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Smallholder oilseed production constitutes a crucial component of rural economies and continues to face the consequences of a changing climate despite the increased levels of vulnerability. This paper assesses how smallholder oilseed farmers’ adaptive capacity in Limpopo is enhanced through various institutional support schemes within the context of increased climate extremes and their need to sustain production. Six hundred farmers were interviewed across three agro-ecological zones of Limpopo Province. Results show that some of the institutions’ current operations aimed at providing support to farmers do not adequately satisfy the farmers’ needs. A strong linear relationship was observed between the number of support types received by farmers and grain yield, suggesting that farmers who received more support types were relatively less vulnerable. Educational support is ranked as the most significant contributor to enhancing farmers’ adaptive capacity. This emphasizes the need for proper linkages between farmers’ choices of adaptive methods and the types of support needed. Therefore, this study provided a diagnosis of the gaps in essential types of institutional support needed to increase farmers’ resilience, which can be used as an input to beef up the policy and positioning to improve the adaptive capacity.

Smallholder farmers in rural communities that are prevalent in provinces such as Limpopo are not only confronted with the challenges of their direct environment but they also face new challenges in terms of the type of crops to produce in the era of climate change and variability. These challenges influence the way farmers make key decisions. Given that agricultural practices affect more than the farming unit, it is of interest to understand farmers’ behaviour. A survey was carried out across agroecological zones in Limpopo. Six hundred farmers were interviewed to establish key factors underlying their choice of oilseeds to produce. Descriptive statistics and factor analysis were used to analyse the data. Results showed that the choice of crops to produce was influenced by socioeconomic and climatic factors. Factor analysis indicated that floods were the most influential factor in the choice of oilseeds. This was followed by implements, temperature, rainfall, cash, irrigation equipment, input availability and food security. Determining factors varied amongst farmers producing groundnut, soybean and sunflower. Farmers were more hesitant to cultivate sunflower and soybean primarily because of the lack of familiarity with these crops and this in turn magnified the risk created by the uncertainty surrounding the future financial returns from these crops. Further results highlight concerns about resource and input availability in the area. The provision of support in terms of inputs availability, implements, the development of reliable networks for information dissemination and training of oilseed farmers beyond their local environment and sphere is critical. This is particularly so given there is a host of site-specific factors that have a bearing on the farmers’ decision-making processes. Stakeholders therefore need to take into account the variation in factors influencing farmers’ decisions, and put in place site specific measures to properly guide farm management choices.