South Africa: Climate change threatens rooibos farmers

Hendrik Hesselman is a small-scale farmer and picks the wild indigenous rooibos plant or cultivates it in small fields. They sell it overseas as a fair trade organic product. But as local and international markets for rooibos continue to grow, climate change is a growing threat. Mr. Hesselman explains: 'In 2003 the winter rains arrived three months late. After [the rain] in August that year did not provide enough rain to replenish the groundwater, drought set in and held this area in its grip for three years.'