LETTER: Women farmers thriving with government support
Entire rural communities have been empowered, thanks to the redistribution of land to women
More than 60,000 women have been allocated land through the government’s land redistribution programmes since 2009. It has been allocated to female emerging farmers, former labour tenants, farmworkers and women who had been dispossessed of their land through discriminatory laws, policies and practices of the past. This has empowered entire rural communities as women play a developmental role in society. Organisations such as Women in Agriculture and Rural Development, the Rural Women’s Movement, SA Women in Dialogue, as well as female traditional leaders are consulted by the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform during the formulation of policies. Women are making strides in the agricultural sector as formidable farmers, and with government support, some have grown from smallholder farmers to major commercial players. The One Household One Hectare programme initiated by the department provides for the allocation of a one-hectare portion of state land for every rural househ...
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