ABSTRACT
Climate change is a clear and present danger to agriculture and food security. There is ample evidence to document the warming of Southern Africa over the past half century. Changes in rainfall amounts are less consistent, but rainfall has become more erratic. Extreme events such as droughts, floods, fires and heatwaves have all increased in frequency. The agricultural sector in the region is struggling to cope with these changes and their impact on agricultural production, due both to abiotic and biotic stresses. It is the small-scale farmer, who is the most vulnerable as his or her production system and livelihood lack the necessary resilience. The overarching strategy to deal with these problems is to enhance the resilience of the agricultural systems of the region by introducing the climate smart technologies that are available and by providing the institutional support systems that will allow scaling up of adoption of these technologies.
