers that were outside the Izindaba
Zokudla.

3.8 Population and sampling

Purposive sampling frame to select the participating farmers was used. The
purposive sampling frame enabled me to achieve the primary aims of the study and
the small-scale farmers were conveniently and purposefully selected in order to fulfil

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the research objectives of this study. In purposive sampling the researcher decides
the purpose they want participants to serve, and they go out to find those who fit that
purpose, in case of this research, to talk to farmers. I also used snowballing, which is
also known as the ‘chain referral method’, this method is used to study hard-to-find
or hard-to-study populations5. Populations can be hard to find and study for three
reasons: (1) they contain very few members who are scattered over a large area
(this is true because there are few farmers around Soweto and Johannesburg as a
whole compared to areas such as the Free State, Eastern Cape, Limpopo, and
Kwazulu-Natal); and/or (2) they are stigmatised and reclusive (people in urban areas
might have this idea that urban farmers are peasants); and / or (3) they are members
of an elite group and do not care about your need for data (Bernard 2006:192). In the
snowball technique, a researcher use key informants and / or documents to locate
one or two people in a population. Then, the researcher asks those people to: (1) list
others in the population and (2) recommend someone from the list whom you might
interview. You get handed from informant to informant and the sampling frame grows
with each interview (Bernard 2006:193). This is very important in a region where
small-scale farmers are few and scattered and thus appropriate in dealing with a
relatively small population of people who are likely to be in contact with one another.

In this manner I recruited 31 small-scale farmers to be part of my research project.

When conducting interviews data saturation was achieved with this number of small-
scale-farmers. This number was manageable because the questions that I asked
required in-depth data collection, rather than per se more farmers.

3.9 Data collection methods

I utilised two data collection methods for my research, namely interviews and
observations. To probe more deeply into people’s knowledge and perceptions. In
qualitative interviews social scientists investigate varieties of human experiences and

5
For purposes of this research ‘small-scale farmers’ will be farmers who farm on a small scale (a few hectares)
in an effort to make a living off the sales of their produce. In the categorisation by Richards and Taylor
(2012:25) of types of gardens and farms in Soweto, my use of ‘small-scale farm” will include community
gardens (owned by a group of farmers to produce for the market) and project gardens (typically funded by
various sponsors to support small-scale farmers to develop commercial businesses). The research will also not
exclude homestead gardens (growing to supplement groceries in the household), supplementary gardens
(owned by more than one family, and growing for subsistence purposes), and school gardens (mainly women
growing vegetables on school property to feed learners and sell surplus to support the school).

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perceptions. They attempt to understand the world from the participants’ points of
view and to unfold the meaning of their lived world (DiCicco-Bloom and Crabtree
2006:312). Therefore interviews give voice to people, allowing them to freely present
their life situations in their own words, and to be open for a close personal interaction
between the researchers and their participants.

DiCicco-Bloom and Crabtree (2006:314) argue that “interviews are among the most
familiar strategies for collecting qualitative data. The different qualitative interviewing
strategies in common use emerged from diverse disciplinary perspectives resulting
in a wide variation among interviewing approaches”. Even though there are different
types of interviews, I used in-depth interviews. In-depth interviews allowed me to
explore the perceptions, knowledge, valuation and self-reported responses of the
farmers to changing climate (DiCicco-Bloom and Crabtree 2006:314; Curry et al.
2009:1445; Gill et al. 2008:292; Hancock et al. 2009:16). The purpose of the in-depth
interviews as Gill et al. (2008:292) explain: “is to explore the views, experiences,
beliefs and / or motivations of individuals on specific matters (e.g., factors that
influence their attendance at the dentist). Qualitative methods, such as interviews,
are believed to provide a ‘deeper’ understanding of social phenomena than would be
obtained from purely quantitative methods, such as questionnaires. Interviews are,
therefore, most appropriate where little is already known about the study
phenomenon or where detailed insights are required from individual participants.” I
had consent form signed by participants before conducting any interviews.

Qualitative researchers more often employ in-depth interviews that involve a number
of open-ended questions based on the topic areas that the researcher wants to
cover. The open-ended nature of the questions defines the topic under investigation
but provides opportunities for both interviewer and interviewee to discuss some
topics in more detail (Hancock et al. 2009:16). To prepare for this type of interview, I
had an interview guide (see Appendix A) in which I listed themes that I wanted to
address during the interview. The themes that I had did not restrict any interviewees
from voicing their views about the problem at hand. The themes were designed in
such a way that they are flexible and they allowed follow-up points of interests to
either me as an interviewer and the interviewee. Using open-ended questions within
my interview guide I was trying to collect interviewees’ account of their perspective
about changing climate, their experiences, understandings, interpretations and

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interactions about changing climate. This also allowed the flow of conversation
between me and my participants.

According to Hancock et al. (2009:16) “most commonly interviews are audio

recorded. Digital voice recorders are excellent for this and easier to use and less
intrusive than tape recorders.” I used a digital recorder, with the permission of my
participants, in order to record the interviews with my participants; this helped me in
terms of not missing any words that the participants said and it made it easier to
transcribe the exact responses. I used my phone’s voice recorder to record the
interviews as it is reasonably unobtrusive. The languages in which interviews were
conducted in included, English, isiXhosa, sePedi, SeSotho and IsiZulu. These are
the most common spoken languages around Johannesburg. Since arriving in
Johannesburg in 2006 coming from Eastern Cape and speaking only IsiXhosa, I
have managed to learn all these four languages, and a fifth one when I include
Xitsonga. Being polyglot gave me an advantage because I could blend in and
associate myself with whomever I was interviewing.

Whilst I cannot lay a claim to have done ethnography, I was inspired by it, and
included observations6 as a data collection method. I used unstructured observation
where I looked at different interesting things that were related to farming and
changing climate in the farms (see Appendix B). What I observed was written in my
diary, and I also asked the farmers to tell me more about my observations and
explain what I was seeing, because some things were things that I have never seen
before so I needed an explanation for them. I also observed different tools that were
being used in the farming processes. The weather, water resources and farming size
were observed during the time of data collection.

I think it is important to state my position on the debate of whether one can only
conduct an anthropological study through ethnography. I do not equate anthropology
with ethnography, and vice versa. As much as ethnography is at the heart of socio-
cultural anthropological research, it does not mean that an anthropologists who does

6
The reason why it was difficult for me to get involved in a long-term participant observation is that most of
my data collection was done on Saturdays, as many of the small-scale farmers were busy during the week, and
usually on Sundays they go to church. This means I had to at least interview two or more small-scale farmers
on Saturdays, and consider the fact that they also have other things they must commit themselves to. I myself
are full-time employed since the beginning of 2017, and unfortunately did not have time to spend full-time
with the farmers.

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not use ethnography to conduct a research, has findings that are not anthropological.
We are living in the time where ethnography is preached in the settings of seminars,
workshops, conferences, and academic anthropologists talk great deal about
ethnography, but rarely if ever do they claim to be doing it (Ingold 2014:385). In
South Africa, for one to complete his or her master’s degree in anthropology, they
must do it in a given time that is two years. Within that period, one has to come up
with the proposal that can take up to six months minimum, and the proposal needs to
be approved. That all-in-all can take up to eight months. The minimum required time
to conduct a proper ethnography is at least one to two years on the field (Knoblauch
2005; Mannay and Morgan 2015:168) because one has to start by gaining access,
then gain trust, find a gatekeeper after then a research can be conducted. When you
ask people who have mastered and practiced ethnography such as Malinowski,
Boas, Radcliffe-Brown and Evans-Pritchard, they will proudly say that
anthropologists needs time to get to know the people that they are researching, of
which for us, who have to work against time, do not have that luxury of time to fully
blend. Shah (2017:46) pointed out that “it is undeniably even more difficult to
continue to make the case for research that prioritises living for a year and a half with
one group of people in an open-ended study, beginning with the promise that we
[cannot] possibly know what we will find or even what the right questions will be.”
However, as an environmental anthropologist, before doing proper research I must
gain the trust of my participants. I practiced what is known as ‘at-home’ ethnography,
which requires less time to get to know the scene, as I am already part of the scene
by being a community member. What characterise this type of doing research is that
I blended more easily into the culture and I was able to have a better rapport, greater
linguistic competence and a greater quality to appreciate the nuances of non-verbal,
subjective data (Barret 2013:212). I am proud to say that I have done anthropological
research, not in terms of the method used, but rather in my sensitivities, the research
question I asked, and in my orientation in analysis and writing up to foreground my
participants and their voices and practices. This is in line with Ingold (2014:385)
arguing that ethnography is not about time; it is more about writing about people
(Ingold 2014:385). My dissertation is anthropological even though ethnography is not
fully used as an umbrella for all my methods. If we as anthropologists are to write
about the lives of people, we must carefully consider the tools at hand for shedding
analytical light on lived experiences. One of them being metaphors, concepts, words

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and how these can be better put to work to reflect our research practice (Mellander
and Weszmeg 2016:6). We are no longer in an exploration period where we go and
study ‘others’ in the other parts of the world. We live in a period where people we
study, live amongst us, so the processes of ethnography are starting to evolve as we
already know the people we want to study and those people whom we study also
know us, but what we do not really know is what is in their minds, Shah (2017:47)
says we do fieldwork and we write ethnography. After getting the information from
my participants, I had to sit down and analyse it. The process of analysing my data is
discussed below.

3.10 Data analysis

Data analysis is the search for patterns in collected data and for ideas that help
explain why those patterns are there in the first place. In my research I used a
thematic qualitative data analysis approach to analyse my data, meaning I was
looking for recurring themes and concepts in my data.

Firstly, I transcribed the recorded interviews into electronic format. This was done by
listening carefully to the recordings and typing each word down. After I transcribed all
my interviews, I uploaded them into ATLAS.ti, a software program that was
developed for qualitative data analysis. I then developed a coding sheet based both
on themes that emerged from my literature review and ones that reoccurred in the
interviews. I then read through the transcriptions on ATLAS.ti and coded every text.
Through a reiterative process I refined and changed my codes as I was coding. After
I coded all my transcriptions and fieldwork diary notes, I linked codes together under
themes, based on their similarities. Thus, similar expressions from different
participants were categorised as one theme. These themes were related to my sub-
research questions, and then I wrote narratives for each theme, drawing on the text
codes as that specific theme. But after analysing the data, I could not write up a
report without checking the validity and reliability.

3.11 Validity and reliability

Having used the above data collection and data analysis methods, what does it
indicate about the validity and reliability of my research? Bernard (2006:53-54)
defines validity as a term that “refers to the accuracy and trustworthiness of

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instruments, data, and findings in research”; and that is why he further on state that
“nothing in research is more important than validity.” Furthermore, Bernard (2006:54)
defines reliability as “whether or not you get the same answer by using an instrument
to measure something more than once.” I decided to use phrase ‘validity’ and
‘reliability’ instead of ‘rigour’ and ‘trustworthiness’ because I depart from the
philosophical perspective that these phrases are rather related ideas, and they are
used as such in this paper. In terms of validity I used logic validity, reason being I
wanted to ensure that my findings answered the research topic on the observations,
cultural explanations and adaptive mechanisms small-scale farmers in
Johannesburg (Soweto) have about changing climate. Within this logic validity I used
content validity, as I aimed to get what I required from the participants, and my
participants answered the questions that I asked and even gave me more
information. I was very cautious when asking questions; I did not lead any of my
participants to certain responses. What I also did was to give some of my
participants’ interview questions prior to the actual interview. For example, I will go
visit them one weekend then have a conversation with them, then after leave them
with the set of questions, then come back the following week to start with an
interview. I did this because I wanted my participants to become familiar with the
questions that I was asking, and that gave them a lot of time to think about the
questions and come up with well thought answers, and it also eliminated uncertainty
about the issue at hand which was questions about changing climate.

For reliability I used triangulation. In triangulation, data can be collected from

different people, at different times and can also be in different places using different
method of questioning (Diefenbach 2008:882). I asked the same theme / question
but in different ways during the interview. After I got the same / similar answers from
my participants, I took that data as being reliable. Because I was also doing some
unstructured observations, I was also able to cross-check some of the data from my
interviews. The other important thing that made my data to be reliable is the method
of selecting my participants. The purposive sampling frame and snowballing
sampling frame made data to be reliable because I got data from individuals who
know about the problem that I was trying to address. I was also aware of the
possible biasness of using snowballing and purposive frame, but since most of my
participants were part of Izindaba Zokudla project and some of them were able to

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refer me to other small-scale farmers who were not part of this project. With that, I
was able to eliminated or reduce the issue of biasness. Now that I have discussed
validity and reliability, I will now discuss the ethics below.

3.12 Research ethics

In each and every research in social science there are ethics that govern the go-
about of collecting data, analysing and presenting data. Ethics have long been seen
as sitting at the heart of good research practice. Burton and Steane (2004:60) argue
that ethics “concerns itself with the moral dimension of what ought to be the right or
good way to both operationalise the research process and report the findings. Ethics
also concerns itself with processes and conclusions that are just, that is, legitimately
give what is due or represent what is due to a participant, case study or point of
view.” Social scientists, perhaps to a greater extent than the average citizen, have an
ethical obligation to their colleagues, their study population, and the larger society.
The reason for this is that social scientists investigate the social lives of other human
beings. Thus, as a researcher I must ensure the rights, privacy, and welfare of the
people and communities that form the focus of my study are protected.

To a large extent concerns about research ethics revolve around various issues of
consent, privacy, the confidentiality of data, and no harm (Berg 2001:39). First and
foremost, I ensured I provided a consent form (see Appendix C) to all my
participants, in which I explained in the aim and nature of the study. Participants
were also given a choice of abandoning the study whenever they felt uncomfortable.
By signing the consent form they indicated their informed and voluntary participation
in my research. I also required permission to record the interviews.

I promised my participants confidentiality. For this purpose that is why I used

pseudonyms in this report to protect the identity of my participants. I made sure that
the information I provided does not allow for my participants to be identifiable. And
lastly, to ensure confidentiality, I kept the electronic recordings and transcriptions of
these in password protected files on my laptop.

In-depth interviewing sometimes implies a particular approach to research ethics,

whereby a power relationship between interviewer and interviewee is equalised as
much as possible, and where the interviewee gets plenty of opportunity to tell his or

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her story in his or her own way (Mason 2004:4). As part of removing any possible
power relation, I treated my participants with respect. This included being polite,
observing etiquette (especially with the older farmers), not pressuring them, and not
offending my participants by acting in a manner that they would consider
inappropriate. I also consciously respected diversity, being aware of cultural
relativism. I did not exploit my participants or cause them harm. I can now say that I
was honest and truthful all the time, and attempted to eliminate any biases. I acted
beyond self-interest; in this way I conducted my research not only for me, but for
public good.

3.13 Reflections about my research

Doing this research was very interesting and very fun for me. It was a realisation that
I should never stop trying to understand climate change and people’s knowledge of
it. Seeing some of the small-scale farmers abandoning their farming have made me
recognise the fact that I should refuse to view or accept climate change as a new
norm, because when one does that it means they will not do anything about it. Prince
Ea, in his video of Dear Future Generation: Sorry, said “we must globally warm our
hearts and change the climate of our souls and realise that we are not apart from
nature, we are a part of nature. And to betray nature is to betray us, to save nature,
is to save us, because whatever you're fighting for, racism, poverty, feminism, gay
rights, or any type of equality. It won't matter in the least, because if we don't all work
together to save the environment, we will be equally extinct.” Those are powerful
words that give me hope on this climate issue. But deep inside I am burning with
anger and sadness because as an Environmental Anthropologist and a Geographer I
just do not want to protect the environment anymore; I want to create a world where
the environment does not need any protection.

3.14 Conclusion

To conclude, every step that was taken to conduct this project was described in
detail: from the research design, to access to the field and choosing of my
participants, to the data collection and data analysis methods, to the implications for
reliability and validity of these methods, and lastly the research ethics of my project.
In the next chapter then I will look at the findings of the research.

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CHAPTER 4: SOCIO-CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT WITH

CHANGING CLIMATE BY SMALL-SCALE FARMERS IN SOWETO
4.1 Introduction

The experience that people encountered with the effects of changing climate makes
them to have embedded knowledge about these changes and such knowledge
allows these individuals to come up with socio-cultural explanations of the changes
in climate. This chapter presents the findings of my research. It draws strongly on
what my participants provided me with in terms of their perceptions, socio-cultural
explanations, how they value their environment and their adaptation practices. I have
categorised this data into four socio-anthropological themes regarding climate
change. Before discussing these in detail though, I firstly introduce the reader to my
participants. I then look at the perceptions, knowledges, valuations and responses of
these small-scale farmers to changing climate. Also, I encountered different
epistemological views of the world in my fieldwork and have tried to incorporate them
throughout the discussion of findings.

4.2 Introduction to some of my participants

Before providing the findings of this research, I would like to make an introduction to
some of my participants who are the pillar and wisdom of this research. Take note
that some of the farmers asked that I do not write about their background or reveal
their identity. So here I only introduce those participants whom I saw more of, and
who granted me permission to talk about them in more detail. Also, this means that
in the rest of the chapter there will be new names not introduced here.

The first participant is Masixole who is 65 years of age and has ten years’
experience in farming. He started farming while he was still residing in a town called
eQonce (King Williams Town) in the Eastern Cape Province. He later moved to
Johannesburg in search for job and he is currently employed in a construction
company and does farming on weekends when he is free. Masixole currently resides
in Braamfischer in the outskirts of Soweto; he farms in his garden and also in the
nearby school. This is one of the hardworking men I have ever seen in my life. When
I asked him, does he ever get a free time or time to rest… he replied by saying “hayi
kuba ukunqena sisidanga esithweswe amaqgiwrha” (no because being lazy is a

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degree given to witches). He is participating on the Izindaba Zokudla project and he

is very passionate about farming and making sure that his family is eating fresh food.

The second participant is Musawenkosi who is 53 years old with 20 years of

experience in the farming industry. Musawenkosi comes from Graaf-Reinet which is
famously known as eRhafu by Xhosa-speaking people. Musawenkosi has been
farming since he was young. He moved to Johannesburg when he was only 23. He
stated that it was his father who forced him to come to Johannesburg in search for
job so that he could be able to build his home back in the Eastern Cape and also buy
cows for his family. Musawenkosi is working in the Johannesburg CBD. He said to
me that in an urban area one cannot depend on anything, especially if its farming. So
he gets his source of income from his formal work and a supplementary salary from
his farming. Musawenkosi is currently residing at Naledi Extension 2. Just as
Masixole, Musawenkosi has his own garden where he stays and also does farming
in the nearby school.

The third participant is Zukisa. Before I can dwell on his description I have to confess
I had a true connection with him because we come from the same town that is
uMthatha in the Eastern Cape and our villages are not far from each other. He is the
one who also introduced me to some of the farmers who participated in this
research, so he was like the second gatekeeper. Zukisa is also one of the oldest
farmers I interviewed (age 87), with the lot of experience and from him I got one of
the most informative information I could ever get. He is also a good storyteller; we
bonded very well. I was shocked to hear that he had over 60 years of experience in
the farming industry. He started farming from Eastern Cape, and continued farming
here in Johannesburg. He resides at Motsoaledi, which is an informal settlement
behind Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. He owns different plots within the area
where he farms his crops.

The fourth participant is Nhlakanipho from KwaZulu-Natal. He is 71 years of age,

with 27 years of experience in the farming industry. Nhlakanipho stays in Protea
Glen that is not far from Naledi. He only farms in his garden and depend a lot in his
farming for survival. He is a huge believer in God, and feels that God is the one who
is helping him with his farming activities.

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The fifth participant is Nkumande who is 67 years, with 16 years of experience in

farming. He is situated in Zola 3 not far from Pick n Pay. He only depends on the
small farm that is about the size of the football penalty box. He regards his farm as
his source of income.

The sixth participant that gave me some of the fruitful information is Avukonke who is
58 years old, with 40 years of farming experience. Avukonke grew up farming with
his mother and father. He learned a lot from his mother who had a personal
relationship with the environment. His mother could read weather just like the bible,
so he learned a lot from her, which the contributed greatly to farming methods.

The seventh participant is Avile who is 65 years with 15 years of farming from
Diepkloof. Previously Avile used to stay eKapa (Cape Town), where he was once a
farmworker in some wine farms. He then moved to Johannesburg and stayed in a
hostel there ever since.

The eighth participant is Lwazi who is 36 years old, with 15 years of experience in
the farming industry. Avile grew up in Ethekwini (Durban) and moved to Chiawelo
where he currently resides. He farms his vegetables in his home garden.

The ninth participant is Siphokuhle who is 69 years with 12 years of experience in

farming from Dlamini. Siphokuhle says he grew up here in Johannesburg, so he
regards Gauteng as his home province.

Lwando who is 52 years old with eight years of experience in farming, from Zola is
my tenth participant. He spent most of his life in this township, as he said he has
never moved to live in another place.

My eleventh participant is Sinovuyo who is 76 years old with 27 years of experience

from Braamfischer. Sinovuyo grew up speaking isiXhosa because his parents are
from the Eastern Cape but he confessed that he has never been to Eastern Cape;
he only sees it on television.

It is often claimed that nowadays science and scientific research are the source from
which people receive their environmental knowledge. In the background of many
global change research projects and national environmental policies stands a
science-centred information deficit model. This model presumes that in order to

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promote environmentally benign behaviours and action, individuals and local

communities have to be given more scientific facts (Karjalainen and Habeck
2012:21; Rudiak 2014:78). That neglects the fact that it is those communities that
understand environmental changes because of their embedded experiences, and
mostly respond to it because of direct interaction with the changes. Below I will
discuss the four socio-anthropological themes related to climate change that came
when analysing the data. I will start by discussing the perceptions of the changes in
the climate, and then followed by knowledges, valuation and responses to the
changes in the climate.

4.3. Perceptions of the changes in the climate

This is the first theme that I will discuss, which looks at how the small-scale farmers
perceive the changes in the climate through their socio-cultural lenses. It is this
theme that informs or enables us to understand how small-scale farmers explain.
Based on their discussions, Abia et al. (2014:30) argue that farmers' perceptions of
climate change are based on local knowledge and their own experiences. Because
this theme is too broad, I have decided to narrow it into sub-headings, namely the
lack of rain, rising temperature, and perceived effects of changing climate. These
sub-headings came when I was analysing the data. Below I will start by discussion
the lack of rain as one of the perceived changes in the climate.

4.3.1 Lack of rain

People usually describe or define changing climate according to the way in which it
affects them. The feeling of fear and suffering carries a lot of memory and many
people tend to find ways to describe such events and include them in their cultural
ways of making meaning of the environment. This theme is looking at the views that
small-scale farmers have about the changing climate. Most of my data collection was
conducted on the fields; and I would usually sit with my participants under a tree or
walk around in their gardens. As we were sitting under the tree on top of some big
stones that were used to demarcate the garden, my participants, admitted that they
have knowledge about changing climate that gave me a platform to probe more.

As we were discussing his understanding of changing climate, Masixole said in order

to make me understand changing climate in his own views I must look up in the sky,

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not just in one area but in different areas. I did as he wished; then he showed me
different patches of clouds in the sky that looked like Nimbus clouds that were in a
distance from where we were. He then said to me: “changes in the climate are
changes in the positions of those clouds. So basically it is the changes in how
weather and climate as a whole operate in our day-to-day environment”. While I was
stunned by such observations and answer that he gave me, he continued and said:
“you see above us there’s nothing (referring to clouds)”. I nodded; he continued and
said:
those people below those clouds will receive rain and here we won’t, so if you
can go and ask them about the changes in climate they might refer to rain as a
core of defining changing climate while me and others on this side will use hot
temperatures as a basic definition of changing climate.
This was a point where I just kept quiet I did not know what to say, but I was writing
as fast as I could so that I could not lose such descriptive information.

There was a general consensus among the small-scale farmers about decreasing
amount of rainfall that they are receiving. There was a claim that changing climate is
being noticed because of the decreasing amount of rain they were receiving.
Temperature and rain are the most common and mostly understood climatic
parameters that small-scale farmers; this has been proven through different
community-based and ethnographic studies done by different researchers (Cullet
2008; Faust et al. 2012; Goosse et al. 2010; Maddison 2007; Moghariya 2012).

As I continued with my participants they said that changes that are occurring now
have been occurring over the past 10 to 15 years, but the intensity and frequency of
rain has declined (similar to Hardy 2003; Mertz et al. 2009; Orr et al. 2012; Reyes-
Garcia et al. 2016). With the scarcity of water in our country, it becomes very difficult
for small-scale farmers to sustain their farming because there are many regulations
that limits the over usage of water especially for irrigation in the urban areas, many
of the small-scale farmers live in areas where water is paid, so with nothing to pay
the water with it becomes very difficult to irrigate their crops so they depend too
much on rainwater. What I can attest is that the changes in the environment are
perceived in a context of everyday action and through direct experience with the
environment (Faust et al. 2012; Karjalainen and Habeck 2012; Lewis 2012;
Maddison 2007; Smith Jr et al. 2014).

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These small-scale farmers use rainfall as the factor of overriding importance when
explaining changes climate. These small-scale farmers say that there is a change
when you compare climate change in 1995 and now. They used to get a lot of rain
during that time and now they just have longer summers because of the rising
temperatures. And some say before they would get summer to be summer and
winter to be winter. But nowadays they get mixed up events where you are expecting
summer events then the climate surprises you with winter events and when you are
expecting winter events you would get summer events. Some are addressing the
idea that changing climate is not only rising temperature, but mixed up events. The
farmers used their life journey as a way of showing how the rainfall has declined over
the years. They are saying that since their youth it is now apparent that the rainfall
has decreased. With all being said even when defining changing climate rain is an
important description standard of explaining the changes in the climate. Orlove et al.
(2010) agrees with the statement by stating that people understand changing climate
based on the historical pattern of the climate.

4.3.2 Rising temperature

One of the interviews took place on October the 22nd of 2016, a hot sunny day with
no visible cloud in the sky. I went to Naledi where I conducted my interview; that day
I was very energetic and excited for reasons I do not know. I arrived in the area and I
went to the house where I was going to meet with Musawenkosi. It was still early
around 09h00 in the morning and I arrived and Musawenkosi was drinking coffee
and eating fat-cakes. He offered me the food; I could not say no to fat-cakes. Then
he called his little girl who was in her early twenties. The girl came back with the food
and I ate and enjoyed it. We ended up talking about many things ranging from sport,
education, different cultures found in Soweto and how the government has neglected
its own people. Then after that we got up and went to his garden that was located
outside the demarcation of Naledi Ext2. Because it was still in the morning what we
did was ukuhlakula (to weed [remove unwanted plants from the garden]). It took us
nearly two hours to finish in a garden that was a size of two penalty boxes of a
soccer field. Not that it was a difficult job, but because we were talking as we were
working. Musawenkosi said to me: “we live in a world where nature is like a mixture
of God and Police” and as I was weeding I stopped and said to him what do you
mean? He said to me nature gave birth to us, that is why we are here, and also

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nature is making sure that we abide to the rules it has provided for us that is why if
we go astray we get punished by nature. I was trying to comprehend what he was
saying and I had difficulties getting what he meant, so I asked him whether he knows
anything about any changes in the climate. “Ohh that thing” he replied. I said yes,
can you tell me anything you know about it, but first start by explaining what it is. He
replied by stating changes in the climate clearly explain itself but it must be
acknowledged that it is something that occurs naturally over the years. Because I
was having a connection with him, I then probed further by asking him: “how do you
know it’s something that occurs naturally over the years? What makes you say that?”
Hand stopped weeding and put his head on igaba (hand hoe), and then said: “Rising
temperature my boy…. rising temperature.” I asked him: “how do you know that
because we have also experienced some rain?” He giggled and said:
if you were a farmer you would know this and you would have evidence of this.
Right now I cannot provide you with evidence because I have not recorded it
somewhere but all I can say is that since the early 2000s the temperature has
been increasing and I know that because my plants were burnt. And when we
irrigated our plants the water in the soil would just vanish after few hours as if
the area was not irrigated.

In continuation with perceived rising temperatures, I interviewed Zukisa. Our session

as I would call it, took place at Motsoaledi which is an informal settlement located
near Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. I knew Zukisa through my father; they were
friends while they were still young. He has his gardens scattered around the area
and they are about a penalty box of soccer field. I went to him on a Saturday and
when I arrived there I found him already in one of his garden and he said to me
thatha nalo igaba uhlakule kwedin) which means (take that hand hoe and start
weeding my boy). I did that; I also saw that I will not be able to write up notes
because with him I anticipated a lot of information. I put my diary book down and
took my phone and started recording our conversation, obviously through his
consent.

I introduced the topic of imozulu (weather) and then he just jumped in and said:
“lonto ayisathembakali tuu, kuba namhlanje kuyatshisa, ngomso kuyabanda…
ubusika buba ngathi yintwasahlobo” (that thing is no longer reliable, because today it
becomes hot, tomorrow it becomes cold and even our winters have become more
like Spring). I then asked uyibona njani lonto? (How do you see that?). His answer
was very simple; he said because of increasing temperatures over the past few

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years have increased. “I know this because I can feel it. Even when we breathe now
we breathe warm air. The amount of rain we used to get has decreased it is now
dry.” This shows the embedded experience of how small-scale farmers experience
changing climate.

What I got from most of my participants is that they have used rising temperatures as
an important factor of explaining the environmental changes. All my participants,
except the ten who just abandoned their farming, have articulated that temperatures
have increased over the years. This also informed their perceived effects of
changing climate on their crops in which most of them hold the view that changing
climate has reduced their production meaning that they also lose their seed
sovereignty as they would need more seeds to carry on with their farming in the
upcoming ploughing seasons and feed their families with the little production that
they have. Some say that they would experience immaturity of their crops, meaning
that those crops that they have planted do not fully reach the state where they
become the end product. The example that one farmer gave me was that when you
plough tomatoes they usually become green at their initial stage and then become
red when they are the end result. However, with rising temperatures, the tomatoes
will usually get green then after some time they would just rot without even turning
red, this is because the temperature is too much for those tomatoes to bare and the
soil is dry so they are not getting any moisture from the soil. Through their suffering
the small-scale farmers have been able to view changing climate in this perspective.

The perceptions are just non-verbal know-how mechanism of acquiring knowledge

through the grounded experience in a particular local context. These perceptions
instil environmental concerns to people in which people now start to be aware of
problems regarding their environment and they usually tend to support efforts to
solve such problems. This has been critically evident in most of my participants
because for one to address the environmental problems they must first perceive
them, then comprehend them by coming up with socio-cultural explanations to
localise the problem, they then give value to the environment in terms of shared
meanings. After giving value they now know what to protect, that is when they start
responding to such environmental changes (Karjalainen and Habeck 2012).

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4.3.3 Perceived effects changes in the climate

The perceptions of changing climate are not only about perceived changes in the
climatic parameters, but also about the perceived effects of those changes in the
everyday lives of the small-scale farmers. And below I will discuss the effects of
these changes on agriculture and how when agriculture is being extremely affected
leads to some farmers abandoning their farms.

Effects on agriculture

This sub-section looks at how small-scale farmers explain the effects of changing
climate according to what they see in their everyday livelihoods. There is no doubt
that changing climate is having effects on agriculture or farming as a whole. Most of
the farmers agreed that changing climate is affecting their production in a sense that
many of their crops do not fully mature. In providing example for this Masixole
alluded that
tomatoes that I used to plant, would take time to grow, and then they become
green. After that they should turn red, that’s when you know they have matured.
But nope that sometimes does not happen; they are just becoming green then
rot after, so I was not producing anything because the crops were not maturing.
The farmers as they have already stated that temperature has increased over the
years, which means the ploughing seasons are now dry, windy and that cause
erosion because there is no rain that will subside the soil down and maintain the
nutrients. Some of the crops cannot withstand the intensity of the heat that they are
receiving so they end up dead by being burnt by the sun. For the end results this
includes less production than the expected and this is very catastrophic especially
for small-scale farmers who put more energy and money on their farming. So
changing climate according to my participants makes it very difficult to continue
farming because most of the end-result seeds must be saved for the next ploughing
season. But what most of the small-scale farmers agreed on, was that, changing
climate has taken food away from their families. As I have already alluded that
farmers need to spend more on acquiring more seed for next ploughing season. The
effects of changing climate did not only affect the crops according to my farmers it
also affected the ability of some farmers to believe in themselves. Given the already
semi-arid nature of South Africa, with increased farming on marginal lands, the
frequency of droughts and the scarcity of water changes in the agricultural sector is

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inevitable this will cause major shifts in crops sown and grown in various regions
(Artner et al. 2010; Benhin 2008; Charles 2011; Henson 2006; Slingo et al. 2005).
With agriculture being affected by the changing climate, the effects of such effect is
abandoning of farming by some of the small-scale farmers, and this is discussed
below.

Changing climate causing farmers to abandon their farming

When I was doing a follow-up or second session of my interviews, some of the small-
scale farmers that initially participated in the research had already given up on
farming. But I saw it fit to ask them why they decided to give up on farming rather
than doing triangulation processes. These small-scale farmers said farming has
become very difficult for them, uncontrollable changes in the weather has led them to
give up on continuing with the battle of these changes. They said: “fighting or
combating changes in the weather is very expensive.” I then asked what you mean
by that. The response I got was that:
tackling changes in the weather is time consuming and it needs an occasional
monitoring of progress. One cannot spend a week without being worried about
the survival of their crops. What makes farming boring and annoying these
years is that now we farm with fear that we might wake up the next day with the
loss of our crops, unlike before when we used to farm with exhilaration of how
good our production will be during the harvesting time.
These were farmers who abandoned their farming because one of the contributing
factor was changes in weather / climate and they all admitted that they tried by all
means to cope with the changes, but coping is too much for them as small-scale
farmers and they end up needing to spend even the money that they do not have on
faming that will not bear them fruits at the end. They claimed they have to realise
that climate change will always defeat them no matter what they do. So in order for
one to fully sustain the battle between their farming and the changes that are
occurring in the climate, they must be fully equipped with knowledge and also
resources. Ntobeko said to me:
what we have as small-scale farmers is knowledge but not resources. I agree
that knowledge can take you far when addressing climate change, but it can
only take you far. You will never be able to fully cope with the changes. The
thing with changing climate is that it persists over a long period of time and
coping strategies are for that particular season. Sometimes the coping
strategies are overpowered by this changing climate, meaning new strategies

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must be developed. So my question is up until when, where we only farm for the
survival of our plants but not the benefit of what we are planting?

This propelled me to probe more. I informed my supervisor about this and then she
said I should go and ask them why they decided to abandon their farming. In doing
so, I think it has enriched my data and I found five reasons why those farmers
decided to abandon their farming in this hostile environment of changing climate.

Lack of land (space)

Considering the fact that my research is looking at small-scale farmers in urban

areas who are farming on small pieces of land, two of the small-scale farmers
decided to abandon their farming activity. Avile who is around the age of 65 years
and stays in Diepkloof Soweto stated that the reason why he decided to abandon
farming is because there was no enough space for him to farm large quantities of
different crops. He stated that he is always forced to plant limited amount of crops
because of the limited space, and this has impacted negatively on his pocket
because sometimes you might find out that some crops do not fully mature meaning
that he loses most of what he has planted. He believes that getting a land to plough
could increase his production during harvesting time and lessen the overall loss of
crops.

What my participant said is that it is very frustrating to farm on a garden because

sometimes you find the garden is smaller than a penalty box of a football field. So
you no longer know whether to consider yourself a farmer or a gardener because the
place that you plough on is very small. In elaboration my participant Sithembiso
stated that “how can one be expected to feed their families and also be able to sell
some of the vegetables when they are farming on a piece of land that only caters for
farming that will only be able to feed few people not even the entire family.” What
these farmers are doing is to practice intensive agriculture, which is basically trying
to get more production outcomes from small amount of land. And this had negative
impacts on their land as they describe what transpired and something that destroyed
their gardens, the soil was no longer fertile and it takes time for crops to grow in that
garden. With these effects in hand, they decided that it was a waste time and energy
to continue farming because they were not getting anything in return. The farmers
also said even though there are open fields in the surrounding area they cannot farm

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on them. They said, in order for them to protect their crops from being stepped over
by people they need to demarcate the area, and in doing so that means they are
challenging the government because it is the one that owns the land. Usually police
officers would come and destroy their crops out of nowhere. So there is no way to
use the land without the permission from the government. I found this very
interesting and confusing because when I watch the news, the government says they
will do anything to uplift the small-scale farmers by supporting them by any-means
so that they enter the market. But in reality it seems like that is not happening or
maybe only selected and connected small-scale farmers get the assistance, for now
we do not know.

Making no profit

The reason of abandoning farming did not end to the lack of space or land; some of
the farmers who decided to put their tools down have agreed that being a small-
scale farmer in urban area does not come with benefits. My participants agree that
even though they have passion for farming and have been trying very hard to
continue farming, but at the end of they have realised that they are not making any
profits as they compete with big supermarkets such as Shoprite, Pick n Pay, and
Cambridge, who offer vegetables at lower prices, so people tend to prefer buying
from those supermarkets. Even after they have established some friendships and
trust with people they sell their vegetables to. Lwazi on the other hand argues that
people around his neighbourhood Chiawelo where he stays still owe him money for
vegetables that they took without paying him back:
they also change out of the blue like a weather of Mthatha. One thing that kept
me in business in the past years is that I was even giving my customers
vegetables on credit and also gives them ibhantsela (bonus) and that made me
stand out than most of the other farmers in this area and I have been able
establish some friendship and trust. But what I have also realised is that by
doing that I was losing a lot because some of my customers would not pay me
back at the end of the month. I had to forfeit some of the money that was owed
to me because I was trying to save friendships.
What hurts him the most is that after a nearby mall was built the same people he
gave vegetables on credit pass by his house so fast like they are passing a house of
a witch. And they have the audacity to go and buy vegetables from these shops that
are destroying him while they still owe him. And in those supermarkets they buy cash
they do not get those vegetables on credit. They do have cash for them but they do

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not have cash to pay Lwazi back. So according to Msomi who also believed that he
was not making any profits said: “we are not making any profits here, instead we
lose money that we are injecting in this farming thing. It cost more to farm than to get
results at the end.”

Too expensive

Farming is becoming too expensive especially if one is not making any profit. These
were some of the views of my participants who just dropped their tools down and
decided on an early retirement. Siphokuhle alluded that one of the things that made
farming too expensive for him is the fact they in an area where he stays he has to
buy water. He argued that sometimes to save money he would use “dirty” (grey-
water) to irrigate his plants and that according to him affects his crops because they
end up having white stains and when people see them they will stop buying them
and they would go around telling others about such incidents.
Water is too expensive and using it to water plants that would not even
generate profit is a problem for me. I would irrigate my plants in the morning
and in the afternoon they would be so dry and you could see that the sun is
sucking the life out of them.
The crops that you plough as a farmer do not only depend on water, they also need
fertiliser, which is also expensive. And they do not buy fertiliser for the sake of buying
it they are forced to buy it because they compete with big supermarkets. But at the
end the supermarkets win as they cannot afford to use their entire pension grant to
buy fertiliser for the sake of farming, these were the words coming from Qhawe.

These former small-scale farmers also say that sometimes they plant some crops
and those crops die off meaning they end up losing everything. So they will be forced
to go buy seeds from other farmers in the area and in doing that they will be charged
more because the sellers also want to eliminate competition.

Lack of access to supermarket

These former small-scale farmers also pointed out that there is nothing more
frustrating like farming for nothing. They said they spend most of their money and
time on farming and get nothing in return. The big supermarkets do not want to
empower them. They open shops in their areas and they sell vegetables that are

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imported from other areas. So these big supermarkets are destroying and ignoring
them and their doors for business with these small-scale farmers are always closed.
When you watch television you will hear the bosses of these shops saying they
are trying very hard to empower small-scale farmers by buying most of their
vegetables from us. Well let me tell you this, they are lying, what they are
actually doing is to destroy our farming and not give us an opportunity to do
business. Because they have money they can negotiate and buy their
vegetables at a lower prices and they are able to attract more customers and
sell those vegetables at a lower prices. This limits our chance to get access to
markets meaning our only hope is to go door-to-door to sell our products.

Getting too old

It is evident that some of the farmers were not working as hard as they used to
because of their ageing bodies. Some of the farmers are using crutches to help them
walk around their farms. One of the farmers, whom I met before he abandoned his
farming, stated that the age will be a limiting factor to his farming and that was in
2016 around July / August. When I went back to do the interviews I found out that he
had stopped farming and I was pretty amazed and shocked by this because this was
one of the farmer whom I believed I could get more information in terms of climate
change and farming because of his experience in the farming. As I was faced with
this dilemma I decided that it would be interesting to get the reason behind
abandoning his farming activities. I thought that this could enrich my research as
there are many ways in which people cope or respond to the effects.

The old man stated that he will not lie and say that there are certain reasons for
stopping farming. He said: “age is against me, no one is helping me out in carrying
out the farming activities. My body does not allow me to carry on farming. Earlier this
year I had a stroke, so the doctors told me that my body needs to rest. I do not think I
will ever farm again as I am now waiting for God to take me.” After analysing this
information, I realised, this is linked to the limits to adaptation section. When linking
this together it is evident that ecological and physical limits are visible because these
small-scale farmers are finding it difficult to adapt to the changes and the physical
location is part of that reason. We can also see economic and technological limits
and this is expected from small-scale farmers as they do not have much capital to
invest on their farming (Adger et al. 2009:337; Chisasa and Makina 2012:71; Kirsten
and Van Zyl 1998:552; Thamaga-Chitja and Moreje 2014:148). The perceived

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effects of changing climate do not end with abandoning farming; some farmers
raised the idea of knowledge being challenged through inconsistency.

Challenging knowledge through inconsistency

Even though before there were changes in weather, the small-scale farmers agree
that they were not this extreme; it was easy to study changes then adapt to those
changes. Now it is very difficult to understand these changes because they are
happening at a fast rate that it is very difficult to come up with strategies that will
make their plants adapt to these changes. The changes are not new they have been
occurring but not at this fast rate. One of the small-scale farmer reminiscence that
they usually mark the calendar to see which dates would be suitable for ploughing
and they used to be correct and on point, but now they believe that their knowledge
has failed them. When they mark suitable dates they usually do not match or
correlate the suitable ploughing seasons. Sometimes one might find out that the
ploughing season starts late in December, rather than the usual late October and
early November. To them what controls the ploughing season is not the date but the
rain. So if the rain comes late in December that means the ploughing season will
also start in December. In his words Musawenkosi attest that “in the past we knew
the climate, we knew when to plough and it was predicted but now this does not
happen.” Most of the small-scale farmers agree that weather or climate has always
been inconsistence, however, it was predictable. Certain weather will appear at a
particular point in time and at a certain stage and it will come back again. This
means the climate according to them was reliable, with all these inconsistencies they
were able to anticipate what was coming for them. Masixole argues that “we knew
what to expect but now it is difficult to read anything about this new climate.” Some
authors have said this may be regarded as an erosion or weakening of knowledge,
as it is a combination of generational change, market involvement, environmental
change and a multitude of other factors that contribute to the feeling of loss (Dunbar
et al. 2012). This shows how knowledge is being challenged through inconsistencies
of climate. What I have gathered is that when knowledge traditions are being
challenged it means that there is an open vacuum that gives culture to a chance to
grow.

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4.3.4 Conclusion

This theme has provided wide range of perceptions of the changes in the
environment. Many of the small-scale farmers has isolated the rising temperatures,
changes in the rainfall and increased wind speed as climatic parameters that are
causing damage to their farming. The perceived effects of such changes on
agriculture has also been discussed, this then led to also discussing how these
small-scale farmers abandoned their farming because of the inability to cope with the
effects. With all the information above about the perceptions, below I will discuss the
knowledges of the small-scale farmers.

4.4 Environmental knowledges

This theme is focussing on how the small-scale farmers comprehend the changes in
climate and provide socio-cultural explanation for such changes. Environmental
knowledge is part of environmental concern or environmentalism, and stems mainly
from media, science, education, experience and other forms of communication. What
this section will unpack is the knowledge that the small-scale farmers have about
their environment. As I have spent most of my time with the small-scale farmers I
realised that this knowledge is a result of transaction and interactions with the
environment in a local context, between their environmental perceptions and
environmental knowledge. Karjalainen and Habeck (2012) support the claim by
arguing that “local environmental knowledge is knowledge through engagement at
two levels. At first level, the individual engages with his/her surroundings giving rise
to environmental perception, and at the second level, environmental perception is
engaged with externally derived cognition giving rise to local environmental
knowledge. This knowledge cannot be treated solely as factual information since it
has its own moral symbolic dimension within a social, cultural and political context.”

When coming to this theme I got a sense that many of my participants understand
environmental changes in their environment in three broad ideas. The first one is that
changing climate or other changes in the environment are a result of: (a) natural
environmental cycle; b) socio-cultural changes; and c) reaction of natural and
spiritual entities. That is why this section of knowledges is divided into three sub-
themes that will be discussed below.

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4.4.1 Natural environmental cycle

In order to understand this environmental cycle explanations I had to make sure that
I unpack all the knowledge that will inform such thoughts. I then asked my
participants to tell me of any historical memories that they have about the previous
climate and compare it to the current climate. The reason for such question was to
unlock their climatic model within their minds and do an analysis of that climatic
model which is informed by the transactions and interactions with their environment,
and then this led them to have environmental perceptions that inform this theme of
environmental knowledge. My participants gave me similar answers when comparing
the previous and current climate. They argued that the previous climate was very
cool in terms of temperature, winter used to be a period where they knew that
temperature would drop. Summer was not so hot. But now everything is hot from
summer to winter.

Some of my participants said no these changes are a result of a natural

environmental cycle that no one can control. These things are happening and will
continue to happen we should not stress ourselves about them. They made
examples by comparing the previous climate and the current one to substantiate
their explanation of their knowledge and observation of changing climate as natural
environmental cycle. In comparing previous and current climate most of my
participants said changes are not something new, these changes in the climate have
been occurring over the past years and for them it was easy to cope with those
changes. One of my participants said to me: “climate change may seem new to you
kids but it is not. It is something that has been happening over the past years.” While
in discussion one of my participants said to me while they were still young they
would usually experience a certain climate at a given stage then experience those
similar results at a later stage. To support this Zukisa used this natural environmental
cycle explanation to teach me a little bit of the Xhosa history and how they name
their months using the logic of changes in the environment as a natural cycle. Zukisa
said to me:
let me tell you a story my boy that justify why these changes that occur now are
just an environmental cycle. The Xhosa speaking people were so intelligent in a
way that they studied their environment and started naming months of the year
according to what they have been observing around their environment. These

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months were usually named after particular plants that were growing during that
time.

So through patience and critical observations, the Xhosa people would seat down
and record what was happening around them. Then they realised that there were
environment cycles, meaning that if something happened continues to happen again
during that time. Then they started recording what they have been observing, and
shared such knowledge in any gatherings round fires. Although it took them years to
be fully sure about their observation but they never gave up. Then they decided to
assign meaning to what they have been observing by naming the months according
to the way in which these environmental changes were repeating themselves.

Naming months was not just for keeping track of time but also for making sure the
right time to plough, harvest, and perform traditional ceremonies. The first month
which is known as January, is called eyoMqungu in isiXhosa. uMqungu is the tall
grass that usually grows emasimini (the veld / field); this grass is usually used by
Xhosa people to create roofs in their hut houses. When this grass starts to grow
Xhosa people knew that it was the beginning of the year since the environmental
changes were a cycle. The second month is eyoMdumba, known as February, this is
the month where many trees start to produce some seeds, in isiXhosa they say
iyadubula meaning what has been planted starts showing during this month. Many of
the crops start blossoming in simple terms. The third month is eyoKwindla, known as
March, during this time of the month people in the Eastern Cape would go and
harvest some fresh vegetables in their gardens, and it is the month where cold
weather starts. Therefore this month was named after these events.

The fourth month is uTshazimpuzi, known as April; this month comes just before
winter. It is known as a month where many leaves in the trees start to change colour
that is why it is named Tshazimpuzi. The fifth month is uCanzibe, known as May this
month is named differently from previous months. During this time Xhosa people will
look in the sky and see bright star known as ‘Canopus in the constellation Argo’ in
English that becomes visible in the Southern Hemisphere, these stars are grouped
together to form a huge bright cluster of stars. We must remember that for a long
time ago where the word was illuminated by fire, our relationship with the stars was
far more personal. When Xhosa speaking people saw those stars they knew that
they were approaching the most important time in their culture that is Isilimela, the

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sixth month is known as June. Although the Xhosa culture has undergone cultural
evolution over the years, this month used to mark the New Year according to my
participant, and the Xhosa people would celebrate and make up the New Year
resolutions, this allowed them to cleanse their minds and souls from any bad things
that happened in the previous year.

Isilimela was and still is the important month because this is the month where
amakhwenkwe (boys) would go to the initiation schools, because it was / till believed
that the boys will heal fast since the conditions are dry. Therefore traditionally
circumcised boys or men would count their age according to how many times they
have reached June since their circumcision. Even today as a Xhosa man I still count
my age according to that. This is the most important month in the manhood of Xhosa
speaking people. It is this month where a thing called udomorhasi (herding in the
fields with boys guarding cows so that they do not eat crops that are planted)
happens, here they would choose green areas so that cows do not suffer from
hunger. After Xhosa speaking people realised that ‘no man’ there were more
environmental changes that occur over the years that were not regarded as part of
naming of the months, then they had to go back on the drawing table and make sure
that everything that they observe is recorded and is being preached within the Xhosa
nation. That is when they also added some of the months to represent what they
were observing at that time.

The next month that they named was eyeKhala, known as July this is the month
where Xhosa speaking people will see the gloom of the Aloe, so this month was
named after this plant. Even today the Xhosa speaking people call an Aloe ikhala.
The eighth month is eyeThupha, known as August in this month people will get to
witness the plant called coral tree yields its buds. This is also a month where they
would anticipate spring. The participant said that he does not know where the word
eyethupha comes from, but believes that this month was named after Xhosa
speaking people observed the coral trees yielding their buds but the coral trees in
isiXhosa are called umsintsi and this is the name they gave to the following month.
The ninth month eyoMsintsi, which is known as September, this is the month where
the coastal coral trees (umsintsi) blossom hard, creating some red leafs within these
trees.

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The tenth month is October known as eyeDwarha, during this month there would be
an appearance of lily-pad plants (amaDwarha) which usually grow on marsh areas or
wetlands. The eleventh month is November known as eyeNkanga, this is a flower
known as ragwort or daisies and they appear during this time of the year, so that is
why this month is named after these flowers. The last month is December known as
eyoMnga, this is the time where Acacia trees starts to become green and the thorns
of this trees starts to regenerate. This explains how the changes in the environment
have always been observed as a natural environmental cycle and even today such
changes do represent the months in which they have been known to occur on.
People understand changing climate based on the historical patterns of the climate,
and the understanding of these historical patterns of climate forms the basic
framework against which variability and change are observed, which is what I have
shown above (Orlove et al. 2010; Magini 2012).

In contrast to what I have just explained some of the participants made statements
that disagrees with the environmental cycle explanations. One of the participants
Nkumande said: “these rapid extreme changes are something we have never
experienced before. Past climate was normal even the changes were normal, but
now these changes are moving from what we used to experience and we are
experiencing new things” and Avukonke agreed with that by stating that “The
changes are new that is why we are surprised and experiencing this shock”.

4.4.2 Socio-cultural changes

The explanation of these knowledges did not end only in the natural environmental
cycle explanation some of my participants provided socio-cultural explanations for
the occurrence of changing climate. This sub-theme made me realise that the
changes in the environment are not separated from other changes and issues in the
society. Karjalainen and Habeck (2012:23) support my claim as they argue that
“when people receive scientific knowledge about environmental problems, they
restate it in their everyday life contexts. Thus even global concepts of the
environment and environmental changes are always localised in a particular socio-
political and cultural context.”

Masixole said that “in the past we used to believe in culture which is something that
you young kids do not believe in anymore, and also pray to Qamata [God in Xhosa].

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We used to use the time of rituals to give back to the Gods and the Ancestors in
return they would give us rain.” Respecting older people was rewarded with things
that people needed the most. He painted a picture for me that they used to do
whatever to impress their parents and their joy was coupled with rain and fertility of
the soil. Now since money was introduced, people started moving to places such as
Johannesburg and they started relocating and forgot about their parents back home,
they were not sending back the money to support their parents. So as a result our
parents are crying and in IsiXhosa it is believed that iinyembei zabantu abadala
aziweli phantsi (the tears of the elders never touch the ground). Because when they
are crying the Ancestors make sure that people will be punished. The changes are
not happening only because people have decided to leave their homestead and went
to seek asylum in urban areas others say that these changes are happening
because people have lost the culture of praying and respecting the environment
therefore in response God makes it very difficult to live under the current conditions.
In his own words Musawenkosi said:
people no longer believe or pray to God so in his response he is reminding us
that we still depend on him. We as people do not respect the earth which is the
guest room in the house of God, as we keep on destroying it by cutting trees,
burning things and not putting anything in return we now suffer the
consequences of these actions.
What we have here is a classic explanation of anthropogenic climate change and
these small-scale farmers are acknowledging that (Archer 2007; Barry and Hall-
McKim 2014; Head and Gibson 2012; US Department of State 2007).

As I have already alluded above that environmental changes are usually localised in
a particular socio-political and cultural context. One of my participants recalls the
socio-political tension that painted South Africa with a bad image in late 2008 where
many South Africans started killing foreign nationals. The participant said that:
climate change is happening as a result of hatred that we have as humans for
each other. In 2008 South Africans started to show hatred towards other African
people and we killed them. Then if you could recall everything started to go
wrong at that time, the economy fell, and then the temperatures started to
increase. Things did not end there, the looting in the 2014 and 2015 made
South Africa to experience one of the harshest climatic conditions. The drought
made us suffer a lot and it occurred as a result of the xenophobia. So the
changes in our society also influence the changes in our climate.

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This shows that people always find the causation of certain events and they observe
the current events, store them in their minds and then use them to explain certain
events.

Most of my participants used God and Ancestors to explain the occurrence of

changing climate and humans especially the youth is to be blame for this. Many of
these small-scale farmers agree that young people have lost respect for their elders
and respect for their environment. So as a result what is happening is that God and
the Ancestors are trying to punish this youth. A group of small-scale farmers whom I
hijacked to participate in the interviews said to me jokingly:
if God and the Ancestors had the ability to punish the youth in isolation they
would for example switch off something that youth depend mostly on which is
the technology but the problem with technology is that it is a man-made thing so
humans can also manipulate it. So in order to punish the youth on something
that they do not have control over they should punish them with climate which is
a generational punishment.
I found this very interesting because everywhere in the world there is nothing good
that the youth is doing that is why we find phrases such as “lost generation.” To also
prove that youth is seen as the causation of changing climate, Avukonke say that
boys do not listen at all. He gave me an example of most of the boys in the Eastern
Cape whom they are always told that sheep’s should be ethangweni (kraal) by
sunset, but one would find those sheep’s, goats and even cows roaming around at
night and some of these animals get lost and that is when the Ancestors react by
causing imbalela (drought) and rivers dry out. I then asked him about urban areas as
people are not herding here, so why do we experience the same effects that people
in the Eastern Cape experience because of those young boys who do not listen. He
then said to me changes in the climate are not limited to a specific area; if something
wrong happens in one area it will affect the whole country, especially if the Ancestors
are involved. This shows that changes in the climate, are spatially limitless, the
changes are everywhere, hence not easily accessible to imaginations rooted in
specific places (Jasonaff 2010).

In contrast to the statement that humans are responsible for the occurrence of
changing climate, Nhlakanipho disagrees with the statement and he says that he
does not know what we are doing wrong but what he knows is that changing climate
is a punishment from God. He further stated that “people should stop blaming other
people for the occurrence of climate change. With such behaviours you will hear

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these knowledgeable people saying that the floods during Noah’s time were a result
of how humans were treating nature.” Nhlakanipho is holding the views that
changing climate is a punishment from God but refuse to acknowledge that people
are a result of that punishment. But he subliminally confessed that we humans are
responsible for changing climate by saying “I do not know what we are doing wrong
to be honest but what I know this is a punishment from God.” God can never punish
people for the sake of punishing them and Nhlakanipho acknowledges that there is
something wrong that humans are doing even though he does not know it.

4.4.3 Reaction of natural and spiritual entities

The causation of changing climate may be explained as a natural environmental

cycle and socio-cultural explanations may be used to explain these changes. But to
be specific I needed to get the true explanations for causes of drought and rainfall
because these were the climatic variables that the small-scale farmers observed
changing over the years. But to fully understand this I also needed to get how these
small-scale farmers position themselves in the ecosystem hierarchy, whether they
see themselves as equal to nature, above nature or nature is above them. This
probing technique gave rise to a new theme that explains the changes as a reaction
of natural and spiritual entities. Almost all my participants agreed that humans are
not and will never be as equal with nature. I found a common justification that we
found this earth already existing; it did not discover us roaming around in a space-
less environment.

In their explanations the small-scale farmers argued that nature should be respected
because it gives life and it can also take it. When you take something from nature,
for an example a particular plant that you are going to use to heal someone /
yourself, you must give something back to nature; it can be your hair or your nails.
Failure to do so, that plant will never serve its purpose; it will never heal anyone. I
then asked with regards to agriculture aren’t we giving something back by ploughing
crops? The response I got was:

without the carrying womb of nature those crops will never grow. What we are
doing with agriculture is not giving something back to nature we are just doing a
transaction with nature in which we give it something small with expectation of
receiving something big from it. So as we keep on looting nature, nature will
also keep on punishing us by making sure that it does not reproduce what is

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being looted from it, this will be the lesson that we will learn after we have
nothing left to take from nature. Now we are still enjoying looting and destroying
nature because the resources are still plenty, but when they are depleted
sizowukhomba umzi onotywala (we shall reap what we saw).
This demonstrates how nature seen as the soul-provider of everything and the idea
that I get from my participants is that we as humans are just the beneficiaries from
nature’s kindness.

Zukisa provided I with an example of a plant called ‘umhl’awuvuthwa’ (I do not know

its scientific name and he said to me it is mostly found in isolated), the purpose of
this plant is to produce rain in a particular region. It works like this, it is found on the
fields’ inamagqabi aluhlaza (it has green leaves). The person who is allowed to
harvest or pick this plant is a person who is connected to the Ancestor’s igqirha (a
traditional doctor). Even when he/she harvests the plant only one leave must be
taken per plant. This is done to allow nature to regenerate; failure to do so, there will
be a drought in that particular region and also the surrounding regions. This clearly
shows sustainable use of resources by local people. It is similar the belief of the
Cotacachi (of Ecuador) that lack of rain is caused by the removal of ‘native’
vegetation which they believe calls the rain by drawing clouds to the area’s
waterways, where they are filled with water before releasing rain (Bloomquist and
Machila 2009; Rhoades et al. 2008). This is the type of knowledge we need to
harness and make sure it is advocated in our daily lives.

In continuation with my data collection my participants kept emphasising the

importance of God and the fact that he created everything that we see and nature is
like the first born in this kingdom we are living in. But do not take my words for it,
Musawenkosi said: “when God created humans he created nature first then humans
were created to occupy nature which was already there. It is the same as any other
family, the firstborn will never be as equal as a second born. What comes first is very
important that should be known.” I found this very interesting because we always use
words such as ‘Mother Nature’ to show that we are here because of nature. I am
now convinced that Nature gave birth to us not the other way around because what I
have gathered through analysis of what my participants were saying is that we
depend on nature to survive and Nkumande made a bold statement by saying
“nature does not depend on us to survive it can survive on its own.” With that being
said on this sub-theme it informed the following theme that came out through data

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analysis and it was imperative to get to know how these small-scale farmers value
their environment and knowing this will help me understand how they will responds
to the changes in their environment.

This theme has discussed ways in which small-scale farmers internalise, localise
and give meaning to their observations, shared information and also their
experiences of the changing climate. And what we have learnt in this theme is that,
most of the changes in the environment are being regarded as nothing other than the
natural environmental cycle, meaning that such changes are not something new,
they have occurred in the past. The other idea that came out of this theme is that
different socio-cultural explanation to explain any of the changes in the environment,
all under the umbrella of nothing more than just the reaction of natural and spiritual
entities. With all being said, below I will discuss how these small-scale farmers give
value to their environment.

4.5 Valuation of the environment

The theme of valuation looks at how small-scale farmers give value to their
environment in terms of shared meanings. For these small-scale farmers, the
environment is not all about the economic value but something more than that. The
way in which the small-scale farmers give value to their environment is discussed
below.

The question I asked the small-scale farmers to get to the gist of this theme was how
do they see the changes or value their environment in this turmoil of changing
climate. All of my participants agreed that the changes in the climate are very
harmful to them and their crops. The effects that these changes have on the crops
make it very difficult to survive. Some believe that the beautiful nature that we see
today might be gone in the future. For some they say changes can either be good or
bad but it all depends on what you as an individual want from the environment. Most
of them agreed that previous changes in the climate were good for them as they
were able to get expected production when they harvest. Some of the small-scale
famers have alluded that we must appreciate what we are experiencing today
because we do not know what might happen in future, maybe the changes in the
environment might not be so bad and we might look back and say those changes are
better than the ones that we are currently experiencing. So it depends on the

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location and what people want the environment to provide them with. Two main sub-
themes came up, from this theme and below I will discuss the first one that is
environment or changes in it, offers more than just food production, and the second
one is the idea that before any changes, the environment has way to communicate
them beforehand.

4.5.1 Environment or changes in it, offers more than just food production

I mistakenly mentioned the devastating effects of changing climate to my participants

and they quickly jumped and said to me: “current environmental changes might open
up opportunities for us to strive in future. What if maybe the current changes are
eliminating weak crops that nature sees that they cannot survive or prosper in
future?” They agree that this changing climate that environmentalist are concerned
about, gives them opportunity to grow as individuals and also learn new things. That
gives their culture an opportunity to grow and to be sustainable.

In addition to the idea that changes in the climate might keep the culture striving,
other farmers alluded that we must not look at the environment in a spectrum of
changes it must be viewed as an entity that gives life and it also provide protection
from external forces. The environment amongst my farmers is viewed as a shelter,
“the garden of God and Ancestors. It is something that we as insects of it must make
sure that it always flourishes for us to benefit from it.” The changes in the climate
give people a second chance every day for them to survive it does this by giving
them signs that there will be changes. So the environment is communicating with
people so that they prepare beforehand. In a group discussion with my participants,
Musawenkosi emotionally said we must not see the environment as something that
we can loot, so that we may accumulate capital or something that benefit us from,
but we must see the environment as something that gives us priceless thing which is
life. And Nhlakanipho jumped in and said: “I would say that the environment does not
give me life it sustains my life because the life that I have right now is a gift from God
not the environment.”

There was this one participant of mine who was very descriptive on why he values
the environment. He said he value environment as a cleaner of soul, because it
purifies umoya omdaka (evil spirits) and people also use what the environment

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provides them to heal other people. The environment cleans this polluted air that we
have. He went on to say:
if I talk about the environment in general I can say a lot about it. Let’s start with
the most common feature of the environment which is the forest. Some of us do
not see forest as the thing of beauty or something that can provide you with
wood for fuel or to create furniture, forest are there for a different purpose which
is to shelter the Ancestors during the day. In Xhosa culture, a forest or a dam
are sacred places where people could communicate with their Ancestors, when
amagqirha (the traditional healers) go to initiation processes they go to these
places because they know that is where they will find their elders and they will
guide them throughout the processes and when they come back they come
back very powerful and help people. The herbs or medicine that these
traditional healers use come from the forest. So the environment is not just a
place that provides goods that may help you get economic power but it is
something that gives life, so if these particular places are destroyed because of
climate change where will our Ancestors live? That means they will be roaming
around without having a place to stay as a result they will also make us suffer,
some people will also be displaced from their environment. But what I have also
realised is that these changes also have some benefits we should be thankful
for. They produce new plants which we never had before and such plants are
good in medicinal purposes, so the changes are not all as bad as they are
claimed to be.
This was very mouthful considering the fact that I wanted to know how they value
these changes. This coincides with the a study conducted by Nuttall (2009) in
Greenland, in which she found that Inuit people do not necessarily talk of the
environment as changing but of it being in a constant process of ‘becoming’. This
way of valuing nature is to acknowledge that it has intrinsic value outside of its value
for humans. Despite recognising the changes and some of its benefits, my
participants valued the existence of nature as a whole rather than the changes in it.
This coincides with Bollier (2016:17) when he argued that “value is an event that
takes place before the subjective and objective are separated. Value does not come
from any property within an object nor as something that the subject sees as
meaningful in it. Value comes from the experience of the relationship itself.” The
other sub-theme that was found during data analysis it communicating with the
environment, and that is discussed below.

4.5.2 Communicating with the environment

One of my participants mentioned something about how the environment keeps

communicating with them so that they may prepare for any changes that may be
coming. The environment does this by giving them signs through animals and other

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environmental entities. This propelled me to investigate more on the signs that the
small-scale farmers get / see which alert them about any climate / weather changes
that they need to expect. Sithe singaphosanga maseko sawagawula siwarhuqa
(without any waste of time we got into the business [figure of speech]). When I posed
the questions about the signs Masixole said that signs are everywhere, whenever
they see a bird called inkonjane (bat) they know that there is a huge rain that is
coming. This becomes their own weather warning system for those farmers who
already planted their crops that do not need too much water, had to find ways to
protect their crops. Masixole continued to say, for him he just look at his dog: “If it
keeps rounding on the same place I know it is trying to warn me about the rain that
would come in the upcoming days or weeks.” It does not end there he can also look
for the intensity of the rain by just going to the fields and according to his own words:
“there are insects that crawl then fly after every time it rains [I googled the insects
and they are called Mang Mao insects]. However, these insects are a good sign that
tell you that the rain has stopped, when they appear it usually means that the
weather will open up.” About a four small-scale farmers also said that the signs are
there, but some people do not know how to interpret them.

Sometimes there is an appearance of indibule which is a huge frog with big eyes,
and that can be interpreted as a warning system, that people must prepare for rain.
They usually tell them that whatever they wanted to plant they can start planting it
because the rain might just come any time soon. This is similar to a study done by
Rankoana (2016:7), in which the author found out that people from Mogalakwena
community in Limpopo have a unique way of knowing the upcoming rainfall, they rely
on the Senegali plant species that produce yellow flowers which indicate the
beginning of a good season with forthcoming rainfall if the flowers are deep-yellow.
For one of the farmers, signs do not always come from earth; the universe is also the
communicator, for Nkumande inyanga (the moon) and what happens around it,
communicates an important message to him. He said:
you know when the moon appears during the day it means that there will be
some cold winds approaching. But never mind that, sometimes I look at the
moon during day and night and xa ndibona umsi okanye inkungu iqoshele
inyanga ndiye ndazi ukuba imvula efathazayo iyeza (when I see smog or small
clouds that surrounds the moon which then create a hallow, it gives me an
indication that there will be mild precipitation).

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In some communities such as Punan in Indonesia, farmers observe the phases of

the moon to determine the commencement of activities such as farm preparation,
planting of tree crops and hunting (Krishna et al. 2010). When the appearance of the
new moon coincides with rainfall, it is an indication that the season will have
sufficient rainfall, but when the new moon emerges in the sky without rain it implies
that the season will have poor rainfall (Krishna et al. 2010; Mgumi 2016).

For others they also look at insects such as izigcawu (spider); they said that one can
predict stormy weather by looking at the webs of the spiders, if the spiders are not in
their webs it means that there is a huge storm coming. So you will find those spiders
in people’s houses. It is not like they do not have a better place to stay, but they are
sensing danger that is coming, therefore in his words Avukonke said: “I can say
spiders do predict changes in the environment for me and I know what not to plough
when that happens.” And for Zukisa he said he use the signs he mentioned above
about how Xhosa people name their months. But for some farmers they do not see /
use any signs because they believe that God works in miraculous ways, he never
gives you a hint he just surprises you. To substantiate his views Nhlakanipho asked:
“did you get any hints about the drought that occurred in 2015 or you just
experienced it as it happened?” He believes that things should be taken as they
come and sometimes they are testing weakness amongst the human race. He
interpreted the bible by saying: “during the floods that in Noah’s time, the animals
could have sensed that there was a danger coming so this shows that signs are not
there. The only signs you could get is a direct message from God just like Noah did.”
Some people interpret the scripts of the bible in which they are told simply to wait
and endure God’s judgment, rather than doing anything to change what is
considered to be God ordained and thus, inevitable (Bloomquist and Machila 2009).
These types of answers left me surprised.

The way in which the small-scale farmers give value to their environment is actually
unique. They see the environment as an entity that provides them with something
more than just food. The endurance of culture is tested and reinforced. What also
came out under this theme of valuation is that, small-scale farmers have found ways
to communicate with their environment, through different indicators of the changes in
the climate. With all the information above I then went on to probe my participants
about how they respond to changing climate.

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4.6 Responses to changes in the climate

This is the last theme that complements other themes; it is like the sources of a river.
It all starts with perceptions which can be viewed as a catchment area, then goes to
knowledges and valuation which can be seen is as a journey of a river where it
meanders, then come the responses which is the mouth of a river where all the
information is used to address whatever problems that are identified. In
understanding the adaptation or any responses that people may have about the
changing environment, it is also important to know that local traditional knowledge /
knowledge traditions have been sustained since the invasion although in
substantially altered forms, at sometimes reflecting pre-invasion conditions and at
others reflecting newly emerging content arising from traditional bases but in
engagement with very changed conditions. The capacity of local people in conditions
of historical change to identify and reflect on environmental change is an important
dimension of the broader value of local knowledge. The culture-based mechanism of
adapting to changing climate show a greater dependability on the use of local
knowledge to carry on production of subsistence crops (Frank and Buckley 2012:18;
Goodall 2012; Rankoana 2016:2; Sanga and colleagues 2013:176; Thomas and
colleagues 2007:318; Thornton and Manasfi 2010:143). I will then below, provide the
description of the adaptation strategies that small-scale farmers used to adapt to
changing climate.

4.6.1 Advanced ‘traditional’ irrigation system

One of the most ground-breaking adaptation strategies that I have ever seen / heard
was the creation of what I call the advanced ‘traditional’ irrigation system. After these
small-scale farmers noticed and felt the rising temperatures and increased prices of
equipment’s that can be used to adapt to changing climate, they decided to create
their own ways of adapting. One of the farmers took me to his small garden to show
me what he has done to make sure that he irrigates his plants without being
physically there. What I saw was the usage of ordinary electric cubing pipes.
Spinach was planted in a plastic bottle filled with soil, so every plastic bottle is
connected to that cubing pipe, of which there is one pipe that connects to all these
pipes that go to each plant. The nice thing about this strategy is that the crops are
always watered; their soil is always moist, meaning the plants do not lose water

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through evaporation. Khabazela said: “this not only saves me time to water each
plant, but also saves water that we have to buy in this area. So it’s a win-win
situation.” This irrigation system has less than three sources / catchment areas and
many different mouths / irrigation areas. The water is put on these catchment areas
that are just the mouth of the pipes, and water just flow to different plants. Not only
clean water is used to water plants, this farmer also uses grey-water.

The use of irrigation in response to changing climate as expounded by Tambo and

Abdoulaye (2013) who stated that, irrigation is done when small-scale farmers notice
the reduction of the natural irrigation system which is the rainfall, and they come up
with water harvesting structures such as ones mentioned above for irrigation this
helps them when there is a shortage of rainfall. Even though Khabazela alluded that
there is a slight decrease in rainfall that is why he is using such innovative system to
irrigate his plants, Gbetibouo (2009) provides a contrasting argument that famers
who have access to water for irrigation purposes are unlikely to perceive any change
in the climate whether in temperature or precipitation. This might be true but also can
be falsely since it all depends in a context, geographical location and culture. But
other small-scale farmers said, they are now irrigating twice a day as opposed to
once a day that they used to do. So by increasing the frequency of irrigating ones
crops, it also helps for survival of those crops.

4.6.2. Crop rotation

The other strategy that these small-scale farmers use to adapt to changing climate is
to use crop rotation to make sure that they gain something at the end. This makes
the soil to be fertile because the nutrients are being recycled. As I have shown under
the perceived impact of changing climate that most of these small-scale farmers say
that changes in the climate have affected their end results of their crops whether is
lack of maturity from their crops or a decline in production, therefore crop rotation
allows them to respond to the changes in the climate and by making sure that their
crops do not suffer much. Different crops were cultivated in different times. What
these small-scale farmers said was that, just after crop harvesting, they start by
cultivating new and different crops so that the soil can be able to get new nutrients
from the new crops Mertz et al. (2008) accords that the cultivation of short cycle
crops and long cycle crop varieties shows the tendency of farmers to take advantage

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of the different maturing times of crops. This makes them to strengthen their
resilience to impacts associated with variable unpredictable rainfalls and drier
conditions, in order to increase chances of harvesting a crop during the drier and
wetter seasons. This fully fits the idea that, since these small-scale farmers have
experience reduction in their production, they are now trying hard to have positive
outcomes when they harvest. Crop diversification does not only help the farmers with
saving the nutrients in the soil, but crop rotation also serves as an insurance against
complete failure as various crops and varieties respond differently to climatic
dangers (Mertz et al. 2009;Rankoana 2016; Yaro 2013).

4.6.3 Mulching

When the previous strategies seeks to fail or not cope with the raging effects of
changing climate, especially when the lack of rainfall and increasing temperature
pose threat to their crops, small-scale farmers tend use mulching as an adaptation
strategy. Siyabulela said: “I use mulching to help save my crops from being burnt by
the sun, but also to maintain moisture in the soil for my crops to grow.” Some of the
small-scale farmers said that mulching not only maintain moist in the soil but it also
helps them control the germination of weed that usually affects the growth and
maturity of their crops. The mulching strategy also helps these small-scale farmers to
keep their seeds and soil nutrients or fertilizer in place. In many ethnographic studies
done by different researchers, the commonality in their studies is that mulching
improves the soil structure and fertility to reduce crop failure. Such adaptation
measure is resilient to the negative impact of climate hazards (Giller et al. 2008;
Rankoana 2016). The way that these small-scale farmers were mulching their crops,
is no different to what other people have been doing in other areas.

4.6.4 Change in ploughing dates

As some of the farmers have already alluded that changing climate has impacted on
their knowledge of knowing the ploughing dates. Right now they are changing
ploughing dates and select suitable dates for them to plough. This strategy allows
them to not only advance their cultural knowledge by being up to date with the
current events but also gives their crops a chance to survive unexpected climatic
changes. This adaptation strategy is usually adapted to correlate farming with the
rain at that particular time (Tambo and Abdoulaye 2013). Climate in urban area is

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totally different, so what I can say about the uniqueness of this adaption strategy is
that, the changing of ploughing dates occurs more often than in urban areas than in
rural areas which is where most of the studies about climate change and agriculture
have been done.

4.6.5 Conservation practices

Seventy percent of the small-scale farmers said that they practice what they say is
conservation practices which is usually known as terraces. What shocked me is that
some of my participants practiced terracing on non-steep slopes. I asked why
because usually such adaptation strategy is done in sloppy areas. The farmers said
that they are usually using this strategy to maintain different nutrients of each slopes
for certain plants. They said it is useless to have terraces then plant the same crops
in all those terraces, because the soil will have the same nutrients and that will not
benefit the plants. But if you plant different crops in different terraces that make the
soil to be more fertile in different areas, they will then perform crop rotation in those
terraces to increase the fertility of the soil. The terraces are also able to hold water
and prevent erosion (Tambo and Abdoulaye 2013).

4.6.6 Diversifying away from farming

Some of the farmers have also stated that they are not only depending on farming
only because depending on farming in this dangerous environment will result in one
not having food on the table at the end of the day. Some of the farmers are stating
that they farm just to supplement their income and supplement their groceries,
because they can be able to take the crops that they plant and use them as a
grocery. In different studies done by different researchers they found that responses
to changing climate also involve attempts to reduce dependence from agricultural
production. Some households tap on anything that will help them earn cash income
in parts of Morogoro (Tanzania) non-farm income has become consistently more
important. The other thing that happens in Morogoro is that parents are also sending
their children to cities to work for upkeep and cash income in order to reduce the
number of people they have to support with uncertain agricultural income (Paavola
2008; Ponte 1998; Tambo and Abdoulaye 2013). There are many other activities that
one can participate on in urban areas than in rural areas, few people in rural areas
use other sorts of income to supplement their dependency on farming.

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4.6.7 Agricultural intensification

One of the former small-scale farmers who abandoned farming stated that he had to
plant as many crops as he can in his small garden to get favourable results during
harvesting time. But that was not often the case as the land was too small and his
plants sometimes ended up dying. Other small-scale farmers have confessed to also
practice agricultural intensification in order for them to increase their production. It
has been argue that most of farmers who practice intensification have hopes of
increasing yields per land unit for a given crop, increasing yields in time and crops
per year, and primacy of high-yield or cash crops instead of lower-yielding varieties,
so basically agricultural intensification is more about increasing the availability of
resources by boosting their yield within a certain space or time (Pyhälä et al. 2016).
Agricultural intensification is a common adaptation strategy in areas that are
developed, this occurs because of the unavailability of farming space. Same with
these small-scale farmers in Soweto, the area is developing and space for farming is
very limited.

4.6.8 Rain-making rituals

This might sound bizarre especially in an urban environment, but some of the small-
scale farmers confessed on performing rain-making rituals. Some even go and pray
for a rain hoping that God will spare them the suffering that they are experiencing of
having no rain. Others said that, when they experience lack of rain as in 2015, they
just burn impepho (incense) to call upon their Ancestors to provide them with rain.
Individuals who have suffered more than enough on the effects of changing climate
could invoke the God of rain and request him to send down rain, the God of rain
obeys and rain starts falling. It can be said that man found that he could adapt to
conditions of rainfall inadequacy and unreliability by the manipulation of supernatural
forces which were believed to be closely associated with weather conditions. This is
not to say that rainmaking rituals are to be found only in the areas of rainfall deficit.
Ethnographic evidence reveals that there are some societies in East and Southern
Africa, which have sufficient rainfall for agricultural production but “in which
rainmaking is a lucrative and prestigious profession.” Rainmaking is an ancient
science that the pagans utilised to water their farms in times of drought (Akong’a
1987; Sanders 2003; Semenya 2013).

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4.6.9 Accessing information

Most of my participants are part of Iizindaba Zokudla project, which I have given a
snapshot of it and what it does. But many of these small-scale farmers say that being
part of this project helps them to have access to information, about anything that is
related to farming. Those small-scale farmers who are part of this project all agree
that they teach each other new ways of farming and better ways of producing better
production. They share information and even exchange seeds for diversification of
their farming. One of the small-scale farmers said:
Izindaba-zokudla is more than a farming school for me because we share
information about what type of crops that one should plant in a particular
season and what other crops that may bring some capital. We also share
information about the crops that are in demand. But it’s not only about
accumulating capital; we also discuss how we can make sure that we plant
crops that survive in this ever-changing climate. We also discuss different
strategies that one can use to make the soil fertile and produce fully matured
plants. So to me it is my extended family that helps me cope with the changes
in the environment.
Mgumi (2016) agrees and elaborate by stating majority of small-scale farmers have
access to this information because many rely on each other to combat the effects of
changes in the climate. The type of information that farmers share within their groups
or forums ranges from information and services that are crucial in decision on
changing crop types, investing in the purchase of seeds and specific soil
conservation measure to suit the expected weather conditions. This is what the
Izindaba Zokudla project is doing, not only to expose the small-scale farmers to
market but create a cohesion within farmers to gather them in one place and share
information that might help other farmers who might be in need.

4.7 Conclusion

This chapter has deliberated on the findings of the research. It was presented in a
manner that amalgamate what my participants have stipulated with what the
literature review section was saying to show the association or linkages between the
knowledge that I have gathered with the information that already exists. Different
themes have come up in this findings chapter but in a nutshell it was about how
small-scale farmers perceived the changing environment, how they came up with
socio-cultural explanations to explain the causality of these changes. When that has

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happened, this chapter also explored how these small-scale farmers responded to
these changes in the environment.

Chapter 5: Conclusion
5.1 Introduction

This research sought to document ways in which small-scale farmers perceive and
respond to changing climate through a unique study that looks at four
anthropological themes in which people understand and respond to climate change.
As outlined in my rationale, this research has looked at how small-scale farmers
perceive changing climate through their socio-cultural lenses (perceptions); outlined
how these small-scale farmers comprehended what they saw based on their mental
models and social locations (knowledge); showed how these small-scale farmers
give value to what they know in terms of shared meanings (valuation); lastly it
showed how they respond, individually and collectively, on the basis of these
meanings and values (response). In achieving this key questions that were used to
get this in-depth information included, how do small-scale farmers describe or define
changing climate? What are their historical memories about the previous climate,
and how do they compare it with the current climate? How do they see or value the
environment? And what strategies do they use to adapt to changing climate?

What makes this dissertation unique is that, it addresses an important topic and
makes a significant contribution to the work of exploring how the farmers engage on
the climate change issue by exploring their perceptions, knowledge, valuations and
adaptive responses as bases of community innovation to face the unavoidable
impacts of the global phenomenon. Unlike other studies on climate change, this
report shifts focus away from small-scale farmers in rural areas to those in an urban
context. A contribution to the study of climate change from the perspective of social
sciences, other than those studies that applied meteorological data to describe
climate change and impact has been made. In using the four identified themes, I
have shown in my data analysis how small-scale farmers perceive [changing] climate
through social-cultural lenses (‘perception’). What I found here is that rising

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temperature and decreased rainfall are the most perceived climate parameters that
have changed over the years and have had a negative impact in the production of
these small-scale farmers production. In looking at how the farmers comprehend
what they see based on their mental models and social locations (‘knowledge’), I
show that environmental changes that have either been perceived or observed are
localised and given socio-cultural meaning. In considering how the farmers give
value to what they know in terms of shared meanings (‘valuation’), it became evident
that many of the small-scale farmers view changes in the climate as a sequence of
events that open up opportunities for their own culture to strive. As they encounter
new changes, they also learn new ways of dealing with those changes. The other
thing that came up in this theme is that prior to any immediate climatic changes, the
environment communicates with them through different indicators, such as nature. In
looking at how farmers respond, individually and collectively, on the basis of these
meanings and values (‘response’), my data collection and analysis revealed different
adaptation strategies that small-scale farmers used to adapt to changing climate,
namely through advanced traditional irrigation system, crop rotation, mulching and
terraces, just to name a few.

5.2 Limitations of the study and recommendations for future research

Doing this research was more difficult than I anticipated, as I was faced with the
dilemma of changing my qualitative research method and do a mixed in order to
accommodate all sorts of information to make this research as detailed as it can be,
however, time and resources did not allow me to do so, I was then stuck with the
qualitative research method as a tool of conducting this research. The dilemma that I
faced regarding methodology was to try and explain to the reader why I decided not
to use pure ethnography as a way of conducting this study. This was difficult to
answer considering the fact that, Anthropology in South Africa is still that old school
subject rooted in ethnography. However, I decided to include methods that were
inspired by the sensitivities of an ethnographer. With regards to the actual data
collection there were some issues that were holding data collection up. Sometimes I
would make an appointment with my participants, but when I go to them I would find
out that they went somewhere else, maybe at a funeral. Then I had to go back where
I stay and rethink how I will make this work. Sometimes I would even go and do
interviews on Sundays because that is when most of my participants were free.

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This research did not fully represent the demography of small-scale farmers; male
farmers dominated this research. A future study may consider including more women
than men and see whether similar information will be gathered. Another gap within
this research is that the participants were closely related to the Izindaba Zokudla
project in one way or another. This might be one of the reasons I got the information
that I got. A study of small-scale farmers who are part of some other forums and
independent famers is needed to get a sense of diverse information. Further, I
acknowledge that the theme of valuation of the environment was not fully explored;
compared to other themes it is the one that needs more attention in future research.
The other important gap is to do a comparative analysis of the findings that takes
into account these four anthropological themes between rural and urban areas.

Historians may have something to contribute to this work because they have tried to
make sense not only of what may have happened in the past, but how the past has
been represented. This includes the oral traditions of societies that did not use
writing, as well as the histographies of societies that rely on written accounts of the
past (Goodall 2012:40). The representation of oral traditions in addressing climate
change is needed, and anthropology could take a lead in this. Further, the working
together of environmental anthropology and anthropology of policy must be
harnessed because these fields can allow anthropologists to contribute in policy
developments and implementation, because through their knowledge and analysis of
people and the environment they know how policies affects the lives of people on the
ground. Environmental policies should be re-evaluated and a human aspect should
be included in this mist of changing climate.

Another thing that is lacking in many fields that study changing climate is the idea of
trans-disciplinarily. I did address this on my honours paper and I said that to
understand changing climate more, we must follow Gibsons et al. (1994:18) in the
new production of knowledge, where in mode 2 we have to include a wider, more
temporary and heterogeneous set of practitioners, policy-makers, politicians and
other interest groups collaborating on a problem defined in a specific and localised
context. Even on this dissertation I have shown that even though there can be
scientific knowledge about any environmental issue, the terms used are usually
localised, because sometimes what is being published about changing climate,
knowledge is being detached from meaning.

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What needs to be done in order to live with climate change requires re-linking larger
scales of scientific representation with smaller scales of social meaning. To achieve
this, there is a need to must probe more deeply the four scalar shifts namely
communal; political; space and new norm that have accompanied scientific
constructions of the climate. Under communal there must be the intervention of a
community in debates that concern changing climate, before any scientific
assessment on climate change can be published. Politically there must be a
transdisciplinary that directs our attention to the political work that must be done in
order to bring about an actionable agreement on scientific facts (Homsy and Warner
2013: 293; Jasonaff 2010:240; Schuttenberg and Guth 2015:3). Under space people
act fast under threat, especially when the place under siege is personally valued.
That is why Jasanoff (2010:241) argue that “ideas of belonging and stewardship can
develop on a planetary scale: the slogan ‘think globally, act locally’ affirms both the
possibility and the promise of connecting global issues back to more personal scales
of meaning.” This then talks to the idea of the “new norm”, in which more research is
needed that will look at how people view changing climate as a normal, and how
they have come to accept this environmental phenomena as a norm is needed.

5.3 Conclusion

This research was centred on the acknowledgement of the importance of local

knowledge in addressing global problems with focus on changing climate. In this
context, local traditional knowledge / knowledge traditions can be understood more
effectively as an on-going process rather than a library section of archive knowledge.
Knowledge is not static; rather it evolves over time. Cultures (broadly understood)
must be defined in concrete terms and relations built between the past and the
present and demonstrate a historical evolution of the modern local environmental
knowledge. Prior to engaging in the research, there was a preconceived notion that
farmers have ‘indigenous’ knowledge that is totally different from the western
knowledge and that some knowledge that people have has not evolved. But this
research reveals how wrong these notions are. There is a need to stop this
“tendency to think that of our culture [black culture] as a static culture that was
arrested in 1652 and has never developed since” as Steve Biko once said (Aelred et
al. 2016:106). This research posits that knowledge does evolve, and it evolves
through interaction with other kinds of knowledge, and the changing environment

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accelerates that knowledge evolution. In addition, participants have been engaged in

different process that are contributing towards the evolution of their local knowledge
and adding value to what already exist.

Local / traditional knowledge is subject to change over time, and to shaping by the
subjectivities of those who perform it. What we must keep in mind is that local /
traditional knowledge can be more effectively understood as a process in which the
corpus of local environmental knowledge evolves. Its shape may alter considerably
and so too the way people see the environment. The stories that survive serve to
construct the next generation’s sense of place. But which stories survive is by no
means random, being related to continuing relevance, social, political and cultural
(Johnson 2012). In the case of this study, the amalgamation of scientific and
indigenous/local knowledge serves to be an adaptation tool to the changing
environment. Such knowledge will continue to evolve, as different generations will be
faced with different environmental issues.

The small-scale farmers worked with in the course of this my research were
unanimous that through their local knowledge they have managed to manoeuvre
things around and use what they have to come up with best practice to defend
themselves from the effects of changing climate. Now we are in the Anthropocene
period and I believe that this period started when we decided to put market value on
the environment. What will happen from now is that if we do not punish those who
accelerate changes in the climate, changing climate will punish us harshly in the
future.

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Appendix A: Interview guide

Research question:

What are the perceptions, knowledges, valuations and responses of small-scale

farmers in Soweto to changing climate?

Themes to be covered:

1. Perceptions
a) Description of changes
! How do you, or would define changes in the climate?
! Have you ever observed any changes in the climate?
! What are those changes?
! How long do you think those changes have occurred?
b) Factors influencing perceptions
! Age
! Farming experience
" Years in the farming industry?
" Do you only farm here?
! Exposure to media
" Where have you heard about climate change?
• Is it newspaper, television, internet or other please
specify?
! Gender
! Access to information
" Do you fall under any NGO, or farming group that discuss
issues that affect farmers; such as climate change?
" Do you share information with other farmers to tackle the
issues that affect crop production if there are any?
! Wealth
" Are you only dependant on this farm, or you have other
ways of receiving income?
" Do you invest in new technology that will help improve
agricultural production, or technology that is drought
resistance?

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! Productive system
" What type of crop do you farm?
" Have you ever changed your farming crop, in the past
years?
" If so you changed from farming what, to farming what and
why?
" Can you say that climate change has really influenced
your choice of crop farming?
! Level of education
" Which highest grade did you pass?
" Have you ever received any farming education, whether
formal or informal?
2. Knowledges
Why do you think that these changes in the climate are occurring? (Answers
will be categorised into below three themes)
a) Natural environmental cycle
! What are the historical memories you have, about previous and
compare the to the current climate?
! Are these changes in the climate new or they have occurred in
the past?
b) Socio-cultural changes
! What can you relate these changes with, within your society?
c) Reaction of natural and spiritual entities
! Do you think nature is as equal as humans on this planet?
" If so, what happens if we take something from nature
without giving something back?
3. Valuation
a) How do you see the changes or value the environment?
b) Other than providing food/income, what are other things does the
environment provide for you?
c) What terms do you use to refer to the changes in climate?
! Do you know any historical meaning or why there is a use of
such term(s)?

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d) Are there any signs that inform you of something to expect in the
climate/weather changes (environment or animals)?
4. Responses
a) Perceived effects of changing climate on agriculture
! What are the climatic variables that you noticed changing
throughout the years that have affected your agriculture?
" Looking at rainfall, wind speed, temperature. Have they
risen or dropped in the years?
! How do / have these changes impact(ed) on your farming?
! Which years were being seen by farmers as being extreme in
terms of changing climate (meaning the years that were
affecting crop production)?
b) Adaptation strategies
! What strategies do you use to adapt to changing climate?
! What changes have you made in your process of farming over
time, and why those changes?
! Do you use any ancient/historical adaptation strategies now in
adapting to changing climate?

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Appendix B: Observation sheet

Type of farming

Types of gardening (including size)

! Community garden

! Projects garden

! Homestead garden

! Supplementary garden

Production type

Equipment’s/technology used

Number of people involved in farming

Irrigation system

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Appendix C: Consent form

Consent Form for Participation in a Research Study:

Masters research project about the perceptions, knowledges, valuations and

responses of small-scale farmers to changing climate

Dear Participant

My name is Luvuyo Zigana. I am an Anthropology Masters student in the

Department of Anthropology and Development Studies at the University of
Johannesburg. As part of my degree I am required to conduct a research project. My
research aim to explore the perceptions, knowledges, valuations and responses of
small-scale farmers in Soweto to changing climate. The outcome of this project will
be a research report for academic purposes (i.e., to complete my degree).

Your participation will involve an interview about your views and knowledges on
changing climate where you live and farm. Your participation in this research study is
voluntary. You may choose not to participate, and you may withdraw your consent to
participate at any time. You will not be penalised in any way should you decide not to
participate or to withdraw from this study. And there are no direct benefits that you
will get from participation in this this research. All the information you share with me
will be treated confidential. I will make use of a pseudonym to ensure that your name
is not linked to anything you share with me. There are no known risks concomitant
with this research, as this will be a strictly confidential research.

If you have any questions or concerns about this study or if any problems arise,
please contact me at 078-886-1939 or Luvuyo07@yahoo.com, or alternatively
contact my supervisor Dr Carina van Rooyen at cvanrooyen@uj.ac.za.

125


Consent

I have read this consent form and have been given the opportunity to ask questions.
I give my accord to participate in this study.

Please tick the box

1 I confirm that I have read and understood the information sheet for the above
study and have had the opportunity to ask questions.

2 I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I am free to withdraw

at any time without giving a reason.

3 I agree to take part in the above mentioned research.

4 I agree to the interview being audio recorded.

5 I agree to be anonymous during the publication of this research.

Name of Participant Date Signature

Name of Researcher Date Signature

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