Abstracts

34 their operations through volatile climactic conditions. Considerations such as these might go a long way toward maintaining farmers’ crop production levels. Livestock Production The influence of climate change on livestock production is arguably greater than that predicted for crop production, since livestock are reliant on the healthy growing of feed crops. Raising livestock thus requires both adequate feed crop land and grazing pastures. Because livestock are both more expensive to raise and more profitable, the loss of livestock productivity could have an impact on a farmer’s revenue sources in a more significant way than food crops alone. There are three main ways in which climate change can impact livestock production: feed availability and price; quality of forage in pastures; and general health of livestock, including through diseases and pests as well as other health conditions, mostly brought about by heat exposure, drought, and heavy incidents of rainfall. If South Africa follows its projections to become hotter and drier, pasture lands will get drier, thereby decreasing grain production for animals, which is predicted to reduce animal weight gain. Dairy cows, when subjected to heat-wave conditions associated with climate change, showed a 10% to 14% reduction in milk production, and those animals did not recover after a return to normal conditions (Rust & Rust, 2013). The more exposed animals are to the natural elements, the more likely they are to be vulnerable to potentially hotter temperatures and dry conditions. Rust & Rust (2013) point out that a country like the United States is better positioned to resist the impacts of climate change on livestock production, specifically because most livestock are kept in protected environments, like sheds and barns. Maximizing quality forage and rangeland for the livestock that need it most, namely dairy cows and beef cattle, is one strategy to maintain healthy livestock production while not jeopardizing the spatial needs of grazing animals. In other words, farmers will need to think of new ways to maximize efficiency on their farms as climate change threatens to alter the quality of forage, the temperature to maintain healthy and productive animals, and the water to provide the necessary feed for the animals. One response would be breeding more efficient animals (Zwane, 2019), parallel to the development of new hybrid crop types, which will help farmers continue livestock production. Animals that are smaller, lighter in color, reproductively sound, and substantially disease tolerant (Rust & Rust, 2013), combined with the development of drought-resistant feed crops and pasture grasses, will yield an overall more sustainable livestock operation. It also may be possible to successfully merge both crop and livestock production. Farmers can improve their farms in self-sustaining ways, like using the manure from their livestock to bolster soil quality, thus improving crop yields. Manure also can help reduce soil erosion due to wind and water and protect water quality by reducing contaminated runoff ( Beneficial Use of Manure and Environmental Protection , 2015). Small-scale Farmers and Access to Credit Small-scale farmers face a lack of access to credit, which is a major barrier to entry and expansion in South Africa. The ratio of small- scale farm credit to GDP in South Africa has declined by 40% since 1986, and the disparity betweensmall-scale farmcredit andcommercial farm credit increasingly is widening. Despite the favorable lending environment in South Africa toward commercial farms, small-scale farms provide full time employment to 1 million South African households compared to the 700,000 workers, including seasonal and contract workers, employed in the commercial agricultural sector. Small-scale farms need credit, either in the form of grants or loans, to purchase new seed, buy equipment, apply more efficient irrigation techniques, and, indeed, employ new workers (Makina et al., 2015). It is in South Africa’s best interest to rethink its capacity to provide small-scale farmers with access to credit. The Land Bank of South Africa currently operates more like a commercial bank than a developmental one, despite its initial charter as a government- owned developmental financial institution. Its transformation over the decades as a result has strained the resources available to small-scale