• Latest
  • Trending
  • All
  • News
  • Lifestyle

Cheers to the rural women who carry their communities

15th October 2020
Christo Van der Rheede is the executive director of Agri SA. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Former music teacher leads agri’s greatest symphony

11th August 2022
Bumper harvest for Mzansi’s olive growers

Bumper harvest for Mzansi’s olive growers

11th August 2022
ADVERTISEMENT
Thanks to Netafim’s innovative solutions, drip irrigation is within reach of small-scale farmers. Photo: Supplied

Yes, precision irrigation is possible on a budget

11th August 2022
There's been a major breakthrough with South African citrus containers that have been contained at European ports. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Relief! Govt convinces EU to save SA citrus

11th August 2022
Willem Booise (left) is a trustee and has won the industry’s Specialist Agricultural Worker of the Year award in 2018. Photo: Supplied/Hortgro

Fruit farm shows there’s power in transformation

11th August 2022
Many people love avocados, but did you know that the introduction of just one of these fruits per day can improve the overall quality of your diet? Photo: Pixabay

An avocado a day can keep the doctor away

10th August 2022
Davidzo Chizhengeni, animal scientist, founder of KvD livestock, Ika Cronje, farmer and participant in the Corteva Women Agripreneur 2022 programme, Vuyokazi Makapela, a Director at Afrivet, and permaculture farmer, Stephanie Mullins. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Podcast: Prevent rabies with vaccination

10th August 2022
Control and prevent downy mildew on crops

Control and prevent downy mildew on crops

11th August 2022
The value of South Africa’s informal farming sector is understated, experts say, and many farmers say that they prefer trading to this segment of the economy. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

New farmer? Informal markets ‘the way to go’

10th August 2022
Gauteng police recovered and confiscated sheep and goats in Sedibeng this week. Photo: Supplied/SAPS

ICYMI: Police recover stolen livestock

10th August 2022
Ecological farming the answer to food insecurity

Ecological farming the answer to food insecurity

11th August 2022
Setting up a regenerative smallholding

Setting up a regenerative smallholding

9th August 2022
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought
11 GLOBAL MEDIA AWARDS
Thursday, August 11, 2022
Food For Mzansi
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
    • All
    • AgriCareers
    • Entrepreneurs
    • Farmers
    • Groundbreakers
    • Innovators
    • Inspiration
    • It Takes a Village
    • Mentors
    • Movers and Shakers
    • Partnerships
    Christo Van der Rheede is the executive director of Agri SA. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Former music teacher leads agri’s greatest symphony

    Agripreneur 101: Creating a beauty brand

    Agripreneur 101: Creating a beauty brand

    Claire and Martin Joubert have sacrificed and struggled to become top breeders of Ankole cattle in South Africa. But giving up was never an option, because they wanted to offer only the very best Ankole genetics in the country. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Farming couple lives and breathes Ankole cattle

    Tackling climate change, one tree at a time

    Agricareers: Veterinary science not for the timid

    Agricareers: Veterinary science not for the timid

    Once struggling farm now a family heirloom

    Optimal yields now at farmers’ finger tips

    Some of the children with the ECD practitioner Yolanda Shabalala. Zero2Five Trust promotes holistic Early Childhood Development in formerly disadvantaged areas by improving learners’ health and education outcomes with nutrition and education programmes. Photo: Supplied/Zero2Five Trust

    Zero2Five: Giving hope to KZN flood victims

    Agripreneur 101: Kupisa Sauce is going places

    Agripreneur 101: Kupisa Sauce is going places

  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought
No Result
View All Result
Food For Mzansi

Cheers to the rural women who carry their communities

by Noluthando Ngcakani
15th October 2020
in Movers and Shakers, News
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A

Phumzile Ntuli founded the Qalekhaya Primary Cooperative in 2005. They are making great strides in rural empowerment and food security. Photo: Supplied

Women are the backbone of rural economies. You need to look no further than Phumzile Ntuli and the Qalekhaya Primary Cooperative in KwaZulu-Natal for proof of this statement.

Today, 15 October, marks the International Day of Rural Women, which recognises the critical role and contribution of rural women in their tireless efforts towards the enhancement of agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating poverty.

Women are central in supporting households by generating income, ensuring that families are fed and improving the overall wellbeing of their communities.

ADVERTISEMENT
Ntuli is one of many rural women who strive to be the change she wants to see in her community. Photo: Supplied

Ntuli is one such remarkable woman who is one of many committed to extending the benefits of development to all people in her community.

She is based at Izindophi Reserve under the Mpungose Tribal Council in KwaZulu-Natal and leads one of the sugarcane growing communities that works in partnership with Tongaat Hulett.

Tongaat Hulett Sugar corporate affairs executive, Nkonzo Mhlongo, affirms that the empowerment of rural women continues to be a major focus of the Tongaat Hulett’s sustainable rural development approach.

“Tongaat has invested resources in building the capacity of women in agricultural cooperatives and has implemented socio-economic development initiatives aimed at improving the social wellbeing of rural children, youth and communities,” she says.

“Our interventions have also stimulated local economies through the sugarcane development initiatives in and around the areas where the company operates.”

Ntuli grew up like all other young girls in the area and attended Khayalodumo primary school and Zwelithini high school in the area.

“Izindophi, like many rural communities, has always been negatively affected by high levels of unemployment, poverty, alcohol and drug abuse. I felt compelled to do something in order to change the circumstances of my community,” Ntuli explains.

This prompted her to be the change she wanted to see in her community. In 2005 she founded Qalekhaya Primary Cooperative with four other community members. The goal of the cooperative is to create employment for the youth and women in and around Izindophi.

Ntuli says she had seen that most of the women in rural communities were involved in raising chickens and felt something different was needed.

ADVERTISEMENT

‘I felt compelled to do something in order to change the circumstances of my community.’ – Phumzile Ntuli

“During our assessment of the local environment, we saw and heard through media that learning in certain schools was being impacted by a lack of school infrastructure. This is how the idea of establishing a cooperative to manufacture school furniture was born,” she says.

Demand for food is constant

Today the cooperative manufactures school furniture for many schools throughout KwaZulu-Natal and continues to flourish, generating a staggering R1.5 million in revenue annually.

The Qalekhaya Primary Cooperative employs 13 permanent staff and seven temporary workers comprised of mostly local youth who have been empowered to support themselves and their households.

Ntuli says that while the business of providing school furniture is seasonal, the demand for food in her community is constant.

Tongaat Hulett Sugar corporate affairs executive, Nkonzo Mhlongo. Photo: Supplied

This was how the idea for the establishment of a food garden initiative was born.

“The food garden initiative has enabled food insecure households to grow food and feed themselves. The highlight of this project is that it is not only feeding vulnerable households. It has grown to a point where the project is selling its produce to the local businesses in and around Eshowe, including the local Spar,” she explains.

The lockdown period proved to be a busy time for the cooperative. Demand for food reached its peak when many families were home.

“Local businesses and communities wanted our produce and we had to ensure that we opened more areas in order to plant the various food crops,” she says.

While Ntuli has continued to succeed against the odds, the cooperative still struggles to access infrastructure. Due to the lack of agricultural equipment, the cooperative spends a lot of its financial resources hiring tractors from local farmers.

Going forward, they would like to own their own tractor so that they can plant more and generate an income through assisting local farmers in the area.

During the lockdown period 20 volunteers from Shining Star Community Development, a non-profit organisation that was formed by the cooperative, worked with government to raise awareness about covid-19.

Shining Star is also assisting socially vulnerable children by buying them school uniforms and supporting the local youth to participate in sports and recreation by encouraging sports in the community.

Tags: Nkonzo MhlongoPhumzile NtuliQalekhaya Primary CooperativeTongaat HulettZwelithini High School
Previous Post

Guess who sparkled in SA’s top sparkling wines competition

Next Post

Podcast: Success has no secret, it has a system

Noluthando Ngcakani

Noluthando Ngcakani

With roots in the Northern Cape, this Kimberley Diamond has had a passion for telling human interest stories since she could speak her first words. A foodie by heart, she began her journalistic career as an intern at the SABC where she discovered her love for telling agricultural, community and nature related stories. Not a stranger to a challenge Ngcakani will go above and beyond to tell your truth.

Related Posts

Small-scale cane growers' pleas have been answered with a rail facility that will save them millions each year in road transport. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Thousands lifted through innovative KZN land project

by Sinesipho Tom
23rd August 2020
0

Nokuthula Gcabashe (70) and Thulile Elsie Mzimela (63) from Mbongolwane, a small town in the green hills of King Cetshwayo...

Jobs Fund giving wings to thousands of unemployed youth

Jobs Fund giving wings to thousands of unemployed youth

by Staff Reporter
14th July 2020
0

In a world where movers and shakers are often swaggering, Najwah Allie-Edries is a gentle giant who has in the...

Next Post

Podcast: Success has no secret, it has a system

There's been a major breakthrough with South African citrus containers that have been contained at European ports. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi
News

Relief! Govt convinces EU to save SA citrus

by Duncan Masiwa
11th August 2022
0

South Africa has managed to secure a major breakthrough for local citrus exporters. Thanks to high-level government intervention, tonnes of...

Read more
Willem Booise (left) is a trustee and has won the industry’s Specialist Agricultural Worker of the Year award in 2018. Photo: Supplied/Hortgro

Fruit farm shows there’s power in transformation

11th August 2022
Many people love avocados, but did you know that the introduction of just one of these fruits per day can improve the overall quality of your diet? Photo: Pixabay

An avocado a day can keep the doctor away

10th August 2022
Davidzo Chizhengeni, animal scientist, founder of KvD livestock, Ika Cronje, farmer and participant in the Corteva Women Agripreneur 2022 programme, Vuyokazi Makapela, a Director at Afrivet, and permaculture farmer, Stephanie Mullins. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Podcast: Prevent rabies with vaccination

10th August 2022
Control and prevent downy mildew on crops

Control and prevent downy mildew on crops

11th August 2022

Get the best out of your pigs’ genetics

Control and prevent downy mildew on crops

Make Mokgadi’s impepho-smoked cauliflower

Yes, precision irrigation is possible on a budget

Seasonal farmworkers struggle to get UIF

Agripreneur 101: Creating a beauty brand

THE NEW FACE OF SOUTH AFRICAN AGRICULTURE

With 12 global awards in the first three years of its existence, Food For Mzansi is much more than an agriculture publication. It is a movement, unashamedly saluting the unsung heroes of South African agriculture. We believe in the power of agriculture to promote nation building and social cohesion by telling stories that are often overlooked by broader society.

Former music teacher leads agri’s greatest symphony

Bumper harvest for Mzansi’s olive growers

Yes, precision irrigation is possible on a budget

Relief! Govt convinces EU to save SA citrus

Fruit farm shows there’s power in transformation

An avocado a day can keep the doctor away

  • Our Story
  • Contact Us
  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Copyright

Contact us
Office: +27 21 879 1824
News: info@foodformzansi.co.za
Advertising: sales@foodformzansi.co.za

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought

Copyright © 2021 Food for Mzansi

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.