Transitioning to low-carbon agriculture: Institutional misalignment and constraints in South Africa’s extension systems

Despite climate-mitigation commitments in the global South, an implementation gap constrains sustainable agricultural development in South Africa. This study examines government extension practitioners' perceptions of climate-aligned practices to identify the institutional factors driving this divide. A qualitative content analysis of 1775 thematic segments from focus groups with 52 extension officers across eight provinces in 2025 reveals deep institutional misalignment. Only 10.7% of coded segments explicitly framed agriculture as a mitigation strategy, while 35.8% prioritize economic optimization and livelihood conservation. Provincial focus on climate mitigation ranges from 20.3% in Mpumalanga to 4.7% in Gauteng. Crucially, land tenure insecurity emerges as a foundational structural constraint that contributes to this misalignment by discouraging long-term climate investment. While national mandates conceptualize mitigation through global carbon accounting, local extension systems prioritize immediate economic survival. Therefore, achieving national targets requires reforming communal land governance alongside extension mandates, rather than merely introducing technical solutions. The study demonstrates that land governance reform is a prerequisite, rather than a complementary measure, for effective climate policy implementation. It advances frameworks that leverage smart technologies for carbon measurement, youth-led data management, and carbon credits, reframing mitigation as a viable economic strategy for a sustainable, low-carbon future.