Climate change continues to trigger intensive discourse in gender issues. Galiè et al. (2017:1–8) revealed that women are more involved in farming than their male counterparts. In South Africa, the participation of women in agricultural activities has been suggested to be greater than that of men (Elum, Modise &Marr 2017:246–257). Maponya, Mpandeli and Oduniyi (2013:73–82) reported that the proportion of women (79%) was greater than that of men (29%) in Mpumalanga. Ubisi et al. (2017:27–38) and Maponya and Mpandeli (2012:48–60) confirmed that the proportion of women (54% – 64%) participating in farming activities was greater than that of men (46%) in the Limpopo Province. Female farmers conduct most of the tasks in the farm such as ploughing the fields, removing weeds, monitoring crops and harvesting dates (Galiè et al. 2017:1–8; Nahusenay 2017:144–155). They also bear the unequal responsibility of catering for household food security, harvesting water and fuel for everyday survival (Maponya et al. 2013:73–82).

However, the contributions of female farmers in the agricultural sector are not recognised because they are perceived as being unproductive (Drucza & Peveri 2018:180–189). Furthermore, it has been reported that the drudgery of farming activities and limited access to agricultural inputs tend to affect the participation of female farmers in agricultural activities in Mpumalanga, South Africa (Ajala 2017). Myeni et al. (2019:3003) attributed the limited participation to inadequate decision-making powers, skewed land ownership patterns and cultural ideologies which promote superiority of men over women. In addition, female farmers in South Africa receive less state support (e.g. agricultural extension services) compared to their male counterparts (Hart & Aliber 2012:48).

In most developing countries, including sub-Saharan Africa, customary and statutory laws forbid women from owning land (Chilese & Marirajan 2018: 22–31; Muema et al. 2018). For example, women have limited access to land compared to their male counterparts in South Africa because of customary law (Cousins 2013:73–99; Kaarhus et al. 2005:443–482). In South Africa, land reform policies and programmes such as the Restitution Act, Community Property Association and the Land Reform Pilot Programme have not improved female land ownership rights owing to their lack of participation in land allocation processes (Meer 1997:133–144). Other land reform policies such as land redistribution, restitution and tenure and the recently formed Land Expropriation Without Compensation (LEWC) policy have not been able to address gender-related land ownership inequalities because of their Eurocentric approach and ignorance of the impact of gender in land-related matters (Mubecua & Nojiyeza 2019:7–19). In addition, female famers in South Africa have limited access to credit (Flatø, Muttarak & Pelser 2017:41–62). For instance, male farmers (17.10% and 71.2%) in Limpopo have more access to credit compared to their female counterparts (9.76% and 28.8%) (Mahasha 2019; Maziya et al. 2020:21–35). Hence, female farmers (54%) tend to be more vulnerable to climate variability compared to their male counterparts (46%) (Ubisi et al. 2017:27–38).

The main impacts of climate variability as observed by female farmers in Cameroon are changes in crop yields, prices and disposable incomes (Molua 2011:21–35). It has been reported that flooding events in northern Bangladesh and Nigeria caused female farmers to incur mass crop failures as their farms were submerged under water (Adeoti et al. 2016:1–16; Azad et al. 2013:190–199; Nnadi et al. 2019). Furthermore, Ezemonye (2015:109–116) reported that female farmers lost all their crops during the 2012 floods in Nigeria. In South Africa, Babugura et al. (2010) observed that female farmers have noticed significant losses in crop output and income because of low, unreliable rainfall patterns and increasing temperature.

However, farmers have developed strategies to cope with and mitigate the effects of climate variability. It has been reported that female farmers in Ghana and Pakistan borrow money from relatives, sell livestock and firewood, search for wild edible plants, temporarily migrate, engage in hunting and fishing and rely on remittances to cope with climate variability (Assan et al. 2018:86; Batool, Manzoor & Mahmood 2018:609–619). Furthermore, female farmers in Nigeria and the Eastern Himalayas changed harvesting dates and kept stocks which were fermented and sold to generate additional income (Adebo & Sekumade 2013:386–399; Singh et al. 2017:41–52). In South Africa, female farmers engage in nonagricultural activities and diversify their diets to cope with the effects of climate variability (Babugura et al. 2010; Ubisi et al. 2018:27–38).

In addition, female farmers in South Africa have limited access to diverse and cash-intensive coping strategies because of limited funding (Flatø et al. 2017:41–62). However, Alhassan et al. (2018:190–199) observed that female farmers in the northern region of Ghana used improved crop varieties, synthetic inputs (fertilisers and pesticides) and inorganic fertilisers (cash-intensive coping strategies) to cope with climate variability. It is evident from literature that female farmers in South Africa do not prefer soil conservation or cash-intensive coping strategies because of lack of capital, livelihood assets, technical knowhow (low literacy levels) and stringent labour requirements (Ajala 2017; Assan et al. 2018:86; Lawson et al. 2020:439–452). Despite these findings, there is currently limited information on the effects of climate variability on female smallholder farmers in South Africa; hence, more research is warranted.

Thaba Chweu Local Municipality is located in South Africa within the province of Mpumalanga. Thaba Chweu Local Municipality is a category B municipality that forms part of the Ehlanzeni District Municipality (Figure 1). The economy of TCLM is divided into three categories: urbanised, semi-urbanised and subsistence economies. The areas considered for this study are Lydenburg, Sabie and Matibidi. Thaba Chweu Local Municipality was chosen for our study because crop production has emerged as a vital livelihood activity for women and has been identified as a potential economic booster in this municipality. Furthermore, the municipality has experienced some climate variations over the years which have not been sufficiently studied.

This serves to confirm the following regarding the article:

The Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Land and Environmental Affairs from the Mpumalanga province, South Africa approved this study.

The demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents are summarised in Table 1. This study revealed that 92% of the respondents were breadwinners and were therefore responsible for meeting the primary needs of the household. Moreover, 65% of the farmers were aged 60 years and above. About 13% of the respondents had access to formal employment, whilst 84% were self-employed. The primary occupation of the self-employed group fell within crop production. Furthermore, 64% of the respondents had access to primary education, 19% to secondary education and 1% to tertiary education. A total of 16% had no access to education at all. These findings signify the low level of education in the municipality.

About 89% of the respondents indicated that they were responsible for soil preparation, fertiliser application, removing weeds, harvesting and crop sales. These findings are consistent with that of Maponya et al. (2013:273–282), who found out that female farmers in South Africa conduct most of the tasks on the farm such as ploughing the fields, removing weeds and monitoring crops and harvest dates. Furthermore, about 73% of the respondents stated that improving household food security was their main reason for practising crop production, as shown in Figure 2. This concurs with other studies that suggest that female farmers produce most of the food consumed across the globe and contribute positively to household calorie and dietary diversity (Adenugba & Raji-Mustapha 2013:51–58; Sraboni et al. 2014:11–52). Moreover, 8% of the respondents said their main reason for engaging in crop farming was to generate income, whilst a small number (5%) alluded to lack of alternative employment opportunities as their main reason for turning to farming. Galiè, Jiggins and Struik (2013:25–33) noted that changing economic conditions have made small-scale agriculture to be a less reliable source of income. This has caused men to engage in nonagricultural activities as women were left in charge of agricultural work. Galiè et al. (2017:1–8) revealed that women are more involved in farming more than their male counterparts and are therefore responsible for executing the majority of the tasks on the farm.

The farming experience of female farmers with regards to crop production in the TCLM is summarised in Table 2. The majority (73%) of the respondents had crop farming experience of 20 years and above. This suggests that many of the farmers in the municipality are old and have ample farming experience. The most cultivated crops in the municipality were grain (69%) and spinach (12%), followed by cabbage, groundnuts, oyster mushrooms, pumpkin and tomato. Sixty-eight per cent of the respondents believed that the crop outputs have been fluctuating from one season to the other. Twenty-nine per cent of the respondents indicated that their crop outputs had declined over the years because of the decreasing rainfall and a much shorter growing season caused by the late onset of rainfall.

The main challenges faced by female farmers in the TCLM are lack of funding, farming equipment, seeds and fertilisers (81%), pest infestation (72%) and limited land ownership (13%) (Figure 3). This observation agrees with that of Ugwu (2019). These challenges have worsened the vulnerability of female farmers to the effects of climate change (Chandra et al. 2017:45–59). Similarly, Flatø et al. (2017:41–62) reported that female farmers have limited access to funding, which hinders them from procuring sufficient agricultural inputs, including limitations in accessing land and technology. As much as the post-1994 South African government has improved agriculture in the country, the respondents highlighted that they struggled to obtain tractors. Respondent 16, flabbergasted by limited tractors, remarked, ‘We have to halt tillage operations on the field and delay planting of our crops because we do not have money to hire a tractor’. The farmers are expected to pay a fee because most of the tractors are owned by private organisations. This situation hinders them from carrying out proper tillage operations, leading to compromised crop yields and productivity. Furthermore, respondent 25, commenting on the challenge of limited funding, also remarked, ‘We cannot stop livestock invasion on farming plots as we do not have money to buy and erect a fence’.

It was reported that female land ownership patterns vary from one geographical area to the other in the municipality. A majority of the respondents in the community of Matibidi have unlimited access to land. However, the land ownership rights of the respondents are tied to their male counterparts as per the traditional system. This contradicts the findings by Cousins (2013:73–99), who reported that the traditional leaders of the Mchunu Council, KwaZulu-Natal also allocated land to single women (Cousins 2013:73–99). The challenge of limited access to land in the study area prevented the respondents from diversifying crops and receiving help from the municipality, as the majority of the land is owned by private individuals. Respondent 20 expressed that ‘I cannot diversify crops and receive help from the municipality because the land we plant on is owned by private individuals’. This implies that female farmers do not have security of tenure. These findings are similar to a study which reported that the traditional leaders in the Matsamo Traditional Authority made a decision to end subsistence cultivation (practised by female farmers) on communal land without consulting female farmers (Rangan & Gilmartin 2002:633–658). The existing legislations, such as the Communal Land Rights Act of 2004, the Restitution Act, the Community Property Association and the Land Reform Pilot Programme, which were designed to enable women to make independent land claims and to be members of tenure decision-making bodies, have not improved female land ownership rights in South Africa (Cousins 2013:73–99; Meer 1997:133–144). The challenges with the land reform policies and programmes are limited participation of women in land allocation decision-making bodies, placement of land under traditional leaders who tend to prioritise men over women and lack of emphasis on the impact of gender relations in land ownership patterns in South Africa. Hence, the newly formed LEWC policy has been heavily criticised because of its lack of emphasis on the impact of gender relations on land ownership patterns in South Africa (Mubecua & Nojiyaza 2019:7–19).

The effects of the challenges as identified by the respondents (Figure 3) were inability to procure seeds owing to lack of funding (76%), reduced yields (4%), loss of revenue (1%) and delayed planting (1%). Similar effects were reported by Molua (2011:21–35) who indicated that female farmers were susceptible to climate related risks due to being over dependent on climate sensitive livelihoods.

Sixty-seven per cent of the respondents indicated that they practice continuous planting as a measure to mitigate the effects of the challenges (Figure 4). However, 23% of respondents indicated that they do not take any measures to respond to the challenges. In addition, 3% of the respondents indicated that they use their money to buy seeds, apply fertilisers and make use of compost, whilst 1% of the respondents have resorted to selling their crops below market value, selling to the residents or simply waiting for rainfall. Therefore, it can be suggested that the majority of the female farmers in TCLM are highly vulnerable as they do not implement appropriate climate response mechanisms. This limitation can be attributed to low education levels, lack of adequate resources (funding, agricultural inputs) and lack of economic opportunities in the municipality.

There were varied perceptions and understandings of climate variability amongst the participants (Table 3). With regards to how the participants perceive changes in their local environment, 99% indicated that the climate conditions have changed. About 79% mentioned that the rainfall levels have been on the decline over the years, whilst 13% indicated that temperature levels have been increasing. The most noticeable form of environmental change included droughts and strong winds (67%), followed by high temperatures (16%), droughts (9%), heavy rain (4%) and delayed rainfall (4%). This supports the findings of Dab-gbeto and Villamor (2016:297–308), who reported that the majority of the female farmers in Nigeria perceive climate variability in terms of droughts and strong winds, and Singh et al. (2017:41–52), who also reported that female farmers in the Eastern Himalayas perceive climate variability in terms of reduction in rainfall, rising temperatures and droughts.

Furthermore, 67% of the respondents said that changes in climatic conditions were a result of natural causes, whilst 11% believed that changes in climatic conditions were caused by human activities. In addition, 7% and 3% of respondents believed that ancestral and cultural reasons contributed to changes in climate conditions, respectively. Respondent 40, commenting on the cause of climate variability, remarked, ‘Our ignorance and negligence of the ancestors’ ways of living and doing things is the cause of decreasing rainfall levels and increasing temperatures’. This agrees with a study by Lolig et al. (2014:542–553), who reported that female farmers in Ghana use ancestral worship to cope with climate variability as they believe that climate variability is a punishment from the gods. The findings of the study indicate that a majority of the female farmers in TCLM have well-informed beliefs regarding the causes of climate variability despite low literacy levels and old age.

Ninety-five per cent of the respondents indicated that the main effects of climate variability are low crop outputs, followed by food insecurity (77%) and loss of disposable income (16%). This is in line with the findings of Molua (2011:21–35), who highlighted that the biggest effects of climate variability are changes in crop yields, food security and disposable income. Low crop outputs are attributed to decreased rainfall and high temperature, which shortens the growing season and leads to increased losses in crop and seed stocks as a result of low crop outputs and delayed planting (Derbile et al. 2016:1–9). The crops that have shown significant decline in yields are cabbage, lettuce, grains and pumpkin. Respondent 40, commenting on the effects of climate variability on crop outputs, remarked, ‘There was a year I harvested 54 bags of grains and I have not been able to replicate these yields in subsequent years’. Loss in crop outputs results in food insecurity, as a majority of the farmers in the municipality engage in crop production as a source of livelihood. In South Africa, female farmers have noticed massive crop losses and reduction in food accessibility because of unreliable rainfall patterns and increasing temperatures (Babugura et al. 2010; Ubisi et al. 2017:27–38). Elsewhere, female farmers in Nigeria lost a significant share of their incomes during 2012 floods (Ezemonye 2015:109–116). In this study, 16% of the respondents identified loss of income as an effect of climate variability. The participants attributed this to inferior yields and loss of crop quality as a result of lack of irrigation systems, greenhouses and agricultural inputs (drought-resistant seeds, fertilisers and pesticides). Poor crop quality has a negative effect on the income levels of the farmers, as they would be forced to sell below market value and thus incur financial losses. In addition, lack of sufficient produce to sell because of low crop yields can also be attributed to loss of household income.

As a first coping strategy to climate variability and socio-economic challenges (Figure 5), 79% of the respondents said they change planting and harvesting dates. The second and third most preferred coping strategies were eating less food (41%) and looking for extra jobs (36%), respectively. The fourth most preferred coping strategy was crop rotation (17%). The least preferred coping strategies included the use of high-yielding crops, application of manure and compost to the soil, purchasing crops from supermarkets, asking for donations, receiving money from the government (pension) and using personal savings to buy seeds. This demonstrates that most female farmers in TCLM still used insecure coping strategies. Thus, the majority of the respondents preferred eating less food as a strategy to cope with climate variability. Some of the respondents, however, engaged in nonagricultural activities and used pension money to supplement food shortages caused by crop failures. Respondent 51, commenting on the strategies used to cope with climate variability, remarked, ‘I sell agricultural and nonagricultural products in the market to cover food shortages at home’. This is consistent with the findings of Babugura et al. (2010), who found that some female farmers in South Africa engaged in nonagricultural activities to generate additional income and supplement food shortages caused by climate variations.