According to this article, analysis of drought response by the state reflects South Africa"s history of racially developed, unjust approaches. This era saw considerable reactive support to white farmers during times of drought. While this allowed the continuation of commercial agriculture, it did not encourage pro-active and adaptive developments in terms of enabling farmers to cope with drought. Future adaptation measures need to acknowledge the importance of social and institutional capacity and need to be sensitively integrated with current development pathways in order to be sustainable and relevant to local priorities.