Climate shocks are hitting South Africa’s food businesses - study shows what they need to adapt
A study conducted in South Africa's Gauteng province highlights the vulnerability of the agri-processing sector to climate-related shocks like droughts and floods. Researchers interviewed 113 businesses to understand how these climate risks impact food supply chains and what adaptation strategies are being implemented.
Why it matters
Understanding the climate resilience of food processing is critical for maintaining food security and economic stability in developing regions.
Climate change discussions in southern Africa often focus on farming, where the effects of environmental shocks are most visible. The debate frequently centres on droughts, floods, declining crop productivity and heat stress affecting livestock systems. This is largely because agriculture is a sector that's directly exposed to extreme weather events.
But food systems involve far more than agricultural production. Between farms and consumers lies the agri-processing sector. This is made up of businesses that transform raw agricultural commodities into consumable food products through activities such as cleaning, milling, preservation, packaging, storage and manufacturing.
It connects agricultural production to markets, retailers and households. In South Africa, agri-processing contributes approximately 25% of national manufacturing output and supports more than 300,000 direct jobs.
Get smarter about the news
Sign up free for a feed built around what you actually care about, Dive Deeper research on any story, and the full text of every article.
Create free accountAlready have an account? Sign in