L Xingwana: Limpopo Female Farmer awards during Women's Month

11 August 2006

Programme Director
Hon MEC for Agriculture and Land Affairs, Dikeledi Magadzi
Chief Land Claims Commissioner, Tozi Gwanya
Regional Land Claims Comissioner, Mashile Mokono
General Manager for Land and Agrarian Reform, Ms Jane Thupana
Members of Parliament here present
Executive Mayor
Councillors
Traditional Leaders
All farmers and members of organised agriculture (NAFU, AgriSA, TAU)
Best Female Farmers for today and many other female farmers who are not
here
Members of the Media, who have been very kind to spend the whole day with us
today

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen

Wathinta bafazi, Wathinti mbokodo!
Wathinti mbokodo, Wathinta bafazi!

Uzokufa

Today we are here to celebrate the resounding success of women in
agriculture in this province. I am particularly impressed by the mix of women,
who participated in this competition:

* from small producers who are producing poultry, vegetables and other
livelihood crops
* to those producing for the local market
* to those who sell their produce as far as Johannesburg, such as horticulture
and livestock products
* as well as those who produce for exports

This means that the Female Farmer of the year project recognises that women
are involved at all levels of agriculture, regardless of status, geographic
location, social or economic status. It recognises that every woman works very
hard every day, to put food on the table. Some districts are better endowed
with natural resources than others. Vhembe and Mopani Municipalities are
blessed with water and rich tropical soils whilst other Municipalities are not.
Some of us are victims of the apartheid spatial planning, where the
historically disadvantaged people find themselves in congested areas where
there is pressure on natural resources.

This democratic government, led by the African National Congress (ANC), has
prioritised development in these depressed areas, hence the presidential
Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Programme (ISRDP). This may mean that
those of you who are small producers from the depressed areas must begin to
think big. You must begin to dream dreams. Identify an opportunity from every
problem you encounter. Begin to “massify” production like the people of OR
Tambo municipality did when their storage facilities were overflowing with
maize. You must begin to “massify” poultry production, vegetable production,
tomato production. Begin to think about graduating from the small producer to
the exporter. If you are already an exporter, think about increasing volumes
and thus increase your returns. This attitude will enable us to achieve the
noble goal of economic growth, it will help us to create jobs, and it will take
us to a world where poverty is a thing of the past.

African agriculture survives or grows because of women. If you look at who
are working on farms, whether commercial or communal, you will soon realise
that it is women. We are the ones who make agriculture work. It is very sad
that the male dominated agricultural business has not rewarded nor recognised
the role of women in agriculture. Today we are here to say:

* Stand up woman and take your rightful position in agriculture
* stand up and do what you are best at, to produce and prepare that food for
your children
* stand up and let your efforts be rewarded in the business of
agriculture
* stand up and be counted among the best leaders in this sector, both here at
home and beyond our borders

One of the most important things in my priority list in the Departments of
Agriculture and Land Affairs is the establishment of the Women’s Agriculture
and Rural Development Association (WARDA). The idea is that WARDA must have
Provincial Chapters in the various districts and local municipalities.

The aims of WARDA shall include the following:

* that women must participate actively in agricultural production, value
adding processing, marketing and business development
* youth and people with disability are enabled to participate in local economic
development. This involves providing facilities and funding for their projects
and programmes.
* rural communities are organised to work in groups or co-operatives so that
they can enjoy associated benefits such as bulk buying discounts, co-ordinated
marketing etc
* practical focused sustainable projects and programmes that improve the
quality of life of our rural communities. This must lead to job creation and
poverty alleviation. We must stop the wholesale urban migration because there
are no jobs in the urban centres. Evidence of this is the growing squatters in
our towns, where our people remain unemployed and very poor. In Pretoria and
Johannesburg, we have seen a growing number of people who are sleeping in the
streets, because they can not afford rent, even in the shanty towns. Such
people must come back to the rural areas.
* WARDA must be a mass movement that galvanises our rural people for
socio-economic freedom. We have earned our political freedom but we must still
work even harder to get the economic freedom for all of our people. This week
we are celebrating 50 years of the women’s struggle against oppression. Women
are able to organise, mobilise, lobby, advocate and get the desired results,
just in time.
* WARDA must be a vehicle for socio-economic empowerment, capacity building,
training and equipping of our people.

We have a number of women initiatives in other sectors, but you will agree
with me that, if we want to see success in agriculture and rural development,
we must have strong women’s groups.

We are standing on the shoulders of those who have gone before us, such as
Lillian Ngoyi, Ellen Khuzwayo, Helen Joseph and many others. They fought for
our freedom and we must defend the legacy that they stood for. They condemned
the eviction of women on farms, which always happens in winter, when it is very
cold. They condemned child labour and all forms of rape. They condemned
violence against women and children. They embraced gender equity at all levels
of our society.

We must take over from where they left and strive for economic freedom, for
participation of women in the mainstream of our economy. We must support one
another so that we can all grow. Let us adopt the saying “Lift as you
rise”.

Those who are in business must show others how to get in, those who have
grown must show others how to grow, in this way we shall grow and remain
stronger everyday.

I am aware that most of our women have challenges such as funding, technical
expertise, appropriate equipment, farming systems, marketing and financial
management. These problems are not new and they are not insurmountable. They
say “where there is a will, there is a way”. We must always see a stepping
stone in every stumbling block that comes our way. We have programmes like the
Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme (CASP), which are intended to help
you address these challenges. Honourable MEC, we must use the 50:50 principle
to assess the extent to which our programmes, such as CASP, are able to assist
women. We must always access to what extent our land reform programmes enable
our women to own land. The Land Claims Commission has told me that about 25% of
the restitution beneficiaries are women headed households. We can do better
than that if our land redistribution programme targets women.

We have the necessary political will, an enabling policy environment that
promotes gender equity. We must take advantage of that. We must claim our
rightful place in our society and in the global economy. Recently we have
signed a trade agreement with the Chinese, which has created economic
opportunities for our people. We can now sell our produce to the one point
three billion people of China. This is why I stressed the importance of
thinking big and dreaming dreams. We must soon see our selves as very important
global players in the world economy. Instead of complaining about foreigners
taking our jobs we must go out aggressively and take our place in the world
economy. This demands that we must work much harder and smarter than we have
been doing before.

I have been encouraged in the Eastern Cape when I saw uMaDlamini owning many
sheep, when I saw women actively involved in goat-farming, when I saw female
farmers involved in a dairy that is farming with no less than 50 milking
cows.

All of these are saying to us: “Women are ready to take over agri-business;
they are ready to provide leadership for the desired change.”

The Female Farmer of the Year Awards could not have come at an opportune
time than when we have the international enabling environment as we have seen
the launch of the women’s movement in Bloemfontein last weekend.

Let me convey our appreciation to the sponsors of this event, including
ABSA, Total South Africa, Land Bank and Onderstepoort Biological Products
(OBP). Their support demonstrates that food security is not the responsibility
of government alone.

Congratulations to all women who have been nominated to participate in these
awards this year. You are our valued farmers. Your valuable success has made us
proud. Best wishes in all of your efforts.

Phambili ngomsebenzi woMama Phambili!!
Phambili ngemibutho yoMama Phambili!!

Malibongwe!!

Igama Lamakhosikazi!

Ngiyabonga

Issued by: Department of Land Affairs
11 August 2006