Farmers divided over new climate response fund

In response to the very real challenges of climate change, the South African government has established a climate change response fund aimed at mitigating the impact of severe weather patterns in the country. Droughts, floods, heatwaves – South Africa has experienced it all more often over the past few years.

Following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement regarding the fund, farmers and industry leaders have had mixed emotions on the initiative taken by the government.

Plan to curb climate change

Ramaphosa said the country could not be complacent about climate change because its impact is already here.

“South Africa has established a climate change response fund that will bring together all spheres of government and the private sector.

“By coordinating financial mobilisation from both government and the private sector our country will have collaborative effort to build resilience and respond to climate change.

“This includes climate-proofing existing essential infrastructure and facilities such as water and food systems, roads, rail and ports, human settlements and health care,” Ramaphosa said.

A conflicted Andile Mkhize told Food For Mzansi that as a crop farmer from KwaZulu-Natal, he recalled the Covid-19 relief funding for farmers in the form of vouchers seemed flawed. He said those who truly needed assistance did not receive it while others did. 

A need for detailed plan 

For him, the climate change response fund raises doubts about the fairness of the government’s distribution approach. He hopes that this time there is a better plan in place for distributing these funds appropriately. 

“I am concerned that the government’s approach to supporting farmers tends to prioritise short-term fixes over long-term sustainability. While short-term aid may provide immediate relief, it does not address the underlying, permanent challenges faced by farmers. Any solution must be developed with a focus on sustainability. 

“Unfortunately, the proposals put forth by our government seem to lack consideration for this essential aspect,” Mkhize said.

He added that there appears to be a lack of consultation with farmers in crafting these solutions, which undermines their effectiveness. To truly support farmers, he believes,  it is essential to empower the local agents on the ground, such as extension officers.  

“My plea is for the government to prioritise providing resources to extension officers. By doing so, they can ensure that any proposed solutions are not only effective but also coordinated and sustainable in the long term,” Mkhize said.  

Meanwhile, commercial North West crop farmer Minky Kgopa is happy that the fund has been introduced but she is curious about how the fund will be distributed and what the qualifying criteria would be.  

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Concerns about practicality

“I appreciate the concept behind the fund and find it genuinely exciting. However, as a farmer, I have some concerns about its practicality. I believe it would be beneficial if the fund could support all farmers, including those who use conventional methods for crop farming, which include traditional methods of planting in open fields, especially when we must wait for the rain and harvest,” Kgopa said.

According to Kgopa, if roads need to be fixed, the focus should not only be on national or urban roads but also on roads between farms.

“Overall, I am cautious about including the entire agricultural value chain. Still, I firmly believe that the most significant impact and benefit would come from providing irrigation and water harvesting solutions and repairing infrastructure caused by climate change,” Kgopa said.

University of Cape Town’s (UCT) school of economics professor, Harald Winkler, expressed that the budget speech was more explicit about climate action than the previous speeches. He believes the new fund will help people who suffer loss and damage; and are moving to electric vehicles, though perhaps a bit cautiously.  

“Those are good directions. But still not enough clarity on ambitious domestic measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.

Need for proactive adaptation 

“We have seen repeated floods in several parts of the country, and the intensity of these and other extreme events will get worse. When those destroy housing, roads, power lines, and other infrastructure, the damage may go beyond what people can adapt to. Sadly we need a loss and damage fund to respond to disasters since countries collectively are not doing enough on mitigation or adaptation,“ Winkler explained. 

However, according to the head of Agri SA’s Natural Resource Centre of Excellence, Janse Rabie, AgriSA welcomes the announcement of the creation of a climate change response fund.  

He said it signifies the government’s acknowledgement of the realities of climate change-related disasters and the need for proactive adaptation.  

“Our view remains that the agricultural sector’s ability to ensure food security to our nation and to our region needs to be at the core of government’s planning regarding climate change,” he said.  

Rabie added that the implementation of sound management measures to the fund will be crucial for its effectiveness and a pre-requisite for contributors to the fund.  

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‘It must not be a hand-out’ 

However, he believes it is important that the agricultural sector will also need to come up with systems and procedures concerning accessing such funds when disasters do occur.  

“It is important to us that the agricultural sector play its part concerning its own preparedness and adaptation to climate realities and that the fund does not simply become a hand-out.

“Of course, the sector will be competing with others for such funds as are available. We look forward to engaging with the government on the implementation of the fund,” said Rabie.

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