Limpopo Province, South Africa
Like most of the world, Africa will become warmer over the next century. In addition, climate models predict that large swaths of the world’s poorest continent, including parts of the southern countries of South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe, will receive less rain during what is already each year’s dry season. The livelihood of Africans is more closely linked to predictable rainfall than that of inhabitants of many other parts of the world. For instance, only four percent of arable land in sub-Saharan Africa is irrigated, about one tenth the comparable figure for Asia.
The western parts of South Africa are expected to experience the greatest reductions in rainfall. Some regions are already suffering serious water shortages, which might be early climate-change impacts. Cultural anthropologist Douglas Merrey, an international consultant on water and irrigation policies based in Pretoria, says irrigation can help, but there isn’t enough surface and ground water to meet the demands of every water-short farmer. “Many of the rural poor,” he says, “are probably not going to be farmers in the future.” The dilemma for South African farmers is that they have limited options for making a living. Merrey says in the short term the government must find ways to help farmers where water supplies are limited, like providing equipment for collecting and storing rainwater. In the long term farmers and the government must prepare the next generation for other occupations.
Geographer Peter Johnston of the University of Cape Town says to complicate matters his country will experience more intense and frequent weather extremes of other sorts, including devastating floods; tormenting urban and rural residents alike. “Very few of these changes are going to make life easier for us,” says Johnston.
At the University of Cape Town, plant geneticist Jennifer Thomson says research in her lab on maize—as corn is known in many countries—will help South Africa to withstand drier conditions predicted for the future. She’s made a genetically modified maize variety using genes from the grass-like resurrection plant, which can withstand long dry spells. Some development experts say such new plants might be necessary but only as a last resort.
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PHOTO GALLERY OF SOUTH AFRICA
- View Dan's Photographs of Limpopo Province, South Africa
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After Australia, Africa is the driest inhabited continent in the world. With a population more than 20 times that of Australia and a low degree of irrigation, Africa is highly dependent on predictable rainfall. Climate models predict that large parts of southern Africa will have reduced rainfall during their dry seasons. -
Parts of Limpopo Province, near the Zimbabwe border, were experiencing drought in early 2009. -
Philemon Makamu, of Makuleke in Limpopo Province. Makuleke experienced drought in early 2009 and this subsistence garden, planted in corn, pumpkin, watermelon and peanuts, is doing poorly. Makamu compares farming in Makuleke to the lottery. "We gamble on farming", he says. "If you are lucky then the rain will come." -
Reckson Josini, chairman of the Makuleke farmer’s association, which operates an irrigation system, watering about 600 acres of cash crops. Here Josini points to a pipe sticking above the reservoir supplying the irrigated land. It should be covered by water, but the reservoir is down about 6 feet. “I'm scared,” he says. “If it doesn't get the rain this year we are nowhere next time. We depend on the irrigation scheme. Once this place not here, all these people die. We are going to die.” -
Geographer Peter Johnston of the University of Cape Town says all of Africa will become warmer over the next century, and less rain will fall on large swaths of the southern countries of South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe during what is already each year’s dry season. -
Large irrigation pipes like this one move water from one watershed to another, supplying agricultural and industrial uses. Such “inter-basin transfers” are often controversial because they rob water of one area to meet the needs of somewhere else. -
The Tswelopele Irrigation Scheme supplies water to 84 farmers on about 1,000 acres of land. They grow potatoes to the South African snack food giant Simba and vegetables to local markets. -
Lufulo Robert Magana, of Musina in Limpopo Province, grows tomatoes, corn, green chiles, cabbage, beets, onions and carrots for local markets and food processors. -
Magana, a third-generation farmer, uses a combination of dryland and irrigated farming. Dryland fields can only be planted once a year, whereas he plants continuously in irritated plots. -
Magana uses a drip irrigation system, supplied by a nearby river. -
Linah Sekgoka and Caroline Mahlo demonstrate inexpensive cement cisterns. By storing water during rains, the cisterns save women from having to travel long distances carrying heavy loads of water from rivers. -
Cultural anthropologist Douglas Merrey, an international consultant on water and irrigation policies based in Pretoria, says much farmland in South Africa is marginal already and the situation is getting worse. The dilemma for South African farmers, says Merrey, is that they have limited options for making a living. “We can’t say, ‘Well, tomorrow pack up and go to Johannesburg because there’s lot of jobs,’ there aren’t. There aren’t enough jobs.” -
Jennifer Thomson, a plant geneticist at the University of Cape Town has created a new variety of maize—as corn is known in many countries—that she hopes will help South Africa to withstand drier conditions. Here she visits her new maize, isolated in an indoor test chamber because field testing of such genetically-modified crops is prohibited. -
On Feburary 26, 2009, a devastating flash flood struck parts of Soweto, a community in Johannesburg. Thabang Ramolaise lost his house, a one-room corrugated metal shack, along with all of his belongings. His foot was injured and he has been unable to return to work. He says, “I don’t know who is going to help me.” Soweto had never been struck by such a flood before. While it may not have been caused by climate change, some researchers say floods like this will become more common in the future. -
Kho Matiwane took these pictures of a minibus taxi parked near her house when the flood struck. The vehicle was washed down the street into a drainage ditch. About 200 people lost their homes as waters rose briefly by about 5 feet. Several people drowned and dozens were injured.
