Water use behaviour and efficiency are essential topics regarding water scarcity. Water is a life-sustaining resource used for various activities within the three primary sectors: agricultural, industrial, and domestic. Increasing competition among these sectors could affect the availability and sustainability of water use. The higher demand for agricultural-related commodities emphasizes the efficient and productive use of water. Still, to achieve this, the behaviour of consumers regarding water use needs to be changed. This systematic review paper aims to highlight the factors affecting water use behaviour and efficiency for agricultural production in South Africa. It further aims to determine how agricultural producers change their behaviour to improve their water use efficiency. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) criteria were used as a reporting framework and guidelines to identify the articles included in the review. The review only included articles focussing on agricultural water use behaviour and efficiency and articles written in English and excluded articles from web pages, blogs, magazines, etc. The databases used for the review were Google Scholar and Web of Science. The articles were reviewed by the five authors to avoid the risk of bias, along with the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The final review included 30 peer-reviewed articles. A word frequency table was developed using the NVivo 14 software to conduct a thematic analysis for the review. The main factors which played a role in the water use behaviour and efficiency of farmers were (i) climate and adaptation strategies, (ii) policy and water pricing, and (iii) agricultural production and management. Each category elaborated on how water use could be improved and the different measures adopted to incorporate sustainable farm water use. This could be a guideline for farmers, stakeholders, and policymakers to improve and enhance water use behaviour and efficiency in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly South Africa. This could ultimately assist in efficiently using the water while enhancing sustainability within the agricultural sector and attaining Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) six, which is to increase water use efficiency. The limitation of this study was that it was only narrowed down to the geographical context of South Africa. This review was funded by the Water Research Commission (WRC) of South Africa (Project Number: C20222023-00798). This review was not registered.

The scarcity of water resources in South Africa remains a considerable challenge for water users. This study evaluated the impact of climate variability on the adaptive water-use behaviour of sugarcane producers by identifying the factors influencing their adaptation decisions. A survey, the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), and structural equation modelling (SEM) were used to achieve this objective. The study involved 54 sugarcane producers from the Impala Irrigation Scheme, selected through random sampling. Socio-economic profiles revealed a largely male, older demographic with varied education levels and farm characteristics. Results indicated that attitude (β = 0.349, p < 0.1) and subjective norms (β = 0.281, p < 0.05) significantly influenced farmers’ intentions to adapt, while perceived behavioural control had no significant effect (β = 0.051, p > 0.1). These findings suggest that improving farmers’ attitudes and strengthening social support systems can enhance their intentions to adopt adaptive strategies. However, the model’s explanatory power (R² = 0.276) suggests that other unexamined factors may also influence farmers’ adaptive intentions, highlighting the need for further research. Overall, our findings suggest that interventions targeting attitudes, social support, and resource access can improve adaptive behaviours.