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The winner of the export market, Ms Cecile Fourie, receives her prize from the executive mayor of the Vhembe District, Cllr Falaza Mdaka.

“Create employment and fight hunger …”

 

News  Date: 22 August 2008

 

Vhembe District Executive Mayor Falaza Mdaka urged all winners to take advantage of the bilateral and multi-lateral trade protocols and to graduate from a household food security-orientated production into sustainable commercial agriculture in order to compete with others in the export market.

Mdaka was the speaker during the Vhembe District Female Farmer of the Year 2008 Competition, which was held at the Thohoyandou Town Hall last Wednesday. He added that female farmers needed to be managers of their companies and to deviate from the notion that farming was a male-only domain. He said the previous dispensation had left a legacy of disempowerment for women which dictated that a woman’s place is in the kitchen and not on the farm.

Mdaka, whose municipality added an additional R50 000 to the prizes, said they were trying to encourage women to continue fighting hunger and unemployment. “We urge all of you to go out and create employment, so that we fight hunger and reduce poverty by half by 2014,” he said.

The winners and their categories were: Export Market - Ms Cecile Fourie, who received R25 000; National Winner – Ms Joyce Lusunzi (R20 000); Informal market - Ms Margareth Selamolela (R15 000); Household - Ms Olive Rasithithi (R10 000).

The overall winner and winner of the export market category, Ms Cecile Fourie of Maswiri Boerdery in Musina, called on Government to subsidize farmers if there was to be progress for women farmers in the province. “Look at the prices; they are rising day in and day out. We cannot even afford fertilizer and diesel. All these should be subsidized,” she said. Fourie said the other challenge they were facing as farmers was land claims. “In citrus farming, one has to plan 20 years in advance. How is one expected to plan in a land that one is not sure of. If we have enough land, we can work harder and improve the lives of others,” she said.

 

Written by

Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019. He currently writes on a freelance basis, covering human rights issues, court news and entertainment.

 

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