Women can farm, too

NOT all women in agriculture are subsistence or smallholder farmers or provide their labour to the industry. Across the agricultural spectrum, you also find commercial producers, processors, entrepreneurs, scientists and policymakers.

In Gauteng alone, we have Anna Phosa, Dr Ethel Zulu, Dineo Mokgoshi, Lerato Senakgomo and many more who followed their passion and are a force to be reckoned with in the agricultural sector.

The narrative of women in agriculture, specifically in South Africa, is one of perpetual struggle and cyclical poverty.

We seldom hear about their successes and triumphs. Yet the role played by women in agribusiness is as complex as it is significant.

Speaking at a webinar on the role of women in agriculture as part of Women’s Month celebrations, Minister Thoko Didiza was correct when she said the challenges faced by women included access to land, markets, and inputs and implements.

To address these challenges, she said the government has developed and adopted the Beneficiary Selection and Land Allocation (BSLA) policy, which states that “50% of agricultural land that the state disposes of must go to women”, 40% to youth and 10% to people living with disabilities.

Of the 700 000 hectares of land released by the government last year, 53 000ha amounting to 78 farms was allocated to 217 women.

Although the numbers are relatively worrying, I am encouraged to see how serious the government is in addressing gender parity in their programmes where men and women have access to equal opportunities presented to them.

I want to urge all farming communities, the business sector, civic organisations, and the government to intensify this plan because women possess the power to transform society and that is why South Africa celebrates them – because they were at the forefront of the struggle against land dispossession after the promulgation of the Native Land Act in 1913.

A well co-ordinated programme between various sections of government can go a long way towards assisting women needing guidance on how to be commercial farmers by investing largely in resources, finances, training and mentoring which could be stepping in the right direction.

Another important issue is to ensure that all red tape and bottlenecks are unlocked so that various units of government are not seen to be working in isolation.

Happy Women’s Month.

RANKEPILE KHOMO I Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development