African Indigenous Food Security Strategies and Climate ... · PDF fileAFRICAN INDIGENOUS FOOD SECURITY STRATEGIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE 85 cycles, as well as long term experiences with

© Kamla-Raj 2014 J Hum Ecol, 48(1): 83-96 (2014)

African Indigenous Food Security Strategies and ClimateChange Adaptation in South Africa

Gaoshebe Tlhompho

University of Kwazulu-Natal, South AfricaE-mail: [email protected]

KEYWORDS Indigenous Knowledge Systems. Climate Change. Educational Curriculum.Women. Food Preservation.Early-Warning Systems

ABSTRACT The paper used a participatory and case study research approach to investigate the role of AfricanIndigenous Food Security Strategies for climate change adaptation in Ganyesa Village, South Africa. The studyrevealed that local people, especially women, have over the years developed local food security strategies forclimate change adaptation.These included knowledge of behaviours of living organisms, wind directions, positionof stars as early warning indicators of changing weather conditions, selection of appropriate seeds and animalspecies, mixed cropping, and water harvesting technologies and food preservation techniques such as fermentationand sun drying for food security. These knowledge systems tend to be marginalized in the search for sustainablesolutions for food security and climate change. The study recommends their documentation to inform policy,incorporation into educational curriculum. This will also assist in identifying gaps to be improved through interfacewith other knowledge systems.

INTRODUCTION

Food security has been a critical issue in manyparts of the world. Studies in various parts ofthe developing regions, andAfrica in particular,show that climate change has serious environ-mental, economic, social and cultural impactson the lives of the people and communities (Sum2005). One of the major impacts of climate changeis on food security systemsbecause a large num-ber of people depend on agriculture as their pri-mary source of livelihood (Food and Agricul-ture Organization (FAO) 2008).

Food security is a broad term, which is de-fined in different ways.According to the WorldFood Summit (1996), food security exists whenall people, at all times, have physical and eco-nomic access to sufficient, safe, nutritious foodto meet their dietary needs and food preferenc-es for an active life.The World Bank adds to theconcept by indicatingthat the food availableshouldalso be culturally and environmentallyappropriate. People have different cultures andlive in different environment including climaticconditions and hence their food needs, prefer-ences and habits are different (Simon and Gun-del 2010). This conceptualization implies thatfood security goes beyond providing people’ssustenance.

This paper has the view that most of the con-ceptualizations on food security are based onwestern values as the dominant world culture

and knowledge system. It tends to marginalizeother non-western cultures, ways of knowingand value systems. For instance, the definitionand conceptualization of food security shouldbe culturally-based. In South Africa, for instancethe Batswana and Zulus as cultural groups inthe same country live in different environmentalconditions and have different cultures. The Bat-swana of South Africa live in an arid area in theNorth-WestProvince. The average annual rain-fall varies between 700 mm in the east to lessthan 300 mm in the west. The vegetation catego-ry changes accordingly from temperate grass-lands in the east to arid bush and shrub veld inthe west. This east-west difference in rainfalland vegetation categories governs the type ofagricultural activity. The primary agriculturalpractices in the North West Province consist ofmixed crop in the eastern regions such as inZeerust and livestock farming in the western re-gions such as in Vryburg. As a result of the lowrainfall, commercial forestry is absent in theNorth West Province (Department of Agricul-ture Conservation and Environment 2008). Small-scale farmers in the province are mainly subsis-tence in nature and rely mainly on rain fed pro-duction (National Department of Agriculture(NDA) 2004). Sorghum is the indigenous staplefood due to its drought resistance nature.

The Zulu live in a coastal, tropical environ-ment (with an average annual rainfall of 1000mm)growing a variety of food crops due to abun-

84 GAOSHEBE TLHOMPHO

dant rainfall. Makela (2000) elaborates how thetwo cultural groups differ in the way they iden-tify foods and prepare them, the condimentsused, and the timing and frequency of mealsbased on their cultural acceptance, norms andvalues. This study investigates the indigenousfood security strategies and climate change ad-aptation among the Batswana in Ganyesa vil-lage (North-West Province).

On the concept of climate changethe studyarguesthat there is no internationally agreeddefinition. Instead there are various perspectiveson the causes and impacts of climate change.Some scholars put emphasis on natural causeswhile others argue that the causes are humanmade, while othersincluding this study attributethe causes to a combination of both factors.

For instance, Intergovernmental Panel onClimate Change (IPCC) (2007) looks at climatechange as any change in climate over time,whether due to natural variability or as a resultof human activity. Human activities includingthe burning of coal, oil, and natural gas, as wellas deforestation and various agricultural andindustrial practices, are altering the compositionof the atmosphere and contributing to climatechange. The United Nations Framework Con-vention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (2007)on the other hand put emphasis on human ac-tivities as altering the atmospheric composition,and climate variability.

In the context of African indigenous ways ofknowing and value systems, this study arguesthat in most African cultures including the Bat-swana, conceptualization of climate change andits impact on food security and other aspects ofcommunity livelihood have also a spiritual di-mension. For instance,Notsi(2012) shows thatamong the Batswana certain climatic conditionsfloods, drought, etc. are attributed to the angerof ancestors due breaching of taboos such ashunting at certain forbidden times, harvestingcertain plants or eating certain foods, etc.

Climate change is a potential threat to theSouth African food security agenda because ofits impact on agriculture, especially among smallscale farmers.The higher temperatures reducetheimpact of rainfall on agricultural production, bothcrop and animal production in the arid areas ofthe country particularly in the dry north westernparts including Ganyesa.

Cumhur et al. (2008) show that the highertemperatures cause decline in dairy production,

reduces animal weight gain and reproduction.The climate change threat to food security inthe area is that it affects livestock through vari-ous animal diseases since most animal diseasesare transmitted by vectors such as ticks, files,etc. whosebreeding is often heavily influencedby temperaturechanges. Lunde and Lindt-jorn(2013) show that cattle, goat, horses and,sheep in the area are also vulnerable to an exten-sive range of nematode worm infections, mostof which have their development stages influ-enced by climatic conditions

Furthermore, Zinn et al. (2010) indicate thathigher temperatures cause heat stress inplantswhich in some cases; the plants do notreproduce at all since excessive heat causes ste-rility of the pollen. As a result causing certainfood crops to be become scarce at a certain timesof the year due to their vulnerability to climatechange (Chhetri and Chaudhary 2011).

Food Security and Climate Change Adaptationwithin the Context of African IndigenousKnowledge Systems

Indigenous Knowledge (IK) can be concep-tualized as the unique, traditional, local knowl-edge existing within and developed around thespecific conditions of women and men indige-nous to a particular geographic area. IK as ho-listic, dynamic andchanging community-basedknowledge is generated by a process of trial anderror through social practice (Henderson 2000).It is on the basis of this culturally-specific andcommunity-based nature of IK that the studyhas the view that the extent to which the impact-sof climate change are felt on food security de-pend in large part of culturally specific adapta-tion strategies a community or cultural grouphas developed in response to climate change.This is elaborated by Nyong and Osman (2007)and Mortimore and Adams (2001) who state thatadapting to climatic changesis not entirely be-yond farmers’ control. African indigenous smallscale farmers have over centuries through so-cial practice using their IK had developed localstrategies of adaptation to climate change. Theseinclude early warning systems and long termexperience in coping with climatic variability. Theearly warning systems, involve the knowledgeof behaviors of living organisms, that is animals,insects, plants, etc. as indicators of climatechange; the monitoring of short term weather

AFRICAN INDIGENOUS FOOD SECURITY STRATEGIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE 85

cycles, as well as long term experiences withclimatic variability and the appropriate livestockbreeds, plant varieties, and resource manage-ment practices, such as mixed cropping practic-es. The latter involves the cultivation of differ-ent types of crops such as root crops (sweetpotatoes) on the same land. The crops are har-vested at different periods of the year, ensuringhousehold and community food security(Agrawal 2003; Berkes 1999).

Kuhnlein and Chan (2000) addthat from acommunity perspective indigenous food sys-tem includes all of the food species that are avail-able to a particular cultural group from its localnatural resources and the accepted patterns fortheir use within that culture. This incorporatesthe socio-cultural meanings of these foods, theiracquisition, processing, and use within that cul-ture. Enete and Amusa (2010) have the view thatin spite of the modern technological systemsintroduced by western cultures and knowledgesystems for food security in Africa, most peo-ple, especially in the remote rural areas still de-pend on their local community knowledge andtechnology systems including cultural valuesfor food security and to adapt to changing cli-matic conditions. They strive to pass down thisknowledge to younger generations for sustain-ability, increasing food security, and self-suffi-ciency within their communities

The study has the opinion that despite thefact that these community-based knowledge andvalue systems contribute to household and com-munity food security while conserving the envi-ronment under changing climatic change, theyhave not been adequately documented throughresearch to inform policy, to be incorporated inthe education system and to be shared withyoung generations.

The general objective of the study was toexamine the efficacy of African indigenous foodsecurity strategies and climate change adapta-tion in South Africa with special reference toGanyesa village (North-West Province). As partof the human resource capacity building in theresearch area of IK, food security and climate,the postgraduate student in Indigenous Knowl-edge Systems (Masters) involved in the studyoriginates from the community. She has a thor-ough knowledge of the culture and languageofthe studycommunity. She was the principalinvestigator inthe study. The involvement ofother researchers was to enhance the multi-dis-

ciplinary nature ofthe study. The study interro-gated the following questions specific objec-tives:

1. What are the community perspectives onthe role of socio-economic and demograph-ic characteristics such as age group, mari-tal status, education, religious affiliation,household size in relation to African indig-enous food security strategies and climatechange adaptation?

2. What types of African indigenous food se-curity strategies for climate change adap-tation are found in the study community?

3. What are the indigenous community sourc-es of food security for climate change ad-aptation?

4. What are challenges of the indigenous foodsecurity strategies for climate change ad-aptation in the study community ?

METHODOLOGY

The unit of analysis for the study on theAfrican Indigenous Food Security Strategiesand Climate Change Adaptation in South Africawas Ganyesa village in the Kagisano MolopoLocal Municipality, North West Province. Ganye-sa is a semi-arid area receiving anaverage annu-al rainfall of 300mm. According to North WestProvince (Department of Agriculture Conserva-tion and Environment (2008) the area is locatedin savannah biome and consists of Kalahari thornveld and shrub bush veld type. The soil typesare predominantly red mesotrophic sand, me-sotrophic soil and shallow calcerous soil. As aresult of the semi-arid conditions it is an exten-sive livestock producing area with limited cropfarming. The area is inhabited by the BarolongBoo-Ratlou le Tau. This is one of the Batswanaclans found in South Africa and North-WestProvince in particular.

In order to investigate the African Indige-nous Food Security Strategies and ClimateChange Adaptation in Ganyesa village the studyfollowed a qualitative and case study researchdesign. Taking into consideration the communi-ty and cultural-based nature of the study thequalitative research method was used becauseit is more flexible and allows interaction betweenthe research and respondent community mem-bers using qualitative research methods suchas in-depth interviews, focus group discussions,direct and participatory observation, etc. Accord-


ing to Denzin and Lincoln (2005: 3), qualitativeresearch investigates the objects in their naturalsettings and attempts to make sense of, or inter-pret phenomena in terms of the meanings peo-ple bring to them.

According to Schwandt (2000), distinct fromthe use of a survey method, the epistemology ofthe qualitative interview aligns itself more with aconstructivist paradigm than a positivist one.This is important for this study as it gave theresearchers an opportunity to be actively in-volved rather than being just passive listenersin the research process. In this study, in-depthinterviews formed a larger part of the researchapproach to data collection. The interviews tookan informal form, with more focus on asking ques-tions and listening to the participants. Accord-ing to Seidman(1998), the use of a free-flowingand unstructured style, using convergent inter-viewing techniques, with emphasis on listeningand observing, ensures that the interviewees’experiences are heard. Similarly, in this studythe researchers were at all times attempted toallow the interviewees to tell their stories/expe-riences in detail on their African Indigenous FoodSecurity Strategies and Climate Change Adap-tation. During the interviews the researcherswere mindful that it was necessary to gain in-sights into the key concepts of the research asthe interviewees were narrating their own expe-riences and views. As a result the researchersonly used the interview guide to direct the inter-view discussions, but never restrained any ad-ditional information that happened to arise. Atall times richness of data were sought from par-ticipants as they were encouraged to talk open-ly about their experiences to enable insightsthrough words and not in numbers.

The study was alsoparticipatory and usedthe case study approach to investigate the re-search problem. Kemmis and McTaggart (2005)define a participatory approach as a methodolo-gy that argues in favour of the possibility, thesignificance, and the usefulness of integratingresearch partners in the knowledge-productionprocess. In this study the participatory approachprovided the study community with the oppor-tunity to be participants in the research process,including identification and selection of thestudy case, data analysis and interpretation fromtheir own cultural perspective. The approach ismeant to fill the power gap between the research-er and the researched community.

The relevance of a case study approach inthis study cannot be underestimated. Babbie,(2007) looks at the case study as a research strat-egy that involves an empirical inquiry on a phe-nomenon within its real-life context. It providesa systematic and in-depth way of looking at an-event or situation, collecting data, analyzing in-formation and reporting the results As a result,the researcher gains a sharpened understand-ing of why the research issues happened as theydid, and what might become important to look atmore extensively in the future (Bless et al. 2006).

In consultation with community leaders andindigenous knowledge holders / practitioners inthe study community, a purposive sample of 40key - informants (15 men and 25 women) wereidentified and selected for the study based ontheir knowledge and role in the community andtheir availability and willingness to be inter-viewed. This was also to ensure that both gen-der sections of the community are involved inthe study process. The sampling process alsotook into account of the fact that women playimportant roles in food security in the communi-ty as food producers, post harvest processorsincluding food storage and conservers food scar-city times, keepers of indigenous knowledgeand preservers of biodiversity, household foodproviders. Babbie (2001) defines a purposive sam-ple as a sample selected in a deliberative andnon-random fashion to achieve a certain goal.

The focus group discussion method wasused to ensure that all viewpoints are adequate-ly represented. We also made sure that commu-nity members, especially women who had thebest knowledge and experience of the area wereincluded in the discussion.

A combination of data collection methodswere used in order to have a comprehensiveunderstanding of the research problem andcross-reference the different sources and meth-ods of data collection. These included in-depthinterviews, focus group discussions, participantobservations and examination of secondarysources, especially past research studies andother relevant documents.

The interview guide contained both unstruc-tured and structured questions to allow unre-stricted flow of ideas from participants. Howev-er, as researchers we were aware of the potentialweaknesses in interviewing as a technique ofdiscovery in that even confidential interviewsmay not necessarily generate the truth but only


what a respondent is willing to share at a partic-ular moment. As a result of this realization, dur-ing interviews this type of flaw wastaken intoconsideration. To avoid any discomfort for theinterviewee we choose not to probe too deeplyinto each respondent’s background concerningsuch issues as childhood influences, current fi-nancial status, religious affiliations, etc.

Interviews alone were deemed insufficientfor the study, hence were supplemented by theuse of participant observation to improve thevalidity of the findings. Participant observationwas used because it “provided us with ways tocheck for non-verbal expressions of feelings, tounderstand how participants communicated witheach other and check how much time was spenton various activities. Participant observationparticularly, has been used in an array of disci-plines as a tool for data collection about people,processes, and cultures in qualitative research(DeWalt and DeWalt 2002).

Through the assistance and cooperation ofthe community leaders and IK practitioners weparticipated in various food security related ac-tivities in the farms including community meet-ingson agricultural issues, etc. We were awareof the fact that one of the limitations in using theparticipant observation technique is that some-times the researcher has to rely on the use ofkey informants and not be interested in whathappens out of the public eye. Sometimes re-searchers are not easily accepted in the commu-nities where they are conducting their research.This is due to a number of things like one’s ap-pearance, ethnicity, age, gender and class mayaffect the researcher’s acceptance in the studycommunity. Another limitation of the participantobservation study is that the researcher tendsto immerse into an unfamiliar culture and stud-ies the lives of other people as a full time com-munity member during the period of the research.This is limiting because sometimes researchershave to change their ways of lives so as to fitwithin the community of study. However, thiswas not the case with this research study as wewere familiar with the culture and the way of lifewithin the study community.

Focus group discussions were conductedwith randomly selected groups of 6-10 commu-nity members. Marshall and Rossman (1999) statethat though the focus group discussionmethodcan be seen as a form of group in-depth inter-view, the difference lies in the fact that it is a

group rather than one-to-one interview. Also,by getting the participants to discuss amongthemselves, it is a faster and easy way of col-lecting qualitative data in less time than wouldbe needed for individual interviews.

One limitation, however, levelled against fo-cus group discussions is that the focus groupsare placed in an artificial environment which caninfluence the responses that are generated. Thisis due to the fact that researchers using the eth-nographic technique will situate themselves inthe real environment that is unreachable for fo-cus groups. In focus groups people are collect-ed in a meeting room thus they might behavedifferently from how they behave when they arenot watched and it might affect the quality ofresearch results.

The overall objective of using a variety ofdata collection methods was to explore people’sknowledge and experience on the research prob-lem. The use of a combination of research meth-ods in data collection provided a better under-standing of the research problem from the com-munity perspective through interaction withthem. On the issue of informed consent, the per-mission of participants was sought to recordthe interviews and conversations so as to allowus to focus on the interviewees, and their re-sponses, not with note taking. Questions per-taining to the interviews were listed on the in-formed-consent sheet that each intervieweesigned. In addition to respecting the privacy ofthe respondents we ensured their anonymity.Participants were also given the choice of with-drawing from the study whenever they felt thatthey have lost interest to participate. To protectthe participants, their genuine names were keptconfidential and the pseudo names were usedwhen referring to their experiences.

Datacollected were both qualitative andquantitative (socio-economic demographic dataof the respondents). Sarantakos (1998) statesthat data analysis involves making sense out ofthe information gathered from research and tobring out meaning from data. Qualitative data inthe form of digital voice recorded interviews weretranscribed and translated from the local lan-guage “Setswana” into English. Interview andparticipant observation notes were typed andanalysed using content analysis. Weber (1990:12) explains that content analysis is a systemat-ic method for analysing textual information in astandardised way that allows evaluators to make


inferences about that information. Classifyingnumerous texts and words in much fewer contentcategories is a central idea in content analysis.

The Quantitative data from the question-naires were checked and coded. Vestra (2003)defines quantitative data as information basedon numbers or statistics that describes activi-ties, populations and so on. In this study quan-titative data from the questionnaires werechecked, coded and analysed. Validation checkswere conducted through all phases of the re-search to ensure the highest level of data accu-racy. Information which was unclear or missingwere clarified or collected by returning to infor-mants and reviewing issues and concepts.

The following sections present and discussthe research findings.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The Socio-economic and DemographicCharacteristics of RespondentCommunity Members:Community Perspectives

There has always been a concern from localcommunity members including those in thestudy community that most of the studies con-ducted by researchers from outside these com-munities tend to conceptualize the socio-eco-nomic and demographic characteristics of thecommunities such as age group, marital status,educational levels, religious affiliation, etc. froma western perspective. They overlook the cul-tural meanings which the people themselves at-tach to these variables with regard to the vari-ous sustainable livelihood challenges facing thecommunities such as food security and climatechange.

It is on the basis of these concerns that thestudy first examined the socio-economic anddemographic characteristics of the local com-munities such as age group, marital status, edu-cational levels, religious affiliation, etc. from theperspectives of the respondent community mem-bers themselves. These perspectives were ex-pressed in the form of narratives in Setswana,the local language in the study community andthen translated in English, with regard to themeaning and significance of the socio-econom-ic and demographic characteristics in relation toindigenous food security systems and climatechange among the Barolong Borra Tlou le Tau.

The Traditional Significance of Age Groupamong the Barolong Borra Tlou le Tau

The study revealed that among the BarolongBorra Tlou le Tauage group had an importantsignificance in the cultural and socio-economiclife of the people including matters of house-hold and community food security. Rre Maabi (acommunity elder) explained the importance ofage group distribution with regard to social/com-munity and household division of labour forfood security. According to the Barolong BorraTlou le Tau, a boy or girl who is above five yearsold, was already in the age group of participat-ing in the farming and other food security activ-ities of the household and community. He gavean example of himself that, he used to wake up atfive o’clock and take dogs to hunt with his olderbrothers.

This was elaborated by Rre Dioka, anotherccommunity knowledge holder and practitioner,whoprovided his own experience on the issueby stating thatwhen he was still a boy aged fif-teen years (15) together with the boys on thesame age group, they would be awaked by theirfathers at four o’clock in the morning to look forcows to be milked. During the planting season,they woke up early before the parents to pre-pare the span of oxen and seeds for planting.When the parents woke up everything wouldbe ready for the farming activities of the day. Hefurther narrated that at the field he would holdthe rope ahead of the oxen; his father wouldhold the plough and the elder brother aged twen-ty five (25) would drive the oxen.

On the issue of climate change in relation tofarming activities as the main occupation of thepeople in the community, the community knowl-edge holder Rre Kgaole explained that certaincultural professions related to rain-making in-cluding participation in their rituals dependedon ones age group. For instance, in rain makingrituals one must be above twenty five years ofage (25-45) to participate in these related rain-making cleansing ceremonies. It was believedthat at this age group one was already married,responsible and ready to communicate with theancestors.

The above narratives from the communitymembers demonstrate the cultural importanceof age group in the food security of the studycommunity which tends to be neglected by west-ern research approaches.


The study revealed that the majority of therespondents (83% males and 92% females) werein the age group of 31 years and above. In-depthinterviews with them demonstrated their wideknowledge and experience issues related tohousehold and community food security includ-ing the impact of climate change over time. Thesedue to their age and experience emanating frombeing actively involved in related activities.

The Role of Gender among the BarolongBorra Tlou le Tau

In the context of this study gender is de-fined in terms of the socio-cultural relations be-tween men and women in the society (Butlerand Robinson 2001). Among the Barolong BorraTlou le Tau in Ganyesa gender plays a very cru-cial role in matters pertaining to food security.The study revealed that women were responsi-ble for most of the household and even commu-nity aspects related to food security.

This explained by Mme Boikanyo, a commu-nity knowledge holder, that traditionally, amongthe Batswana of Ganyesa men cleared the landand left women to undertake the remaining farm-ing activities, such as weeding, harvesting, foodprocessing and storage. However, men andwomen worked together in land preparation,sowing and planting. Women were also respon-sible for food preparation, fetching water andgathering firewood. She further explains thatwomen also bear the responsibility for the house-hold chores in addition to their agricultural tasks.Men are primarily involved in the production ofcash crops, whereas women take care of the cropsfor household consumption.

For instance direct observation showed thatduring summer rains wild indigenous vegeta-bles such as amaranthus were only collected bywomen. Women stored the vegetables in bagsand processed by sun drying to be used in win-ter when they were not available. These indige-nous vegetables if stored properly can last upto three years. The study showed that the ma-jority of the respondents (62%) were female. In-depth interviews and focus group discussionsshowed that the respondent women knowledgeholders and practitioners had a wide knowledgeon indigenous food security strategies and cli-mate change adaptation in the community. Theydemonstrated knowledge and experience of en-suring food security and coping with climatic

changes because they were directly involved inthese activities for survival.

The indigenous knowledge practitioner RreMakoi indicated that in the Batswana tradition,rainmakers were supposed to be men only. Wom-en were not allowed to play a role because of thefact that there are certain times in a woman’s life,such as during menstruation period, when ac-cording to tradition she becomes impure. Dur-ing these times women were not allowed to en-gage in traditional medicine and healing practic-es. It is believed that the medicines will not beeffective. However, being the main cultivatorsof the land for food security under changingclimatic conditions, women including girlsper-formed rainsongs anddances which constitutedvital prayers for rain.

Focus group discussions revealed that wom-en possessed a detailed awareness of the spe-cies and ecosystems which surround them forclimate change adaptation. They were often thelocal educators, passing on traditional knowl-edge and technologies to younger generations,both girls and boys.

The studyhas the opinion that an apprecia-tion of the role of gender and the way it impactsthe intrinsic value of local knowledge systemsamong the Barolong Borra Tlou le Tau of Ganye-sa is critical to the understanding, interpretationand use of their indigenous knowledge for foodsecurity and climate change adaptation. Thisiselaborated by Pidatala et al. (2003) who ob-served that due to this gender differentiationand specialization among African indigenouscommunities, the indigenous knowledge andskills held by women often differ from those heldby men, affecting patterns of access, use andcontrol, while resulting in different perceptionsand priorities for the innovation and the use ofIK.

The study also observed that women’s rolein indigenous food security and climate changeadaptation was more multidimensional. Theypreservedthe local community biodiversity dueto their wide knowledge of indigenous plant-sand animal resources found in the local envi-ronment for food and nutritional security. Ganye-sa is semi-arid area where cattle farming is animportant aspect of local agriculture. Batswanawomen played a major part in the use of IK relat-ed to cattle as they were the ones who mostlycollected fodder for cattle, milked the cows, col-lected and used cow dung for energy and other


purposes. They also played a vital role in post-harvest operations including food preservationand storage of grains.

During focus group discussion it was reiter-ated that women generally were in charge of pro-cessing animal products, which was another areaof indigenous expertise. Where women were in-volved in milk processing and marketing, theyhad thorough knowledge of the fermentationprocess, including the effects of temperature andacidity. They were also quite knowledgeableabout dairy hygiene as they washed and sun-dried the utensils used and the containers inwhich milk was stored.

During focus group discussion and directobservation it was revealed that the number offemale-headed households was increasing asmost men migrate due to the lack of employmentand other income-generating opportunities. Thisexplained why most women had food plots ofearly maturing short season crops for survival.These food plots were considered women’s plotsbecause they performed all the tasks on theirplots from planting to harvesting. In some in-stances men assisted women to clear the plotfor planting but it is not common. Example ofsuch crops was spinach as it could be harvest-ed in less than two months.

The above findings of this study are inagreement with FAO (2002) which observed thatmen are migrating from rural areas to cities insearch of paid employment thereby leaving theirfamilies to be headed by women. This has re-sulted to women taking more responsibilities inagriculture in order to meet up with increase infamily responsibilities including food securityin changing climatic conditions. For example, In-digenous knowlege holder Mme Legau plantedtomatoes, watermelon and pumpkins becausethey took only three months to be ready for har-vest and needed warmer temperatures to grow.

Marital Status and Indigenous Food Securityfor Climate Change Adaptation

During the in-depth interviews and focusgroup discussions on the role of marital statusin food security and climate change among theBarolong Borra Tlou le Tau in Ganyesa, MmeKabuni, a community knowledge holder statedthat traditionally, no man or woman got marriedamong the Barolong Borra Tlou le Tau and otherTswana ethnic groups without going to the ini-

tiation school as a rite of passage where shewas taught to ensure food security for her house-hold through knowledge and skills of farmingpractices, weather patterns, behavior of livingorganisms as early warning indicators of climat-ic changing conditions, postharvest practicesand technologies to ensure the availability offood at all times in the household.

She indicated that as married woman, wifeand mother she ensured that there were enoughsupplies of food for the family at all times. Forinstance, she would cook soft porridge and fer-mented it to make “Mageu” which could be tak-en as a drink for breakfast. Mageu could last forabout a week without being spoiled by weather.

Rre Molwane, a community knowledge hold-er, explained further on the role of marital statusin rain-making. According to him, following theBatswana traditions a rain maker is usually amale and married person. He explained that if therain maker is not married, he would not com-mand the respect of the community and supportof the ancestors. This traditional belief demon-strated theimportance tradition put on the mari-tal status of a person. The same applied to amarried woman. She was treated with higher re-spect in society than a single woman, especiallywhen she already have children.

Every member of society went through thatprocess when the right age and time came inher/his life cycle. These cultural aspects relatedto marital status as an important community so-cio-economic and demographic variable are notconsidered in western ways of knowing andknowledge production when investigating thesocio-economic and demographic characteris-tics of African local communities. The study re-vealed that the majority of the respondents (53%males; 56% females) were married.

The study was also interested in establish-ing the meaning attached to education amongthe respondent community members in relationto the research problem.

Education and Indigenous Food Securityin Climate Change Adaptation

The study was interested in establishing therole of formal education in community food se-curity and climate change adaptation from a com-munity perspective. Mme Diabe, a communityknowledge holder, had a critical view of westernformal education as it exist today in South Afri-


ca because it does not prepare learners to meetthe challengesof life including community suchas security under changing climatic conditions.She argued that theeducation children receivenowadays is different from the traditional edu-cationshe received in olden days. It equippedthe youngones with various forms oflocal knowl-edge andpractical skills to survive in harsh en-vironment. Children learnt through parents andsocial practice about hunting, farming, takingcare of the animals, environment, early warningsystems and indicators about changing seasonsand the weather conditions. They knew andobserved the behaviors of living organismssuchas birds, domestic animals and plants.

However, she acknowledged the signifi-cance of modern formal education as it preparedchildren to meet the challenges of the modernworld but it needs to take into consideration therole of traditional knowledge if it is to be rele-vant and useful to them and society.

The researchers agree with the views ofMmeDiabe that there is a gap between class-room education and the practical expectationsof the society, when it comes to learner’s pre-paredness to meet the challenges of communitylivelihood such as food security and climatechange in harsh arid environment such as thatof Ganyesa.

This view is articulated by Odora-Hoppers(2002) and Hountondji (2002) who state that thatthe global western dominant knowledge systemsproduced in research and academic institutionsare in contrast with the local knowledge sys-tems which most people depend on for liveli-hood including food security and climate changeadaptation. Western education does not preparechildren for life in their immediate environments.

The study showed that the majority of therespondents (female, 60% and male, 52%) hadinformal education. In-depth interviews revealedthat these respondents, especially the women,had a wide knowledge about the indigenousknowledge and skills related to food securityand climate change adaptation in the communi-ty. They knew about community farming sys-tems, environmental issues, early warning sys-tems on climate change including behaviors ofliving organisms related to changing climaticconditions.

The study wanted to establish the house-hold sizes of the study communities as impor-tant element for food security and climate change

adaptation. This is due to the fact that observa-tions and own experience showed that most ofthe households depended on subsistence farm-ing for food security which depended on thesize of labor available in the household to per-form the farming activities and consumption ofthe farm produce. Frigo (2004) defines a house-hold as the basic residential unit in which eco-nomic production, consumption; inheritance,child rearing, and shelter are organized and car-ried out. The following section discusses thehousehold sizes of the respondent communitymembers. This is due to the role the householdlabor plays in food security under changing cli-matic conditions.

Household Size and Indigenous FoodSecurity for Climate Change Adaptation

The significance of the household size infood security for climate change adaptation com-munity was expressed by the community knowl-edge holder Mme Kgaole. She indicated that shegrew up in a big household of about fifteen chil-dren. They were all expected to contribute tohousehold labor for the various farming activi-ties as well as domestic responsibilities. Theywere also sent to other relatives who neededhelp during land preparation, sowing, harvest-ing periods, etc. Since the households were largethe heads of households ensured that enoughwas produced to feed the household memberstill the next harvesting season. Each householdmember of the responsible age had to contrib-ute to the household food security. As she par-ticipated in the associated farming activities sheacquired the necessary local knowledge relatedto food security in changing climatic conditionsincluding the indigenous early warning systemsindicators.

Mme Gaobone a grandparent explained thattraditionally, much of the upbringing of childrenin the households was done by grandparents,and specifically the grandmothers. This is be-cause many single mothers were working or somedid not have adequate parenting skills to lookafter the children, especially the teenagers.Therefore, staying with the grandparents wasso important for the upbringing of the child. Shegave her own experience that, she grew with hergrandparents. There were five girls and four boysin the household. The girls participated in all thedomestic activities under her guidance. The


boys looked after the cattle guided by thegrandfather.

The study has theview that the experiencenarrated by Mme Gaobone demonstrates theimportance of household labour in food securi-ty under changing climatic conditions in thestudy community. Each member of the house-hold based on gender had a role to play for thesurvival of the household, especially when thehousehold was big to be fed. The study revealedthat the majority of the male (60%) and female (52%)respondent’s households had two to four mem-bers. During focus group discussions with com-munity knowledge holders and practitioners it wasfound that ensuring food security was a house-hold responsibility. The bigger the household sizethe greater was the demand for food security dur-ing climatic changes to avoid starvation.

Schultz (2009) elaborates that in most Afri-can local communities there is a rigid division oflabor in farming activities by gender. This is usu-ally influenced by the varieties of socio-econom-ic and cultural activities performed on the farm.Men and women, as demonstrated in the studyhad specific activities for the survival of thehousehold.

The study was also interested in establish-ing the occupational status of the respondent’scommunity members which ensured food secu-rity in changing climatic conditions.

Occupational Status and Indigenous FoodSecurity Strategiesfor Climate ChangeAdaptation

According to the American Heritage Dictio-nary (2009), an occupation is defined as any ac-tivity in which a person is engaged. In this sec-tion the study was interested in establishing thecommunity perspective about occupational sta-tus in relation to food security and climatechange adaptation. Rre Gaeilo, a community el-derprovides his own of an occupation that themost important activity in any community is theone which ensures the survival of its members,especially in the provision of the basic needs oflife such as food security. For him, agriculture,both the growing of crops and rearing of ani-mals are the most important occupations becauseall other things in the community depended onthem. Every member of the society, men andwomen, including grown up children (boys andgirls) has to be associated with agriculture inone way or another.

Mme Nono explains further that the loss ofland due to high population growth led to mostof the agricultural and grazing land to be usedfor residential purposes. Food security dependson land availability and security. It was not onlya source of food supply but it has spiritual sig-nificance due to the connection with the ances-tors who are buried in the soil of the land. Theyare the ones who give the living life and goodagricultural seasons, if they are treated accord-ing to traditions of the land and community. Thisshows the community perspective on the spiri-tual link and signficance between occupation,land and food security.

The study showed that the majority of therespondents (Male, 52% and Female, 58%) wereinvolved in agriculture for food security.Only15% of respondent male and 4% of respondentwomen were employed. Mme Motsei, a ccom-munity knowledge holder, explained the signifi-cance of this situation in relation to labor migra-tion out of the village. She stated that due tohigh unemployment rate that exist in the village,most men left the village in the search for em-ployment opportunities hence women were leftat home to be de facto heads of the householdsand take care of the farms. The researcher’s opin-ion is that although not directly gathered fromdata, it can be brought forward that women facemuch heavier workload than men since they typ-ically look after children and are involved in homechores and farm work.

The section below discusses the role of reli-gious affiliation on food security and climatechange adaptation.

Religious Affiliation and IndigenousFood Security for Climate Change Adaptation

This section is based on the observation thatthe local people in Ganyesa believed that ances-tors provide the fertility of the land, high yield,rain etc. This demonstrated the way spiritualityplayed a crucial role in their relationship to theancestors and other religious beliefs associatedwith survival including food security.The com-munity knowledge practitioner Rre Mobe ex-plained that religion, especially the role of an-cestors has a critical role in their lives as Bat-swana. Their agricultural practices and successdepended on their spiritual relationship with theancestors in ensuring good harvest and well-being of the community. The land as the source


of life and place of the ancestors wastreated withrespect. People believedthat if the ancestors arenot happy they can curse the land and bringdrought hence famine to the people.

The above perspective demonstrates theway religious beliefs and practices are central tothe lives of the people in Ganyesa. It influencestheir relationship to one another, to food securi-ty and importance of living in harmony with nat-ural environment and the ancestors. The studyshowed that the majority of respondents (Fe-male, 72%) and (Male, 60%) were affiliated toAfrican indigenous religious practices.

Rre Morei, a community knowledge holderexplained the importance of ancestors in com-munity life including ensuring of food security,that there were rituals and offerings to ances-tors to request for a good harvest, to celebrate agood harvest, to ask for rain, and to chase awaycurses and evil spirits. Respect for the ances-tors, respect for the elderly and the earth mean-ing the land are amongst the deepest values ofthe Ganyesa socio-cultural and spiritual syste-mexpressed and rooted in indigenous agricul-ture of the Barolong Borra Tlou le Tau.

African Indigenous Food Security Strategiesand Their Uses for Climate Change Adaptationand Community Livelihood

This section discusses the existing Africanindigenous food security strategies and theiruses for climate change adaptation and commu-nity livelihood. This is based on the argumentthat the introduction of modern, especially largescale farming in South Africa, might have hadgreat successes incertain areas of the countryand the North-West Province, but a large pro-portion of people, especially in the rural areassuch as Ganyesa are experiencing food insecu-rity as subsistence farmers due tovulnerabilityto climatic changes (A Re Ageng 2001). These-subsistence farmers, mostly women, still dependon their indigenous agricultural knowledge andtechnology systems for food security and cli-mate change adaptation. Observations showedthat these are low cost and locally available tech-nologies and inputs which enable them to adaptto changing climatic conditions in an arid envi-ronment of Ganyesa. The section looks at thefollowing aspects: community sources of foodsupply; uses of IKS in food supply; advantagesand limitations of local knowledge systems onfood systems for climate change adaptation.

Indigenous Community Sources of FoodSecurity for Climate Change Adaptation

The study was first interested in establish-ing the local community sources of food supply.These were well presented by Mme Kgaole, an-Indigenous knowledge practioner as a farmerwho indicated that farming, gathering and hunt-ing, especially farming have always been themain source of food supply in the community ofGanyesa. She grew up knowing that agriculture,both the keeping of animals and growing cropssuch as sorghum and maize as the main sourceof food. They kept animals such as sheep, cows,goats, chickens and dogs. Hunting was doneby men and boys occasionally. During rainy sea-son’s women and girls collected wild vegeta-bles and fruits. She indicated that the peopleknew about the environment as well as the chang-ing seasons and weather conditions. However,the domesticated animals such as cows, sheepand goats were also used for cultural functionsincluding paying bride price “lobola” and sacri-fices for the ancestors for various life aspectssuch as in request for good harvest.

However, Mme Katlego elaborates furtherthat taking into consideration that Ganyesa is asemi-arid area and not very conducive for cropproduction, animal farming has always been verycrucial for food security and climate change ad-aptation. She indicated that cattle in the villagesymbolized the life of Batswana. Cattle provid-ed food, could be sold or exchanged for food,provided income, also supplied people with ma-nure for farming and cow dung for heating andother purposes.

The Challenges of African IndigenousFood Security Strategies for Climate ChangeAdaptation

The study wanted to establish the challeng-es of indigenous food security strategies foundin the study community for climate change ad-aptation. This took into consideration the factthat a large proportion of the community basedfood security activities were done by women.Mme Diboka, a community knowledge holder asa farmer explained that women constituted about80% of the agricultural work force in the commu-nity. In spite of being vulnerable to climatechange, especially increasing drought condi-tions, they have overtime learnt to adapt to cli-


mate variability through the use of indigenousknowledge practices, through knowledge of be-havior of living organisms as early warning indi-cators of changing weather conditions, selec-tion of appropriate seeds and animal species,mixed cropping, prediction of the weather chang-es using wind directions, position of stars, de-veloping water harvesting technologies andwater conservation techniques to improve wa-ter retention in fragile soils.

To ensure food at all times they were usingfood preservation techniques such as fermenta-tion and sun drying. Mme Mooki, an indige-nous knowledge practitioner, as a farmer, elabo-rates further that overtime people have learnt tomaintain livestock through the use of indige-nous knowledge strategies to mitigate chang-ing climatic conditions throuhg the use of sup-plementary feeds for livestock; reserving pas-ture for use by young, sick and lactating ani-mals in case of drought. The use of indigenoustechniques to control diseases in livestock sothat they can survive climatic extremes.

However, during focus group discussionsand in-depth interviews we learnt that indige-nous food security strategies for climate changeadaptation are faced with various challenges.Indigenous knowledge practitioner Mme Ruui,as a farmer, pointed out that young people in thecommunity have no interest in these indigenousknowledge systems due to modernisation. Sheexplained further that the coming of moderniza-tion brought about change in the use of commu-nity based knowledge systems in areas of foodsecurity and climate change adaptation.

These changes came with new systems ofeducation in agriculture which introduced newways of farming. She gave the example of theintroduction of hybrid seeds to produced high-er yields using chemical fertilizers. Most of farm-ers in the village are encouraged by governmentextension workersto adopt the new methods offarming, how to plant hybrid seeds and use chem-ical fertilizers. These new methods are expen-siveand not easily accessible for most subsis-tence farmers who have no other sources of in-come. Most of them are women with large num-bers of dependants. These new agricultural prac-tices based on the use of chemicals destroy theenvironment by polluting the soil and watersources. Many people in the village, especiallywomen and children are sick.

She explained that as a result of the influ-ence from agricultural extension officers indige-nous farming methods changed even thoughfarmers are not certain about the new method offarming. In the village not most people use mod-ern method of farming because the methods needspecial education and money to buy itsfacilities.The abandonment of indigenous waysoffarming which were affordable and hence sus-tainable has made many households vulnera-bleto food insecurity. Moreover, Mme Mokeonawent further to state that with the widespreadadoption of Christianity, indigenous spiritualpractices and belief systems such as taboos as-sociated with the protection of environment andpreservation of biodiversity were now seen assuperstitions. This has greatly affected the spir-itual base of community ways of knowing, espe-cially the role of the ancestors in the sustainablelivelihood of the people.

CONCLUSION

The study examined the role of socio-eco-nomic and demographic characteristics such asage group, marital status, etc. from a communityperspective in relation to the research problem,that is African indigenous food security strate-gies for climate change adaptation. Contrary towestern perspective, it was foundthat these vari-ableshad socio-cultural and spiritual significancein the community livelihood of the BarolongBorra Tlou le Tau people in Ganyesa.

African rural communities in arid environmentsuch as Ganyesa in the North-West Province(South Africa) have always been vulnerable tofood insecuty due to drought conditions asso-ciated with climate change. Most of them arewomen subsistence farmers. However, over theyears the people in these communities have de-veloped their own indigenous strategies of en-suring food security in changing climatic condi-tions. The study revealed that women in thestudy community made up about 80% of theagricultural work force related to food security.Their role in indigenous food security for cli-mate change adaptation wasmultidimensional.They were the main agricultural producers, foodprocessors and preservers for household foodsecurity. They also played a major role in animalproduction. They were the ones who mostlycollected fodder for cattle, milked the cattle, pro-cessed the milk, collected and dried cow-dung


as a source of energy and other uses. They dem-onstrated extensive knowledge about the indig-enous food security strategies and over the havelearnt to adapt to climate variability through theuse of indigenous knowledge to predict theweather using wind directions, position of stars,observation of behaviors of living organisms asearly warning indicators of changing climaticconditions. The elderly women have over theyears developed and used indigenous adapta-tion strategies such as water harvesting tech-nologies, water conservation techniques to im-prove water retention in fragile soils; to ensurefood at all times they used food preservationtechniques such as fermentation and sun dry-ing, mixed cropping and crop diversification.

However, the study found that the modern-ization has brought about change in the use ofcommunity based food security strategies forclimate change adaptation. Modern knowledgeand technology systems are not accessible andnot affordable to most subsistence farmers, es-pecially the women due to low incomes. The useof chemical fertilizers has also polluted the wa-ter sources and soil. This decline in the impor-tance of indigenous food security strategies andfarming systems has made people in the studycommunity vulnerable to climate change withregard to food security.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The study recommends the need to docu-ment the existingindigenous food security forclimate change adaptation in the community.This is meant to protect and preserve them forfuture generations. They should beshared withyounger generations, agricultural extension of-ficers and policy makers for sustainability. Theyshould also be introduced in the educationalsystems and agricultural development cam-paigns to promote knowledge and awareness oftheir significanceamong different stakeholderswithin and outside the local communities. Doc-umentation will assist in identification of gapsin these knowledge systems which could be im-proved through interface with other knowledgesystems to meet the challenges of globalization.The role of gender should be taken seriously inthe documentation, promotion and interface ofindigenous and other knowledge and technolo-gy. These initiatives should improve the role ofwomen rather than marginalize and alienate them

as the main producers and users of these indig-enous knowledge systems.

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African Indigenous Food Security Strategies and Climate ... · PDF fileAFRICAN INDIGENOUS FOOD SECURITY STRATEGIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE 85 cycles, as well as long term experiences with