The Female Farmer of the Year awards recognised the role women play in food security. Speaking at the event, Greater Giyani Mayor, Thandi Zitha, said women play a crucial role in ensuring that families have food on the table, despite the difficulties that many families face due to unemployment.

“It is for that reason that we decided to honour female farmers; they contribute to food stability through their farming activities,” she said. Zitha said it was important that women be involved in farming to help reduce unemployment in the province. “The municipality does not have the capacity to employ everybody, hence we support people who create employment for themselves,” she said.

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According to her, the prizes, which range from R35 000 to R80 000 depending on the category, are meant to empower the women to grow their farming enterprises. “We want to see our female farmers sustain themselves through farming, and where possible, grow their business to a point where they can become big suppliers of produce,” she said. The prizes were awarded in four categories.

The best subsistence producer, Mathilda Mthavini received R50 000. She was awarded another R70 000 after being named overall winner. A youth subsistence farmer award of R35 000 went to Mbhoni Baloyi who farms strawberries in her backyard. The top entrepreneur in smallholder crop production of R80 000 went to Margarethe Mabasa. The entrepreneur in smallholder animal production award went to Winnie Maswanganyi who specialises in egg production.