Original title: Smallholder Farmers’ Perceptions of Climate Change in the O.R. Tambo District Municipality: Challenges, Adaptation, and Resilience
The study looks at what smallholder farmers in O.R. Tambo think is changing in the climate, and compares those views with local weather records. Researchers surveyed 200 farmers and examined temperature and rainfall data from 1990 to 2025. Many farmers reported flooding and rising temperatures, but the records showed a small upward trendA general direction of change over time, which may be small and does not describe every year. in rainfall and a slight downward trend in average maximum temperature. Farmers who had lived in the region longer and had more farming experience were more likely to perceive climate fluctuations correctly.
Imagine checking the weather over many years to decide what to plant in a garden. Your own memories may tell you that summers are getting hotter, while the records show a different pattern. In this paper, farmers’ memories are compared with local weather records to see where their views match and where they differ. That comparison matters because planting choices depend on what farmers expect the weather to do.
Smallholder farmers make planting and other production decisions amid changing weather. When what farmers perceive differs from weather records, they may choose adaptation strategies that do not fit local conditions; the study points to clearer climate information as a way to support those decisions.
The abstract reports perceptions from 200 surveyed farmers in O.R. Tambo and compares them with local climate trends. It does not establish that the reported mismatches caused particular farming choices or crop outcomes, nor does it test whether climate education improves adaptation or resilience. The findings are not shown to apply beyond this district.
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Smallholder Farmers’ Perceptions of Climate Change in the O.R. Tambo District Municipality: Challenges, Adaptation, and Resilience — Lwanda Matiso, Tom Were Okello, Grace Emily Okuthe et al. — Climate — doi:10.3390/cli14100213
Abstract licence: CC BY
Explanation generated by Synthesis from the abstract — it is not the original paper.