Why SA must shift from climate response to climate readiness

From flooded fields to infrastructure damage, severe weather continues to test farmers. But resilience shouldn’t rely on grit alone. Learn how Inmed South Africa’s saffron trials are yielding key insights into risk, soil health, and adaptive farming to help smallholders build lasting climate resilience.

For farming communities, weather is far more than a daily forecast. It determines whether crops survive, whether livestock can be reached, whether produce gets to market and whether families earn an income. Recent heavy rainfall, flooding and cold conditions in the Eastern Cape brought this reality sharply into focus. Roads were damaged, fields became saturated, and many farmers struggled to reach livestock, crops and markets. The rainfall brought relief to some areas that had experienced prolonged dry conditions. Yet its intensity also demonstrated that too much rain can be just as damaging as too little. The effects extend far beyond individual farms. Hortgro’s preliminary assessment of the estimated potential damage and production losses of R6.3 billion in the pome and stone fruit industry across the Eastern and Western Cape, with more than 6 700 direct agricultural jobs at risk. Orchards, farmland, dams, water infrastructure, packhouses, cold-storage facilities, roads and ...