The Eastern Cape Province, and in particular, it's interior western Karoo region, has long been subject to periodic droughts, with significant implications for it's agricultural sector. From 2015, with some recovery in 2020, the area experienced a severe multi year drought, with negative impacts for a range of sectors, including extensive livestock farming. At the time of the drought, a common narrative in the media stated that the drought was unprecedented. In this paper, we analyze how the drought evolved climatically, as well as its impacts on vegetation and farming conditions. Our findings indicate that it would appear that the drought was not unprecedented. It was, however, considered to be extremely severe – with some local impacts found to be critical. Loss of production impacts, and loss of income, now compounded by the difficulties resulting from the COVID19 pandemic (which has impacted the South African economy severely) are likely to continue to impact the agricultural sector in the Eastern Cape for some time – and given the likelihood of increased frequency of extreme events in southern Africa in the future, we may see more frequent subsequent severe multi-year events.

东开普省，尤其是它的内陆西部卡鲁地区，长期遭受周期性干旱，对其农业部门产生重大影响。从 2015 年开始，随着 2020 年的一些复苏，该地区经历了多年的严重干旱，对包括粗放畜牧业在内的一系列部门产生了负面影响。在干旱发生之际，媒体普遍的说法是干旱史无前例。在本文中，我们分析了干旱如何在气候上演变，以及它对植被和耕作条件的影响。我们的研究结果表明，干旱似乎并非史无前例。然而，它被认为是极其严重的——一些地方影响被认为是至关重要的。生产影响损失和收入损失，