Anthropology and Development Studies

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Commercial Farming Adaption to Drought as a Strategy for Stable Local Economic Growth in Ugu District Municipality
(Univeristy of Zululand, 2022) Nyandeni, Simiso Fisokuhle
Agriculture is regarded as the sector that mostly relies on climate conditions for its productivity, yet in recent years this sector has been experiencing droughts. The study attempted to explain how commercial farming adaptation to droughts maybe be used as a strategy for stable Local Economic Growth (LEG) amongst commercial farms in Ugu District Municipality. This study situates the commercial farming adaptation to droughts within the theoretical framework of an Action Theory of Adaptation to climate change. The key finding is that commercial farmers in uGu district Municipality perceived drought coping strategies a difficult task if not impossible to manage without government’s intervention. The majority of the participants admitted that drought has defeated their willingness to farm, and they were subjected to failure. The study recommends that the use of weather forecasting, vulnerability assessment, crops diversification, sustainable and efficient water management practice, cultivation of low water consuming crops, and systematic cropping pattern as some of the strategies which can mitigate the adverse effects of drought among commercial farmers. Key Words: Climate Change (Drought), Commercial Farming, Economic Growth and Adaptation.