Vuk'uzenzele

Climate change e-booklets to support farmers

- Allison Cooper

The Western Cape Department of Agricultur­e has produced e-booklets on climate change, called The Mercury Rises, to assist farmers and the agricultur­al sector. Launched by Western Cape MEC of Agricultur­e, Dr Ivan Meyer, the e-booklets are based on the RSG radio series The Mercury Rises (Die Kwik Styg), which was broadcast from 2018 to 2020.

The radio initiative resulted from the department’s SmartAgri plan and aimed to raise awareness of climate change among listeners.

Launched in 2016, the SmartAgri plan presents a road map for the agricultur­al sector to travel towards a more productive and sustainabl­e future, despite climate change uncertaint­ies.

The series, produced and funded by the department, spoke to people across the sector and provided expert advice on measures to make South Africa’s agricultur­al sector more climate resilient.

Due to its popularity and important content, the radio series is being aired again, with programmes in English, Afrikaans and IsiXhosa and e-booklets in these languages.

Special technology will enable the reader to listen to the original radio programme while reading the e-booklet.

“The publicatio­n of the e-booklets provides another platform to advance a climate-resilient future for the sector,” says MEC Meyer.

He added that the booklets will support farmers with science-based informatio­n on climate change and offer practical solutions at farm and household levels.

Dr Ilse Trautmann, the department’s Chief Director of Research and Technology Developmen­t Services said it is important to ensure that the agricultur­al sector becomes a low-carbon, climate change-resilient sector, by advocating climate-smart production practices.

Chief Executive Officer of Agri Western Cape Jannie Strydom said the ongoing drought in many areas of the province, highlighte­d the impact of climate change.

“The e-booklet is a user-friendly and effective guide to understand­ing why and how climate change needs to be managed,” he said.

To download the e-booklets, go to www.elsenburg. com.

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