Facilitating a just and transformative transition of smallholder farming through art
University of Strathclyde
Biography
Sidney is a British Academy (BA) Early Career Researcher and postdoctoral scholar at Rhodes University, South Africa under a Global Convening programme ‘The Time of a Just Transition’. His interdisciplinary research spans Agriculture and Food systems, Energy transition, VET and skills development, Environment and Climate Change, with a particular interest in how Time and temporality affect Work and Living in the climate change era. In his postdoc, Sidney continues with his EARTH scholarship project aiming to maximise local level impact
Introduction
This project continues as part of Sidney’s postdoctoral research on just transitions in agriculture in Eastern Cape, South Africa. The Alice area is predominantly agricultural, with most smallholder farmers practising poultry, livestock rearing, and vegetable cultivation. They experience climate-induced impacts, including water stress and recurrent droughts, threatening food security, livelihoods and the local economy.
Muhangi (2024) reveals that in addition to the variability of planting seasons, agricultural extension agents lack proficiency in sustainable farming practices to enhance smallholder farmers’ adaptive capacities, highlighting the need for a holistic approach to developing skills for both farmers and extension officers. Besides, Alice’s history highlights a climate justice issue as it bears the scars of its apartheid past: systemic underdevelopment, entrenched poverty, and limited job prospects. Poor smallholder farmers suffer climate-induced impacts as opposed to large-scale farmers because they cannot afford climate-resilient technologies to shield them from this brunt. In the absence of sufficient resources, there is a need for climate education and communication to knowledge and skills systems to build farmers’ resilience and foster place-based innovation to attain a just and transformative transition.
Arts-based approaches are observed in South Africa as among the most effective in creating awareness and education to foster place-based innovation and building knowledge systems. To this end, this project aims to enhance smallholder farmers’ adaptive capacities and agricultural advisors with a supportive skills ecosystem using narratives (storytelling), creative writing and visual art. The project intends to develop tools grounded in narratives that deeply resonate with the farming community to facilitate a just and transformative transition that enables farmers to adapt and mitigate climate impacts.
Research
At the University of Strathclyde
For the most part, my time at the University of Strathclyde was spent learning about a wide range of arts-based approaches and how they can be leveraged to facilitate climate change education and public awareness in the most impactful way to foster innovative and sustainable farming practices that can enable farmers to adapt and mitigate the climate-related challenges they face. I visited several exhibitions, bookshops, and presentations in Glasgow and one-on-one meetings with my mentor, Dr Maria Sledmere, to equip myself with innovative ways of presenting the narratives of farmers I acquired from the field.
The project had three immediate deliverables it aims to achieve.
Podcasting
First is a repository of stories capturing the lived experiences of smallholder farmers and agricultural advisors concerning climate change. While at Strathclyde, I worked with the stories and narratives from the field, and the best way to present them was through podcasts made in short recordings presenting the narratives of farmers following an identified theme. These narratives and stories include the farmers’ challenges and some innovative ways they are currently working with new approaches or Indigenous knowledge to mitigate and adapt to the climate challenges, such as agroecological practices like water harvesting, composting, and integrated pest management.
Podcasts are a powerful medium for amplifying unheard voices of unsung heroes who are central to the functioning of our society
I acquired skills in designing, recording, and conducting a podcast, which I will proceed within my postdoctoral research. Moving forward, I will invite experts, extension officers, and emerging young farmers to discuss these challenges, offer some solutions, and create more opportunities for collaboration and local learning.
Visuals toolkit
The second deliverable is a toolkit of visuals, including a planting calendar tailored for the smallholder farming community that elucidates climate-resilient techniques in the local languages. The planting calendar will indicate the type of crops suitable for each season-Winter, Spring, Summer, or Autumn. For this deliverable, we focused on learning how to design a Zine that can be accessed in an environmentally friendly manner and shared online with farmers with access to smartphones and the internet. A few durable copies will be printed and distributed to extension officers who support farmers daily, serving as a reference to teach and guide them.
Graphic Credit: Dr Dylan McGarry. Agriculture is the lifeblood of our existence and nourishes communities. Yet, to thrive amidst evolving challenges, it demands knowledge that often strays from conventional paths, embracing innovative and unconventional solutions.
More data was required to complete the calendar, which will be finalised with additional data currently being collected with assistance from the farmers. The data collected includes images capturing every stage of crop development throughout the year. This will be analysed and used to develop a comprehensive planting calendar. I continue to receive support from Dr Michelle Bastian, a phenology expert at the University of Edinburgh, whom I worked with while in Scotland.
Poetry and creative writing
The third deliverable is an actionable framework that integrates poetry, creative writing, and visuals to empower emerging farmers and extension officers. This framework will serve as a tool for enhancing the learning experience of smallholders. During my time at Strathclyde, I participated in the Environmental Humanities Reading group, where I engaged with experts in creative writing on sustainability and climate change. Their insights and resources have greatly informed my approach to organising and presenting the material and will continue to support my postdoctoral programme.
Graphic Credit: Dr Dylan McGarry. Poems and creative writing: Poems and creative writing enable us to learn in new ways, revealing hidden meanings that inspire transformation. In farming, they unlock new lifelines, nourishing our souls and minds and sparking creativity to restore lands and revive barren fields to support life once more.
One of the avenues for consuming this content is Imvotho Bubomi, a social learning network in Eastern Cape province that utilises WhatsApp group technology to teach and learn about sustainable farming practices. This group includes farmers, extension officers, NGO representatives, and researchers from various universities, local agricultural colleges and Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions. Short podcast recordings will be posted in the groups, allowing members to listen anytime without heavy data requirements.
Smallholder farmers in Eastern Cape that use agroecology informed by indigenous knowledge and practices, a sustainable farming practice known for controlling pests and diseases and conserve water
 Extension agents and smallholders loading compost manure that is ready for deployment in the gardens- a highly regarded agroecological and sustainable farming practice