Climate Change Grounded on Empirical Evidence as Compared with the Perceptions of Smallholder Farmers in Vhembe District, South Africa

Abstract

In South Africa, the smallholding-farming system is a dominant economic activity in rural communities. This study examines smallholder-farmers’ perceptions in regards to climate changes, in comparison with evidence from meteorological data from 1980–2015, across Vhembe District; data from a questionnaire and recorded meteorological were used. The results reveal that, farmers’ perceptions of climatic conditions are consistent with meteorological details on climatic change. In other words, the study, showed that, farmers’ perceptions using climate indicators, mirror meteorological data. It was concluded that it is imperative for farmers to understand issues such as, temperature and rainfall patterns in order to identify adaptive strategies to the negative impacts of climate.