Western Cape Climate Change Response Framework and Implementation Plan for the Agricultural Sector, 2016

"The Western Cape Climate Change Response Framework and Implementation Plan for the Agricultural Sector, 2016 or SmartAgri Plan builds on the Western Cape Climate Change Response Strategy (WCCCRS 2014) and its Implementation Framework, specifically the focus area of “Food Security”. It also aligns closely with the current five-year Provincial Strategic Plan and the WCG: Agriculture Strategic Goals. One of the seven Goals is “Optimise the sustainable utilisation of water and land resources to increase climate smart agricultural production”. Owing to its position as a highly vulnerable sector, the agricultural sector is the first sector in the province to benefit from a sectoral climate change response framework and plan."

"The SmartAgri Plan presents the “road map” for the agricultural sector to travel towards a more productive and sustainable future, despite the uncertainties around specific climate projections. The Plan is a joint effort that seeks to ensure the continued growth and competitiveness of the whole agricultural value chain. Through its focus on innovation, the Plan allows the climate change challenge to serve as the catalyst for realising a new socially and ecologically just and productive agricultural sector. Equipped with the SmartAgri Plan, the agricultural sector will develop the necessary resolution to find new operational models under growing resource constraints and rapidly-evolving global markets. This vision must also speak to the necessity of creating a resilient and diversified food system capable of tackling the issue of food and nutritional insecurity.