Some farmers at Malala Drift, near Musina in Limpopo, have stopped growing crops because they cannot get enough water. Others keep farming, but at a higher cost, Mongabay reported.
The farms lie along the Limpopo River, which forms the border between South Africa and Zimbabwe. Farmers said the river does not always give them the water they need.
They said rain has become harder to predict over the past ten years. When the river level drops, some pay an excavation company to dig into the riverbed to reach water.
At one farm, poles that once held tomato plants lay scattered on the ground. Grass had grown over the irrigation pipes, and no crops were growing.
Kanny Ndou, a former farm worker who now looks after the property, said the farm grew potatoes, butternut and tomatoes for sale in Musina. He said the owner stopped farming in 2025 after about ten years.
“We used to grow a variety of vegetables for sale in Musina, but due to inconsistent water supply, the farm decided to stop farming last year,” Ndou said.
He said farmers faced a good harvest one season and a bad one the next. The problem was not only rain in one season, but steady water from year to year, he said.
A study by University of Venda researchers, published in July 2026, looked at drought in the Musina area from 1991 to 2023. It used rainfall and temperature records and answers from 120 people.
The researchers found about 15 drought periods between 2010 and 2023. There were about nine between 1991 and 2009. Severe droughts hit in 1991 to 1992 and again in 2015 to 2016.
The study found that temperatures also rose. Minimum temperatures went from about 21°C in the 1990s to about 23°C in the 2010s. Maximum temperatures climbed from about 30°C to 32°C.
The researchers said total rainfall did not show a clear long-term drop. Instead, the amount of rain changed a lot from one year to the next.
More than half of the 120 people in the study said they had faced water shortages. Some reported smaller harvests, more livestock deaths, less food or lower income.
A separate 2025 study of nearly 500 households in other parts of Limpopo found that 89% had lived through severe drought within five years. About 70% of those surveyed did not have enough food.
Ephias Mugari, a researcher at the University of Limpopo’s Centre for Global Change, said Musina is a dry, low rainfall area. He said it is very exposed to drought.
“It’s the interaction of these three, less water arriving, more water lost to heat and more water being asked for, that compounds the pressure,” Mugari said.
Mugari said Musina must prepare for drought instead of only reacting to it. He called for better early warning systems, more water storage, drought tolerant crops and other ways to earn a living.
The University of Venda study made similar calls, including better water infrastructure and rainwater harvesting. It found that some communities already use boreholes, save water and plant crops that handle dry weather.
Some Malala Drift farmers said that when river water runs low, they block and redirect the flow for their own use. These steps cost money and do not solve the problem for good.
Goat farmer Kwinda Tshirundu said he moved to the area to build a goat business, but his herd has not grown as he hoped.
“From the time I started staying here, my goats should have multiplied to 30, but I only have five; I am not sure whether it is drought related,” Tshirundu said.
Source: this article is based on reporting by news.mongabay.com. Image: news.mongabay.com. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice News desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Kgomotso Maake covers news and politics for Tzaneen Voice. Kgomotso reports on government, Parliament, municipalities, courts, crime and service delivery across South Africa, with a close eye on how national decisions reach towns like Tzaneen and the wider Limpopo province. Stories are written in plain English and focus on the facts: who made the decision, what it means, and what happens next.