Emerging Farmers in the South African Overberg District : Information Sharing, Irrigation and Justice

In this thesis, a study on emerging farmers in the South African Overberg District in the Western Cape was done. Information sharing among emerging farmers was deemed a research gap, and studies on in-group dynamics among emerging farmers were lacking. This thesis set out to deal with it by answering three questions about 1) information sharing among emerging farmers to ensure sustainable irrigation practices in times of climate change; 2) how institutional capacities to respond to climate change influenced management practices of emerging farmers; as well as 3) if current policies addressed, or failed to address justice for the emerging farmers. Three methods were used to answer this, these were a policy analysis, semi-structured interviews conducted on site in the Overberg district, together with observations. Two theories were used to guide the research, namely water justice theory and water governance theory. It was found that strong networks existed among all farmers interviewed, and that they did help each other with climate change mitigation and knowledge sharing. Current institutional practices were seen as lacking, thus negatively influencing the farmers, while policies were deemed as failing to address justice for emerging farmers. This study calls for further research into in-group dynamics and advocates for a multi-stakeholder analysis to address gaps in South African policy-making and improve support mechanisms for emerging farmers.