In Cape Town’s townships, where jobs are several taxi commutes away, food gardens are often all that stands between a family and hunger. When climate disasters strike, these gardens don’t just fail; often, urban farmers and entire households lose their only source of food and income.
Take Manelisi Mapukata from Manelisi’s Urban Farm. When one of the worst floods in decades hit the Western Cape in September 2023, he lost every single crop in his garden. “Our entire garden was underwater. Months of work vanished overnight,” says Mapukata, who farms in his Gugulethu backyard.
Gugulethu wasn’t the only informal settlement to bear the brunt; areas such as Phlippi, Khayelitsha, and Lwandle were also affected.
Community gardens, many of which are situated on low-lying, marginal land, were inundated, resulting in widespread crop loss, damaged soil quality, and a significant setback for township farmers.
Starting over after the floods
Mapukata grows seasonal vegetables. He raises ducks, chickens, and broilers. “We rely on these gardens not just for food, but for income and community,” Mapukata says.
He also tends a plot at Fezeka with a productive tunnel that supports tomatoes, basil, and other year-round crops. However, the recent flooding forced him, as well as many others, to restart from scratch.
“After the floods, we lost everything in one night. It took weeks just to clean up and start replanting,” explains Mapukata.
“We know how to do the rest; we can grow anything in the sandy soil of Gugulethu, but we cannot build our infrastructure, as it needs capital. This is where we need help.”
His story echoes those of many urban farmers supported by Abalimi Bezekhaya, a community agriculture network in the Cape Flats that supports over 3 000 household gardens and 52 active community plots.
These farmers are battling unpredictable seasons, deteriorating soil conditions, and chronic water insecurity.
Production planning turned upside down
Ten kilometres from the flood-hit zone, in Philippi, Sheena Paulus is witnessing something just as alarming. Winter arrives late or not at all, summer scorches longer and drier.
For Tri Toad Nursery, this means it is much harder to plan her production and grow plants like she used to. “This affects when we start planting and how we plan our production cycles,” Paulus says.
Furthermore, drought and heat have pushed them to use more efficient irrigation and shade structures. They have also had to adjust their growing practices to protect seedlings and reduce losses.
“The financial impacts include increased costs for water, labour, and infrastructure like shade nets and irrigation. We also face losses from failed batches due to extreme weather. All of this puts pressure on margins, and when consumers cut back, it affects our cash flow and ability to reinvest.”
Ravaged by relentless weather disruptions, her labour costs increased within mere months of launching her operation in June 2022. She has had to hire two additional staff members specifically for repairs on the greenhouse, shade nets, and other exposed infrastructure following weather damage.
The only advantage is that Paulus uses borehole water with a hydroponic system, so she isn’t affected by rising municipal water tariffs. “This setup has helped us manage costs and conserve water more efficiently, despite seasonal challenges.”
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‘Climate impacts are deeply unequal’
According to Dr Luckson Zvogbo, postdoctoral research fellow at the UCT African Climate & Development Initiative (ACDI), the impacts of extreme climate and weather events are experienced differently by different people.
The nature of the risk they pose is different for urban and rural communities, and the magnitude of the risk differs with levels of household income.
“During the Cape Town drought in 2015–17, for example, informal settlements were hit harder, with fewer adaptation initiatives (such as water tanks and groundwater extraction) in these areas than in formal suburbs.”
Since community taps are used in informal settlements, and controlled flow meters had been installed on those taps, it was beyond an individual’s control to be able to safely access water as needed.
While climate impacts and extreme weather events affect different people in different ways, Zvogbo says we have to collectively respond to make ourselves adapt.
“To farmers, crops are important; to insurers, payouts are important; and to a man living in an informal settlement, his house matters, but we all have to work together to address the crisis,” Zvogbo says.
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Khayelitsha’s soil
Furthermore, in the heart of Khayelitsha, recent studies have raised concerns about the safety of the soil in which these crops are grown.
A comprehensive study conducted by Kweza Motuli at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology examined soil, water, and vegetable samples from several allotment gardens across Cape Town.
According to Motuli, his research aimed to determine the concentration of selected heavy metals – such as lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), iron (Fe), and cobalt (Co) – in these samples.
“The findings revealed that while the concentrations of these heavy metals were below the permissible limits set by the World Health Organization (WHO), their presence underscores the need for ongoing monitoring.”
Kweza Motuli
Motuli says his research also revealed seasonal variations in heavy metal concentrations, with higher levels generally observed in summer. This fluctuation suggests that environmental factors, such as rainfall and temperature, may influence the accumulation of heavy metals in soil and crops.
While the current levels do not pose an immediate health risk, the presence of heavy metals in soil and crops is a cause for concern. He believes that regular testing of soil and vegetables is needed to monitor heavy metal concentrations and prevent potential health risks associated with long-term exposure.
Adapting, but for how long
According to Dr Peter Johnston from the University of Cape Town, small-scale farmers have long been aware of the threat that climate change poses to their lives and livelihoods, just as commercial farmers are tuned in to the impacts of changing weather patterns on their farms’ productivity. As such, farmers have already begun accessing climate change adaptation options.
“To date, farmers have generally been able to adapt to variation in seasonal rainfall and temperatures. However, rising temperatures and increasingly extreme weather threaten the ability of farmers to adapt.”
However, there are a number of barriers to adaptation, particularly for small-scale farmers and informal settlements.
“While most commercial farmers in South Africa have adopted the advantages of new technology, adoption among small-scale farmers has been impeded by lack of capital as well as lack of access to finance, insurance and land.”
Dr Peter Johnston
Another barrier is a lack of access to reliable infrastructure and markets. The networks of road and rail that used to effectively service South Africa’s agricultural areas have deteriorated, while electricity supply challenges inhibit productivity and profits.
“Recovering from climate shocks is, therefore, a difficult and lengthy process for small-scale farmers and low-income households. Commercial farmers tend to have better access to finance and greater adaptive capacity.
“However, they also have significant sunk capital, which may decrease their resilience relative to smaller operations,” Johnston says.
While some food growers have generally managed to adapt to variations in seasonal rainfall and temperatures, climate shifts now threaten their ability to continue doing so.
As extreme weather becomes the new normal, protecting these farmers isn’t just about food — it’s about justice. It’s time for urgent, collaborative solutions: investment in resilient infrastructure, better access to water, and long-term climate adaptation strategies tailored to the most vulnerable.
This article is a collaboration between Food For Mzansi and OpenUp, supported by Africa Data Hub.
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