The MEC for Agriculture, Mrs Dikeledi Magadzi, said Limpopo is now under international scrutiny and many people will be interested in learning from her.

She was speaking to farmers during the handing over of an international award to Lwatshatsimu Landcare Project at Hamutsha Village last Wednesday. Lwatshatsimu Project has 1,598 farmers from Lwamondo, Tshakhuma, Tsianda and Mutsha, who came together in 1999 to preserve the soil by farming in the mountains. They won their first international award in the farming community, getting second prize at the International Landcare Conference held in Melbourne, Australia, last year.

Magadzi said the award gave recognition for all the hard work that farmers engaged in. "It will be a pity if the project fails to maintain its winning standards. Being residents of Limpopo, I know winning is in your blood and failure is not an option. We have a habit of winning and as a department, we have done well in different competitions. I am happy that this winning formula has been passed onto our farmers and they also have been doing well in the competitions. It is well documented that our female farmers have consistently done well in the annual female farmer of the year competitions and the overall winner for 2007 is from this province. The community-based seed producers of Mbahela won the Impumelelo Award last year. Just here in Levubu, a young farmer, Johan Furstenburg, won the 2006 Toyota Young Farmer of the year competition."

She praised members of Lwatshatsimu Landcare Project for conserving the soil. "We have proven to the whole world that we van be masters of our own destiny by rehabilitating this mountain and turning it from the brink of total destruction into an economic tool which we are using to empower ourselves as a community, by creating jobs and fighting hunger and working towards achieving a better life for all."