Agri SA Enterprises champions women-led farming

Women play a crucial role in agriculture, contributing significantly to food security and sustainability. Initiatives like the Agri SA Enterprises Women in Farming programme are instrumental in fostering food security and empowering female farmers.

Thabo Olivier, a food security specialist and mentor in the programme, and Xola Sibisi, the inspiring founder of Ntombikhona Farming, share how the programme has positively contributed to the growth of women farmers and the broader impact on the communities they operate in.

Building strong relationships

Olivier emphasises the programme’s focus on building strong relationships with women farmers. “Through the programme, the ladies had to write a business plan. I read through the business plans and saw that some of them were very practical and implementable and some were not. We went ahead working together on seeing how to get this to reality. In the process, you give your guidance,” he explains.

This approach fosters trust and allows a deeper understanding of each farmer’s needs, he adds.

Xola Sibisi shares her remarkable journey about transforming her farm into a training enterprise. She acknowledges the invaluable support of her partners.

“I started noticing that people were interested in my garden and they were interested in farming. So I then did a test drive where I wanted to see if there’s truly a market or if it’s something that I am thinking about. I then did free training for my local community,” she says.

Sibisi’s story highlights the power of collaboration in empowering other women farmers.

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Reaping the rewards

Olivier brings the conversation to food security, stating, “Food security is when the poorest of the poor can have access to food, so at the beginning of the project, there was a lot of hype put onto take-off agreements. [At the end of the day], you got to be viable and sustainable.”

He underscores the importance of ensuring farms are productive and commercially sustainable for the women running them.

Olivier acknowledges the challenges women farmers face, but his tone shifts when discussing the rewards. “Farming is challenging for everybody. But working with young women has its advantages; there’s something about these women. I want them to become so good that I can sit back and say I had a share in their success,” he says with pride.

This sentiment captures the programme’s focus on creating a supportive environment where women can thrive in agriculture.