IntroductionThis study examines smallholder farmer readiness for sustainable land management (SLM) under the Global Environment Facility (GEF7) project in semi-arid Limpopo Province, South Africa.MethodsUsing a mixed-methods approach combining farmer profiling survey, key informant interviews, field observations, and community mapping, we assessed 48 farmers (79.2% female, 37.5% youth) across four readiness dimensions: cognitive, behavioural, structural, and motivational.ResultsFarming was predo